The Place of Chinese Disunity in Japanese Army Strategy during 1931

Abstract

The aggressive action of Japan's Kwantung Army in 1931 is widely known. Its armed takeover of most of Manchuria from a conglomeration of Chinese forces which greatly outnumbered the Japanese, points to a weakness in China's defences other than that of numbers. None of the various Chinese armies was as modern in firepower or as well supplied logistically as Japan's crack army in Manchuria. The disarray within the Chinese Government of Nanjing (Nanking) that was obvious in mid 1931 also tempted the adventurous field officers of the Kwantung Army (KA). These veteran officers with years of duty in China, decided, from their reading of the situation in China as well as in Japan and the West, to act on 18 September 1931 rather than make further preparations as recommended in Tokyo.

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