For establishing control over Korea, which before the war was a protectorate of China.
During the war, Japanese troops expelled the Chinese from Korea and invaded Manchuria. The Chinese Beiyang fleet was defeated at the Battle of Yalu, and then the naval bases of Lushun and Weihaiwei were taken. The war ended with a Japanese victory and the Treaty of Shimonoseki.
In China, the war undermined the prestige of the Qing dynasty, clearly indicating the failure of the country's modernization. The humiliating peace treaty became the catalyst for the revolutionary movement.
Fight for Korea
Since the Ming Dynasty, Korea has been a vassal state of China. The kings of the Korean Yi dynasty (1392-1910) annually sent three embassies with the payment of tribute to the court of the Ming emperors, and four to the Qing emperors who succeeded them. Since 1637, Korea has received virtually no foreign embassies, with the exception of Chinese and, occasionally, Japanese.
"Discovery" of Korea
After the "opening" of China and Japan to trade, it was Korea's turn. However, due to its remote location, European powers showed little interest in Korea. Korea fell into the sphere of influence of Japan, which rapidly increased after the Meiji restoration. In February 1866, persecution of Christianity, which was prohibited, began in Korea, and European priests were killed. In October, the French organized a retaliatory punitive expedition. They were able to capture the city of Kangwa on the coast, but were defeated at the walls of Seoul. In August of the same year, the American merchant ship General Sherman arrived in Korea. The Americans behaved like pirates, for which the ship was burned after it ran aground and the crew was killed. In 1871, the State Department sent an expedition of five warships to investigate. After the Koreans refused to negotiate, the Americans fired at Kangwa, but were forced to leave because they did not have permission to conduct hostilities.
Treaty of Kangwa
After the Meiji Restoration in 1868, the Japanese began sending embassies with requests to open trade. However, Taewongun, the prince regent of the minor King Gojong, despised Japan's modernization, and even considered it improper to address the Emperor of Japan as "Imperial Highness". In response to this insult, the Japanese equipped a punitive expedition consisting of several gunboats in 1875. The expedition was able to destroy the forts at Kangwa with artillery fire. After the initial success, six more ships were sent to Korea, and an emissary to Beijing to determine the Chinese reaction. The Chinese timidly replied that Korea had always been a tributary of China, but had complete freedom in internal and foreign policy. Thus, China encouraged Japan to open Korea to trade. To avoid a clash, Qing diplomats recommended that Korea enter into negotiations. On February 24, 1876, the Kangwa Treaty was signed, according to which Korea was recognized as an independent state equal to Japan, ambassadors were exchanged, and three Korean ports were opened for trade. In addition, the Japanese were given the opportunity to buy land in Korea and the right of extraterritoriality (not subject to the jurisdiction of Korean courts). Chinese authorities decided that Korea should be opened to Western countries to counteract Japanese influence. Korea was forced to sign trade agreements with the USA, England, France, Russia, Italy, Austria, Belgium and Denmark.
Attempted military coup
Uprising in Seoul In 1873, the independent reign of the young King Gojong began. His wife, Queen Min, who fought for power with Taewongun, had a great influence on politics. Queen Min, with the help of her clan and Japanese advisors, began reforms. Taewongun, deciding to limit her influence, organized a military coup using disgruntled dismissed soldiers. In 1882, the royal palace and Japanese legation were attacked. Queen Min narrowly escaped death, and the Japanese mission was burned, killing seven officers. The uprising was suppressed with the help of Chinese troops, Taewongun was arrested and taken to China. King Kojong came to an agreement with the Japanese, paying them 550 thousand US dollars, allowing them to keep troops in Korea and build barracks at the diplomatic mission.
 Li Hongzhang |
 Ito Hirobumi |
After the 1882 uprising, Li Hongzhang, who was in charge of relations with Korea, initiated the signing of a new Sino-Korean treaty, granting the Chinese the right of extraterritoriality and trade privileges. Yuan Shikai was sent to train the Korean army, and six Chinese battalions were stationed in the country to maintain order and protect against the Japanese. After 1882, there was a struggle between pro-Chinese and pro-Japanese parties at the Korean court. On December 4, 1884, when the Chinese withdrew three battalions from Korea to fight the ongoing Franco-Chinese War, a pro-Japanese party led by Kim Okkyung carried out a military coup. The royal palace was captured, the king was captured, and pro-Chinese officials were killed. The uprising, however, was suppressed by Yuan Shikai, and the king was released. Kim Okkyun was able to escape to Japan.
The Japanese sent an emissary to Korea demanding reparations and an apology. Ito Hirobumi was sent to China to negotiate with Li Hongzhang. On April 18, 1885, they signed the Treaty of Tianjin, according to which both sides had to withdraw troops from Korea, but had the right to bring them back in to restore order, notifying the other side. In fact, Korea became a joint Japanese-Chinese protectorate.
Kim Okkyun At the same time, Great Britain and Russia began to exert growing influence on Korea. The Japanese government adopted a policy of encouraging China to prevent Western powers from entering Korea. Li Hongzhang appointed Yuan Shikai as an emissary to Korea, where he directed courts, customs, trade, and telegraph services, becoming the most powerful man in Korea from 1885 to 1893. China began to exert increasing influence on Korea. The situation worsened when, in March 1894, a Korean killed the leader of the pro-Japanese Korean Party, Kim Okkyun, in Shanghai. His corpse was transported to Korea and displayed as a warning to the rebels. Many Japanese considered this an insult, although the Japanese Foreign Minister stated that the killing of a Korean by another Korean in China was not a matter of concern for Japan. Japanese secret societies began to agitate for war.
Rebellion of the Tonhaks
Tonhaks were originally religious sect. Donghak means "Eastern Teaching" and was a mixture of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism. Being an unorthodox teaching, the Tokhaks were banned, and their leader, Cho Che-u, was executed in 1864. The sect went underground and gained supporters. In 1892, the Tonhaks tried to legalize but were refused and ordered to dissolve the organization. Soon after this, the Tonhaks, with the help of Japanese pan-Asian secret societies, began to organize mass protests against government corruption and the dominance of foreigners. And in January 1894, a full-scale uprising began.
In June, at the request of the Korean government, 2,300 soldiers of the Huai Army were transferred to the country. Taking advantage of the pretext, Japan also deployed 8,000 soldiers to Korea. The Japanese, standing near Seoul, on June 26 demanded that the Korean king carry out internal governance reforms, which meant the transition of Korea to Japanese rule. The Korean government, on the advice of the Chinese, responded that it would begin reforms after the withdrawal of Japanese troops. The situation was heating up. Russian, British and American efforts to peacefully resolve the problem were unsuccessful. Li Hongzhang decided to use the delay in negotiations to transfer reinforcements to Korea.
Strengths of the parties
Japan
Emperor Meiji's reforms, begun in 1868, prioritized the creation of a modern navy as well as a modern professional army. The Japanese actively sent military officials abroad for training.
Imperial Japanese Navy
Cruiser Matsushima The Imperial Japanese Navy was organized following the example of the British. The fleet was created with the help of English consultants, and Japanese specialists were trained in Great Britain. Naval doctrine followed the tradition of the "young school", according to which ironclads were considered too expensive, and instead they were supposed to be used high-speed cruisers with rapid-fire guns and destroyers armed with torpedoes.
By the beginning of the war, the Japanese had 12 modern ships (the 13th was commissioned during the war), one frigate and 22 torpedo boats. Eight ships were built in England, three in France and two in Japan. Before the war, on July 19, 1894, the Japanese created the United Fleet, bringing together new ships of the Constant Readiness Fleet and obsolete ships of the Western Fleet. The flagship was the cruiser Matsushima, built in France, and the Combined Fleet was commanded by Count Ito Sukeyuki.
Imperial Japanese Army
The Japanese army went through modernization along European lines. In 1873, national conscription was introduced. Military schools and arsenals were built. The army reform took place with the help of French and later German advisers. The army was organized into divisions and regiments, engineering and artillery units were separate formations. By the beginning of the war, the number of Japanese troops was 120 thousand people, united in two armies and five divisions.
China
The basis of the army of the Qing dynasty was the Eight Banner Army, consisting of Manchus and numbering up to 250 thousand soldiers. Two-thirds of it was stationed in Beijing, and the rest were distributed among the garrisons of large cities to avoid uprisings. After the suppression of the Taiping Uprising, Chinese provincial units were also formed, subordinate to provincial governors. Because of this, almost only the Huai Army and the Beiyang Fleet, subordinate to Li Hongzhang, took part in the war. The governor of Guangdong, for example, directly stated that his province was not at war with Japan, and refused to send the Guangdong fleet to Korea. The Chinese army had many problems: corruption, lack of pay and prestige, embezzlement of funds by officers, poor discipline, smoking opium, poor supplies due to the lack of railways.
Beiyang Fleet
Battleship Dingyuan The Beiyang Fleet was one of China's four modernized fleets. The fleet was sponsored by Li Hongzhang, the governor of the capital province and a close associate of Empress Cixi, which is why the best ships were purchased for it. Before the war, it was the most powerful fleet in East Asia. However, there were many problems with corruption, discipline and ship maintenance. The sentries spent their time gambling, watertight bulkheads were open, debris was thrown into gun barrels, and gunpowder from high-explosive shells was sold.
The fleet included two turret battleships and eight cruisers, as well as gunboats, destroyers and auxiliary ships. The ships were built at German and English shipyards. Li Hongzhang appointed Ding Ruchang as Admiral of the Beiyang Fleet, the flagship was the tower battleship Dingyuan, built in Germany.
Huai Army
The Huai army consisted of troops of the Anhui provincial clique, the number reached 45 thousand people. Li Hongzhang supplied his troops with the best military equipment, hired foreign instructors, and reformed along European lines.
Progress of the war
Beginning of hostilities and declaration of war
On July 23, 1894, Japanese troops entered Seoul, captured the Korean king, and formed a pro-Japanese government. Later, on July 27, the new Korean government "asked" Japan to expel Chinese troops. And on August 26, Japan forced Korea to sign a military alliance treaty.
Battle of Asan On July 22, the Chinese cruisers Jiyuan, Guangyi and Weiyuan entered the bay of the Korean port of Asan, escorting the transports Aizhen and Feijing with an infantry battalion on board. On July 23, the Japanese Combined Fleet went to sea, and a flying detachment of four fast cruisers separated from it. Fang Boqian, captain of Jiyuan and senior officer of the squadron, having received information about the actions of the Japanese cruisers, sent Weiyuan to China and with the remaining two cruisers began to wait for the third transport - Gaosheng, accompanied by the messenger ship Caojiang. On July 25, a battle took place near Asan: three Japanese cruisers - Yoshino, Naniwa and Akitsushima - approached the bay and, without waiting for the declaration of war, opened fire on the Chinese ships. The torpedo cruiser Guangyi was heavily damaged and thrown ashore, most of the crew escaped. The cruiser Jiyuan was also heavily damaged, but miraculously managed to escape. The Japanese also shot the approaching transport Gaosheng (a chartered English steamer), and two battalions of Chinese infantry and 14 guns were killed along with the ship. The Caojiang messenger ship was captured.
Battle of Seonghwan Chinese troops in Asan were in danger of being surrounded by larger Japanese troops. A combined Japanese brigade of four thousand men under the command of Oshima Yoshimasa set out from Seoul. The bulk of the Chinese under the command of Ye Zhichao retreated to Kongju, and a two-thousand-strong detachment under the command of Nie Shicheng took up a convenient defensive position near Songhwan Station. On July 29, 1894, the Battle of Seonghwan took place. The Chinese repelled Japanese attacks all day and lost up to 500 soldiers, the Japanese - up to a thousand. After the battle, Nie Shicheng went to Kongju. The Japanese got 8 guns abandoned by the Chinese due to the exhaustion of ammunition. On August 5, the Japanese brigade returned to Seoul, and the Chinese began a month-long campaign to Pyongyang, where they expected to link up with reinforcements.
On August 1, Japan and China officially declared war on each other. The successful rescue of the cruiser Jiyuan and the defense of Seonghwan, despite the enemy's numerical superiority, had an encouraging effect on the morale of the Chinese.
Korean stage of the war
Nie Shicheng In China, the elderly Li Hongzhang, the hero of the suppression of the Taiping uprising, was appointed commander of all troops. 56 thousand soldiers were hastily recruited. Four Qing armies under the command of generals Zuo Baogui, Fengshenya, Wei Zhugui and Ma Yukun headed from Manchuria to Pyongyang. On August 4, Chinese troops entered Pyongyang and began to strengthen their positions; at the end of August, the detachments of Nie Shicheng and Ye Zhichao arrived. Li Hongzhang appointed Ye Zhichao commander of the united army, now numbering up to 15 thousand people. Ye Zhichao was corrupt, had little authority, and was reluctant to obey.
The Japanese 1st Army, under the command of Marshal Yamagata Aritomo, consisting of the 3rd and 5th Provincial Divisions, and numbering up to 10 thousand people, headed towards Pyongyang in four columns. Two columns traveled by land, and two landed by sea at Pusan and Wonsan. Reinforcements continued to arrive from Japan, and by early September the number of Japanese troops in Korea reached 100 thousand people. The headquarters of the Japanese army was located in Hiroshima, and Emperor Meiji also went there. On August 26, Korea signed an imposed treaty of alliance that trusted Japan to expel Chinese troops from its territory. The attitude of the Korean people towards the Japanese was tense - the Japanese controlled only Seoul and the treaty ports through which reinforcements were delivered. On August 28, the Korean king, under Japanese influence, began to carry out reforms: he introduced freedom of religion, abolished slavery, and the law that punished the entire family of a criminal was also abolished.
Battle of Pyongyang By September 15, the Japanese surrounded Pyongyang on three sides and began the Battle of Pyongyang. At 4:30 am the attack on the city began from the front, across the Taedong River. The attack was accompanied by artillery fire. The outcome of the battle was decided by the attack of the fourth Japanese column, which entered the Chinese rear from Wonsan. Many Chinese were killed, General Zuo Baogui also died, and by 16:30 the garrison raised a white flag. However, bad weather prevented the Japanese from occupying the city: it was already dark and there was heavy rain. At night, the surviving part of the garrison, about a quarter of the soldiers, left the city and headed towards the city of Anju. In the morning, the Japanese entered Pyongyang, taking many prisoners, including General Wei Rugui, as well as numerous trophies: one million US dollars, 36 guns, 1,300 horses and a large number of food and ammunition.
Battle of Yalu
 Dean Zhuchan |
 Ito Sukeyuki |
On September 16, the Beiyang Fleet, accompanying five transports, arrived at the mouth of the Yalu River. On the same day, Japanese Admiral Ito Sukeyuki, having learned about the departure of the Chinese convoy, left old ships and destroyers with their transports at the mouth of the Taedong River, and sent the main forces of the fleet to the Yalu. By the morning of September 17, both fleets met in the Yellow Sea, and the Battle of Yalu began. Both fleets were approximately equal in strength, but differed greatly in composition. The Japanese had fast armored cruisers with numerous medium-caliber artillery; the four fastest cruisers were assigned to a special “flying” detachment. The Chinese had two battleships, which were superior in armament and armor to any Japanese ship, but the Chinese cruisers were smaller and worse than the Japanese ones.
The Chinese admiral Ding Zhuchang built his ships in a crescent shape: in the center, closer to the enemy, there were two battleships, weak ships at the edges. The Chinese ships were preparing for a general dump and had to operate in similar pairs. Gunboats and destroyers remained to cover the transport ships. Ito Sukeyuki formed the Japanese fleet in a wake column; it was forbidden to break the formation. Ahead of the column were four cruisers of the "Flying Squad" of Rear Admiral Kozo Tsuboi, who was allowed to act independently. The Japanese column began to bend around the Chinese formation from the west.
Battle of Yalu The first shots were fired from Chinese battleships. On the Chinese flagship Dingyuan, the bridge was damaged by a blast wave from a volley of main-caliber guns. The officers, including Admiral Dean, are shell-shocked. The fire of the Japanese ships fell on the armorless cruisers Chaoyun and Yangwei located on the right, which received many hits and caught fire. The line of Chinese ships turned west and opened fire on the weak Japanese ships at the rear of the column. The Japanese corvette Hiei received many hits, and was able to escape only by boldly passing through the ranks of Chinese ships. The headquarters ship Saikyo-maru was also hit, and the Flying Squad went to rescue it. The Chinese ships lost formation and interfered with each other. The situation was complicated by the fact that the foremast on the flagship Dingyuan was demolished by a shell, and Admiral Ding could not hang out signal flags. The cruisers Jiyuan and Guangjia fled the battlefield, and Chaoyun and Yangwei sank. The Chinese battleships left their cruisers to fight the Flying Squad alone and headed towards the main Japanese forces. From the other side, delayed slow-moving Chinese ships approached them: the small battleship Pingyuan, the mine cruiser Guangbing and the destroyers Fulong and Zuoi. The Japanese admiral had difficulty escaping the encirclement; the flagship Matsushima was hit by a large shell.
Next, the Japanese, taking advantage of their superior speed, forced the Chinese to fight at medium distances, where Japanese rapid-fire guns were effective. The "flying squad" walked around the Chinese cruisers. To increase fire on the Chinese battleships, Ito Hirobumi decided to come closer. The flagship Matsushima received several hits from 12-inch shells from Chinese battleships, lost its combat capability and was forced to leave the battle. The battleships received more than a hundred hits each and were severely damaged, but thanks to their powerful armor they remained viable. The Chinese cruisers were in a worse position, they were fired on from all sides by the stronger Japanese ones. The cruisers Zhiyuna and Jingyuan were sunk while trying to ram the Japanese. By four o'clock in the evening, the ships began to run out of ammunition, and the opponents exchanged rare shots. The Chinese battleships, taking advantage of the distance of the Japanese ships, went to link up with the cruisers.
Ito Hirobumi, seeing the formation of the Chinese ships in a single wake column and the setting sun, and also fearing the night attacks of the Chinese destroyers, took the fleet back to the mouth of the Taedong River. Admiral Ding remained on the battlefield to cover the unfinished landing of troops, and then headed to Lushun for repairs. Formally, Ding Zhuchang was the winner, since he completed the task, and the battlefield remained with him. But Chinese losses were enormous. The Chinese lost five cruisers and 850 people, the Japanese - about 300 people, 4 ships were badly damaged.
Manchurian Front
News of the defeats at Pyongyang and Yalu greatly upset the Chinese imperial court, where celebrations were being prepared to celebrate the 60th birthday of Empress Dowager Cixi. 10 million liang (500 tons) of silver were spent from the treasury to prepare the holiday. Ye Zhichao was removed, and General Song Qing was appointed to command the ground forces instead. Admiral Ding Ruchang, who went to the base in Weihaiwei, was prohibited from going to sea.
Crossing the Yalu After the defeat at Pyongyang, Chinese troops retreated to the Yalu River, the natural border between China and Korea. The Chinese troops numbered 25 thousand soldiers, but were stretched along the northern bank of the river. Japanese scouts appeared on the southern coast on October 6, and by October 20 the main forces of the 1st Army arrived. The battle of Jiuliancheng took place on the banks of the Yalu River. On the night of October 25, Japanese engineers built a pontoon bridge near the village of Uiju, and in the morning they launched an attack. The Japanese, who numbered no more than 15 thousand, took advantage of the spread of the Chinese troops, quickly moved and concentrated superior forces in certain directions. The main blow fell on Mount Huershan, where the Japanese concentrated 5 thousand people against Nie Shicheng's two thousand soldiers. After a bloody four-hour battle, the experienced general, having received no reinforcements, buried two guns and retreated. Song Qing was also unable to hold his position and retreated.
On October 26, the Chinese retreated to Fenghuangcheng, and on October 29, the Japanese occupied it. After which the Japanese 1st Army was divided into two parts: one went to the capital of Manchuria - the city of Shenyang (Mukden), and the second - to the naval base of Lushun (Port Arthur). However, General Ma Yukun stopped the Japanese advance on Lushun. And Nie Shicheng, in the bloody battle for the Lianshanguan Pass, forced the Japanese to abandon their attack on Shenyang, for which he was awarded the title of military governor of Zhili Province.
Taking advantage of the fact that the main forces of the Huai Army were constrained by the battle, the Japanese formed the 2nd Army, which set out by sea from Korea on October 23, and landed on the Liaodong Peninsula on October 24 with the goal of taking Dalian and Lushun. Lushun (Port Arthur) was a naval base with a convenient bay. The fortress was protected by hills and forts built on them, and was considered impregnable. On November 6, the Japanese captured Jinzhou with little resistance, and on November 7, Dalian, without resistance, as the defenders fled to Lushun during the night. In Dalian, the Japanese received plans for the minefields and defensive structures of Lushun, abandoned by the Chinese, as well as a convenient port for supplying troops. The Chinese Beiyang fleet remained in Weihaiwei, abandoning Lushun to its fate.
Capture of Lushun The attack on Lushun began on November 20. Panic began among the defenders. Robberies, robberies and looting began in the fortress, and most of the officers fled on two boats. General Xu Bandao made a successful sortie, captured many prisoners and trophies, but, not supported by other units, was forced to retreat. On the night of November 21, the Japanese launched the final assault. The Chinese units were demoralized and organized weak resistance. By noon, the forts protecting the fortress from land were captured, and by the evening the eastern coastal batteries surrendered. Only Xu Bandao's troops managed to break through to the north, and he headed towards Shenyang. Having burst into Lushun, the Japanese found their prisoners with signs of torture. This, as well as the fact that many Chinese soldiers dressed in civilian clothes, was the reason for the start of the Lushun Massacre, during which up to 20 thousand civilians were killed. Only 36 people were left alive and were ordered to bury the corpses.
Fall of Weihaiwei and Yingkou
Liu Kunyi The fall of Lushun made a negative impression in Beijing. Li Hongzhang, declared guilty of military defeats, was removed from command, demoted and stripped of all titles. Empress Cixi retired so as not to be accused of defeats. Emperor Guangxu appointed Liu Kunyi as commander of the troops. The war devastated the Chinese treasury, and the government was forced to borrow money from the British. In November Grand Duke Gong and Li Hongzhang began preparing peace negotiations, and in January 1895 a peace delegation was sent to Hiroshima. The Japanese, however, stopped the negotiations unilaterally, since they had not yet captured what they wanted to demand in the negotiations.
For complete dominance in the Yellow Sea, the Japanese decided to capture Weihaiwei and destroy the Beiyang fleet based there. Weihaiwei was a heavily fortified fortress, protected from land by 15 powerful modern forts, and from the sea by the Beiyang Fleet, which still had 2 battleships, 5 cruisers, a training ship, 6 gunboats and 12 destroyers. The fortress garrison numbered 9 thousand people. From January 20 to 25, the Japanese landed the 3rd Army under the command of General Oyama Iwao at Weihaiwei, numbering up to 18 thousand soldiers. The Japanese fleet blocked both exits from the harbor, and a detachment of two thousand blocked the only convenient road leading to the fortress. Japanese Admiral Ito Sukeyuki sent Ding Zhuchang a letter inviting him to surrender, citing pre-war friendship. The Chinese admiral left him without an answer.
Death of Odera Yasuzumi Early on the morning of January 30, a Japanese column led by General Odera Yasuzumi launched an assault on the eastern group of five forts. They were supported by mountain guns and cruisers. The garrisons of the outer two forts, fearing encirclement, abandoned the fortifications. A fierce battle broke out for the easternmost fort. The dilapidated fort, fired upon by Japanese ships, was taken by storm. Of the guns captured in the forts, the Japanese opened fire on the last two. Their garrisons blew up the fortifications and retreated to the shore, hoping for help from the Beiyang fleet. Ding Zhuchang landed a detachment of sailors to evacuate them, but the fire of Japanese guns drove the ships away from the shore and shot the Chinese. Few managed to escape. At two o'clock in the afternoon, the Japanese fleet maneuvered near the harbor, but did not dare to engage in battle.
Admiral Dean decided to use the storm that began the next day to strengthen the defense. He believed that the fortress would soon surrender, but the fleet would be able to defend itself based on the island of Liugongdao. A detachment of sailors rendered useless the guns of the western forts, which could reach the island. On February 1, as Ding had predicted, the garrison left Weihaiwei and was occupied by Japanese troops. Only one and a half thousand soldiers of the garrisons of the forts and civilians, fearing a repeat of the Lushun massacre. The fleet was surrounded both from sea and land.
Since February 2, the Japanese fleet fired daily at Liugongdao Island from long distances. On the nights of February 3, 4 and 5, the Chinese fleet was attacked by Japanese destroyers. They managed to damage the battleship Dingyuan, which ran aground, and sank the cruiser Laiyuan and the training ship Weiyuan. Considering the Chinese fleet to be sufficiently weakened, Ito Hirobumi decided to attack with all his forces on February 7. The Japanese ships maneuvered and fired rapidly at the Chinese ships and forts. The Chinese responded energetically, several Japanese ships were damaged, among them again was the flagship Matsushima, whose chart room was demolished. The main success of the Japanese was the destruction of the fort on the island of Zhidao, where a powder magazine exploded. On February 8, as the Japanese fleet again approached to bombard the forts, 12 Chinese destroyers suddenly burst out of the harbor. Admiral Ding ordered them to attack the Japanese, but Wang Ping, captain of the destroyer Zuoyi and senior in the squadron, decided to break through to Chifu (Yantai). The Japanese sent three cruisers to destroy them. Only the destroyer Zuoi managed to escape; the remaining ships were either sunk or thrown ashore.
Ding Zhuchang takes poison On the night of February 9, Japanese boats cut the boom protecting the entrance to the harbor, and by the morning the engineers repaired the guns of the western forts, which were shooting through the entire bay and the island. In the morning the guns opened fire. Ding ordered them to be suppressed, but in the firefight the stranded battleship Dingyuan was blown up and the cruiser Zhenyuan was sunk. On February 11, Ding Ruchang received a letter from Li Hongzhang that help would not come, and on February 12, having given the order to surrender, he committed suicide. The captains of two battleships and the military commandant of Weihaiwei also shot themselves. The surrendered garrison and civilians were allowed to leave the city. As trophies, the Japanese received the battleship Zhenyuan, the cruisers Pingyuan and Jiyuan, as well as six Rendell gunboats.
On the Manchurian front, the Qing government decided to expel the Japanese from Chinese territory, for which it sent reinforcements: the Xiang and Hubei armies. The total number of Chinese troops reached 60 thousand people. General Li Kunyi was tasked with stopping the Japanese advance at the Liaohe River line. From December to February, the Chinese launched unsuccessful counterattacks. And on February 28, the Japanese went on the offensive. On March 4, they captured Niuzhuang, and on March 6, the large port of Yingkou.
Pescadores Campaign and end of the war
Negotiations in Shimonoseki After the loss of Weihaiwei, the Chinese imperial court advocated peace. Li Hongzhang was restored to his ranks and titles, and was sent to Japan for negotiations. On March 19, 1895, he arrived in the city of Shimonoseki. The Japanese were stalling for time to capture the islands of Penghu and Taiwan. To do this, on March 24, they put forward obviously unacceptable demands: the transfer to them of Tianjin, Dagu and Shanhaiguan, which covered Beijing from the sea. When Li Hongzhang refused, an attempt was made on his life by a certain fanatic, and he dropped out of the negotiations for ten days.
On March 20, a Japanese fleet with a landing force of five thousand approached the Penghu Islands (Pescadores Islands), located between Taiwan and the mainland. From March 23 to 26, the Japanese took the fortifications on the islands and captured many trophies. Taking the islands did not allow the Chinese to transfer reinforcements to Taiwan, and was a bargaining chip in the negotiations.
On March 30, a truce was declared in Manchuria, negotiations resumed on April 10, and a peace treaty was signed on April 17.
Treaty of Shimonoseki
On April 17, 1895, the Treaty of Shimonoseki was signed. It was signed by Li Hongzhang on the Chinese side and Ito Hirobumi on the Japanese side. The terms of the agreement were as follows:
- China recognizes Korea's independence, thereby opening it up to Japanese influence.
- China transfers to Japan for eternal possession: the island of Taiwan (Formosa) and the Penghu archipelago (Pescadores Islands), as well as the southern part of the Liaodong Peninsula, including the ports of Dalian and Lushun (Port Arthur).
- China pays an indemnity of 200 million liang of silver.
- China concludes a trade agreement with Japan that is beneficial to it. Allowed for Japanese citizens economic activity on the territory of China in a favorable manner.
The transfer of the Liaodong Peninsula to Japan was opposed by Russia, France and Germany, who did not want China to be excessively weakened and also had their own interests in Liaodong. On April 23, envoys of the three powers gave Japan “friendly” advice to refuse to annex Liaodong in exchange for an increase in indemnity. On May 8, the final version of the Shimonoseki Treaty was ratified in Yantai. Instead of handing over Liaodong, China paid an additional 30 million liang of silver. Concessions under pressure from the “triple intervention” were perceived in Japan as humiliation.
Results of the war
Chinese soldiers and the civilian population of Taiwan did not want to transfer to Japanese citizenship, and on May 23 they proclaimed the creation of the Republic of Formosa. The Japanese had to gradually occupy the island through fighting. The self-proclaimed republic capitulated only on October 21, 1895.
This war was Japan's first since the Meiji Restoration. The modernized and reformed army and navy showed their strength, training and discipline. Victory in the war established Japan as a leading regional power on par with Europe.
For China, the war was a disaster: now it lost not only to the developed European powers, but also to the neighboring country, which had recently been a medieval feudal state. The war revealed the corruption and incompetence of Qing officials. Anti-Manchu and anti-foreign sentiments began to rapidly develop in the country.
Taking advantage of the weakening of China, in 1898 Russia signed an agreement on a 25-year lease of the Liaodong Peninsula and began construction naval base in Port Arthur. At the same time, Germany leased Qingdao, and Great Britain leased Weihaiwei.
War 1984-85 between the Chinese Qing Empire and Japan was primarily a battle for influence over Korea. For many centuries the latter was the domain of China.
Japan's two-hundred-year Edo era self-isolation ended with American intervention, when in 1854 Officer Perry forced the Japanese government to open some sea ports for trade. Literally within a few years after the Meiji Restoration and the fall of the shogunate, Japan transformed from a feudal society into a modern industrial state. Thousands of students and many delegations were sent to different countries to gain experience in the fields of science and art so that Japan could become on par with the Western powers.
In turn, Korea, in the old fashioned way, tried to completely eliminate or at least minimize foreign influence, not allowing foreign embassies into its territory and even firing at foreign ships near its shores.
Prerequisites for the start of the war
Thus, by the beginning of the conflict, Japan had about thirty years of reform behind it, while Korea continued to live as usual, which made it vulnerable to its growing neighbor. Japan wanted to limit foreign influence in Korea and end centuries of Chinese suzerainty. The presence of coal deposits and iron ore deposits in Korea also played a significant role, which was also of considerable interest and carried potential benefits for Japan’s growing industrial base.
In 1876, despite the protest of Korean isolationists, a Japan-Korea trade treaty was signed. In addition, trade agreements were signed with other countries. Traditionally, Korea was an appendage of the Chinese Qing Empire, which exerted significant influence on Korean officials, some of whom were conservative and wanted to maintain traditional relations with China. Reformists, on the contrary, saw the future of the country in an alliance with Japan and Western countries.
China, weakened by the opium wars of 1839, 1856 with the British and the conflict of 1885. with the French, could not resist the invasion of Western powers. Japan saw an opportunity to take China's place in strategically important Korea.
Crisis of 1882
That year, there was a severe drought on the Korean Peninsula, which led to unrest among the population. The military also showed dissatisfaction, since the state, which was on the verge of bankruptcy, withheld salaries for several months.
On July 23, 1882, a riot broke out in Seoul - troops, together with civilians, began to loot granaries. The next day, a mob attacked the royal palace, barracks and the Japanese legation. During the uprising, about 40 employees of the Japanese diplomatic mission were killed, the rest managed to escape.
In response, Japan sent four warships and troops to Seoul to protect Japanese interests, and then demanded reparations. In turn, China deployed 4.5 thousand troops to confront Japan. Nevertheless, the matter did not come to an open conflict - on August 30, an agreement was signed, under the terms of which 50,000 yen was paid to the families of the killed Japanese employees and the Korean conspirators were punished. The Japanese government, in turn, also received 50,000 yen, an official apology, and permission to station troops to guard the diplomatic service in Seoul.
Gapsinsky coup
In 1884, a group of pro-American reformers overthrew the conservative pro-Chinese government of Korea in a bloody coup. However, with the assistance of Qing Empire troops led by General Yuan Shikai, the pro-Chinese faction regains control of the state. As a result of these events, several people died and the Japanese mission was burned. This caused a crisis in relations between China and Japan, which was resolved by a peace treaty signed in Tanjing. Under the terms of the agreement, both sides simultaneously withdrew their expeditionary forces from Korea. Following the withdrawal of Chinese and Japanese troops, diplomatic relations between Japan and Korea resumed.
However, the Japanese were extremely unhappy with China's attempts to undermine their influence in Korea.
Rebellion of the Tonhaks
In 1884, a peasant uprising broke out on the Korean Peninsula. The poor people of one of the provinces, outraged by the brutal exploitation of local officials, rebelled. Several hundred people attacked the office and drove out the official, who had displeased them with his excessive extortions.
The government ordered the district commander to investigate the incident, and he accidentally or intentionally accused several followers of the Tonghak religious teachings of inciting a riot, demanding brutal reprisals, which only aggravated the situation. The fading uprising flared up with renewed vigor.
The frightened government turned to the Qing dynasty with a request to send troops to suppress the peasant revolt. The Chinese government sent General Yuan Shikai as its plenipotentiary representative. Under the command of the general there were 2800 soldiers. Japan accused China of violating the Tanjing Treaty and, in turn, sent an 8,000-strong military expedition to Korea, supposedly to ensure the safety of its citizens located on its territory.
After the uprising was suppressed, China began to withdraw its troops, but Japan refused to do the same.
Korean conflict and outbreak of war
In early June 1884, Japanese troops captured the royal palace in Seoul and captured King Gojong. On June 25, a new pro-Japanese government was elected, which gave Japan the right to expel Chinese troops from Korea. In turn, the Qing Empire refused to recognize the legitimacy of the new Korean government.
Japanese troops under the command of Major General Oshima Yoshimasa made a rapid march from southern Seoul to Asan, where they met with Chinese units at Songwan Station east of the city. In the battle that took place on July 28, Chinese troops could not withstand the onslaught of superior enemy forces and fled towards Pyongyang. According to some sources, Chinese losses amounted to 500 people killed versus 82 killed by the Japanese.
By August 4, the remnants of the Chinese troops reached Pyongyang where they met with units sent to help from China. The total number of Chinese troops reached 13-15 thousand people. After strengthening the city, it was decided to hold the defense within its walls. By September 15, the Japanese army had laid siege to Pyongyang from several directions. In a bloody battle, the defenders of Pyongyang suffered a crushing defeat. Taking advantage of an unexpected heavy downpour, Chinese troops fled northeast towards the coastal city of Wuyu.
Chinese losses amounted to about 2 thousand killed and 4 thousand wounded, while on the Japanese side there were only a little more than a hundred killed, four hundred wounded and three dozen missing. On September 16, the Japanese entered Pyongyang.
Battle of the Yalu River
The day after the battle for Pyongyang, a naval battle took place at the mouth of the Yalu River between the ships of the Japanese fleet and the Chinese Beiyang squadron.
The Japanese fleet consisted of two parts - four fast cruisers under the command of Tsuboi Kyozo and the main squadron, commanded by Admiral Ito Sukeyuki. It included four cruisers, two battleships, a headquarters ship and a gunboat.
The Chinese fleet consisted of 2 battleships, 10 cruisers, 4 destroyers and 2 gunboats (2 destroyers and gunboats did not take part in the battle).
Although the number of ships on the opposing sides was approximately the same, they differed greatly in composition. The Chinese squadron outnumbered the Japanese in the number of large-caliber guns, but was seriously inferior in medium-caliber artillery. In addition, most of the Chinese weapons had a low rate of fire and were significantly outdated by the time of the battle. In addition, the Chinese ships were slower than the new Japanese cruisers.
During the battle, the Chinese managed to hit the Japanese flagship and cause minor damage to one of the cruisers. At the same time, most of the ships of the Chinese squadron received serious damage due to the greater maneuverability and rate of fire of enemy ships. As a result of the battle, the Beiyang squadron lost 5 cruisers, and the remaining ones needed serious repairs. The Japanese did not lose a single ship, and after a week of repairs, all the damaged ships were back in service.
The shocked Chinese government forbade the head of the fleet, Admiral Ding Zhuchang, to get involved in a new battle with the Japanese squadron in order to avoid further losses. This decision ensured the Japanese dominance in the Yellow Sea, which made it possible to transfer new divisions to Korea.
The Battle of the Yalu River was the largest naval battle of the war and a major propaganda victory for Japan.
Invasion of Manchuria
After the defeat in Pyongyang, the Chinese abandoned North Korea and retreated to their defensive positions along the Yalu River. The Japanese army, having received reinforcements, moved towards Manchuria on October 10. On the night of October 24, the Japanese secretly crossed the Yala using a pontoon bridge. The next day they attacked the Chinese outpost of Hushan.
The Japanese split their forces in two: one group went north to attack Mukden, while the second continued to pursue the retreating Chinese troops.
On October 24, the Japanese landed on the Liaodong Peninsula and quickly marched towards Qinzhou. After the Battle of the Yalu River and subsequent minor battles on the Liaodong Peninsula, Japan's goal was to capture the heavily fortified and strategically important naval base of Lushun (Port Arthur).
Battle of Lushun
The Qing Empire spent 16 years building this base, which was superior to Hong Kong in every way. The hilly landscape provided the city with natural protection, and thanks to its defensive structures and powerful artillery, Lushun was considered an impregnable fortress. Among other things, there were dry docks here, equipped with modern equipment for those times. The loss of the city also meant the loss of the opportunity to repair naval vessels damaged in battle.
The city's situation was aggravated by the Chinese government's ban on the Beiyang Fleet from engaging in battle with the Japanese. Thus, the Chinese garrison in the city was deprived of the support of its fleet.
The shelling of the city began on November 20, causing panic among the defenders of the fortress. The commandant, some of the officers and officials fled even earlier, taking valuables and leaving their people to the mercy of fate. For this reason, the next day, after the start of the assault on the fortress, the Japanese encountered almost no resistance. By lunchtime, Japanese troops occupied the forts that defended the fortress from land, and by the evening they captured coastal batteries. On the evening of November 22, the remaining defenders of the fortress abandoned their positions, leaving more than 200 guns to the winners. The Japanese also received large reserves of coal, military equipment, and most importantly, intact ship repair yards.
Massacre at the fortress
After Japanese soldiers entered the city, they came across the mutilated bodies of their previously captured comrades on display for all to see. This spectacle caused the rage of the Japanese, of which most of the city's population became victims. The massacres continued for several days, and the scale of the massacre and the number of victims are debated by historians to this day. Researchers' data differ significantly - different sources give figures from 13 thousand to 60 thousand people.
The fall of Lushun alarmed Beijing. In addition, the war significantly depleted the imperial treasury. The Chinese begin preparations for peace negotiations, but since Japan has not yet received everything it wanted, no agreement has been reached.
Battle of Weihaiwei
The next strategic goal of the Japanese after the capture of Lushun was the Chinese naval base of Weihaiwei, located on the Shandong Peninsula. Conquering this base would allow Japan to take full control of Bohai Bay, move closer to Beijing from the sea, and eliminate the threat to Japanese sea supply routes from the remnants of the Beiyang Fleet.
The Weihaiwei base was designed with the assistance of German advisers and, according to Western observers, was also superior to Hong Kong. British military adviser William M. Lang, assigned to the Beiyang Fleet, argued that the base was impregnable and scoffed at rumors of an impending Japanese attack. The defenses consisted of a series of twelve land fortifications overlooking the harbor entrance, equipped with artillery pieces, and two fortified islands in the bay. The entrances to the harbor were blocked with booms to prevent attack from the outside, and the remnants of the Beiyang fleet, numbering 24 ships, were based inside.
The operation began on January 18, 1895 with the bombing of the city of Dengzhou, located 160 km west of Weihaiwei. This was a diversionary maneuver from the landing of the Japanese army in the eastern direction. The Japanese landing took place in difficult weather conditions, but went virtually unhindered and ended on January 22. Soon, after a regrouping of forces, the army began moving in two columns towards Weihaiwei. The Japanese fleet, in turn, took up a position in the bay in order to block the ships of the Beiyang Fleet if necessary.
On January 30, a three-pronged attack began on the ground fortifications located on the southern and eastern sides of the city. The Chinese units held the defense for 9 hours, after which they left the fortifications. Japanese troops took the city of Weihaiwei with virtually no casualties, as its garrison had fled the day before.
After the ground fortifications fell into Japanese hands, the position of the Chinese fleet became even more difficult. Now it was possible to fire at Chinese ships from land, in addition to which the Japanese managed to remove the boom, which allowed their torpedo boats to make night attacks. On February 7, during an attack by the Japanese fleet, three Chinese ships were sunk and another was seriously damaged. The Japanese also managed to destroy a defensive fort on one of the islands.
The final defeat of the Chinese side was becoming inevitable and was just a matter of time. The commander of the Beiyang Fleet, Ding Zhuchang, and his deputy committed suicide. Scottish Vice Admiral McClure took command. On February 12, the Japanese received a message about the surrender of the Chinese fleet.
After the fall of Weihaiwei, Beijing abolished the Admiralty Board because the Qing no longer had a navy. This battle was the last major battle of the war, as peace negotiations soon began between China and Japan. However, several more small battles took place before the Treaty of Shimonoseki was signed.
Treaty of Shimonoseki
On April 17, 1885, after difficult, almost month-long negotiations, a peace treaty was signed. Under its terms, the Qing Empire recognized the independence of Korea and gave Japan the Liaodong Peninsula, Taiwan and the Penghu (Pescadores) archipelago. In addition, China had to pay an indemnity of 200 million. Liang, open some ports for trade, provide the Japanese with permission to build industrial enterprises on their territory with permission to import industrial equipment, which opened up wide opportunities for the penetration of foreign capital.
Russia, Germany and France, which by that time had extensive contacts with China, perceived the conditions imposed by the Qing Empire as infringing on their interests. By their intervention, these countries forced Japan to give up the Liaodong Peninsula in exchange for another 30 million. liang
Republic of Taiwan
When news of the terms of the Treaty of Shimonoseki reached Taiwan, a number of influential Taiwanese decided to oppose Japanese annexation. On May 25, 1895, the creation of the free democratic republic of Taiwan was announced. However, the republic lasted only 5 months, and ceased to exist in October 1895 after the final defeat of the Republicans by Japanese troops.
Results of the war
During the fighting, according to some sources, the number of deaths on the Japanese side was about 14 thousand people, on the Qing side – 10 thousand.
Japanese military successes during this campaign were a consequence of reforms begun more than two decades earlier with the start of the Meiji Restoration. The war demonstrated the superiority of Japanese tactics adopted from the Western powers.
The state's navy was modeled on the British navy, with Japanese cadets going to Britain to study seamanship and British advisers going to Japan to train the navy. The land army was created on the model of the German-Prussian one: German doctrines, military system and organization were adopted. In 1873, universal conscription was introduced.
The country's prestige grew in the eyes of the whole world and made Japan the dominant state in the Asian region.
China's defeat was a consequence high level government corruption. The Qing Empire did not have a national army. After the Taiping Rebellion, the army was divided into separate units, usually along ethnic lines: Manchus, Hans, Mongols, etc. The war was fought mainly by the Beiyang Fleet and the Beiyang Army. However, the ships of the fleet were not properly maintained, and discipline among the troops was low. Other regional armies and navies refused to participate in hostilities altogether.
Traditionally, China has assigned Japan a dependent position, including it in its sphere of cultural influence. And although in the 19th century China had already suffered defeat from European powers, the victory of Asian Japan brought crushing blow according to the prestige of the country. Within China, the humiliating defeat was the catalyst for a series of political upheavals that culminated in the fall of the Qing Empire.
Korea declared itself the Korean Empire and declared its independence from the Qing Empire. Under pressure from Japan, a series of reforms were carried out that abolished legalized slavery, privileged classes, child marriage and proclaimed equality of rights and opportunities. Educational reform was carried out and the Gregorian calendar was adopted instead of the Chinese one.
Japan achieved most of its goals and removed Korea from Chinese influence, but was forced to abandon the Liaodong Peninsula under diplomatic pressure European countries and Russia, which had its own plans for Port Arthur. In 1889, Port Arthur was leased by China to Russia for a period of 25 years. In addition, the Qing granted the Russians rights to build the railway, canceling the previous agreement with the Japanese. Thus began a clash of interests between the two states in this region, which subsequently led to the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905.
The unpunished seizure of Ethiopia and the deployment of the Italo-German intervention in Spain were inspiring examples for Japan in expanding its expansion in the Far East. Having gained a foothold in Manchuria, the Japanese military increased its provocations on the borders of the Soviet Union and the Mongolian People's Republic.
Preparing a broad aggression against the USSR, the Japanese militarists tried to provide their country with the industrial and agricultural raw materials necessary for the war, regardless of imports, and also to create an important strategic bridgehead on the Asian continent. They hoped to solve this problem by capturing Northern China.
In this part of the country, about 35 percent of China's coal and 80 percent of iron ore reserves were concentrated, there were deposits of gold, sulfur, asbestos, and manganese ores, cotton, wheat, barley, beans, tobacco and other crops were grown, and leather and wool were produced. Northern China, with its 76 million population, could become a market for the goods of Japanese monopolies. Therefore, it is no coincidence that the Japanese government, in the program for the conquest of Northern China, adopted by the Council of Five Ministers on August 11, 1936, stipulated that “in this area it is necessary to create an anti-communist, pro-Japanese, pro-Manchu zone, strive to acquire strategic resources and expand transport facilities...” (89) .
Trying for a number of years to tear away Northern China through an inspired movement for its autonomy and using corrupt Chinese generals and politicians to do this, the Japanese militarists were never successful. Then the Japanese government put forward a course of new open armed conquests in Asia. In Manchuria, military factories and arsenals, airfields and barracks were built at an accelerated pace, and strategic communications were laid. Already by 1937, the total length of railways here was 8.5 thousand km, and new roads were laid mainly to the Soviet border. The number of airfields increased to 43, and landing sites - to 100. The armed forces were also increased. By 1937, the Kwantung Army had six divisions, over 400 tanks, about 1,200 guns and up to 500 aircraft. Over the course of six years, 2.5 million Japanese soldiers visited Manchuria (90).
Japan's ruling circles viewed the war with China as an integral element of preparations for an attack on the Soviet Union. Since the occupation of Manchuria in 1931 - 1932. Japanese militarists began to call Northeast China the “life line” of Japan, that is, the line of further attack on the Asian continent. Their strategic plan included the preparation and deployment of a major war, primarily against the USSR. The seizure of its Far Eastern territories was assessed by the ruling circles of Japan as the main condition for the establishment of Japanese rule over all of Asia.
The leading role in developing aggressive plans to create a “great Japan before Baikal and Tibet” was played by Okada, Tojo, the father of Japanese fascism Hiranuma, one of the prominent leaders of the “young officers” Itagaki and other leaders of militarism. These instigators of an openly aggressive policy preached the idea of a widespread “use of force”, which would represent the development of the “imperial way” (“kodo”) and would lead “to the liberation of the peoples of Asia.”
A year before the attack on China, on August 7, 1936, Prime Minister Hirota, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Ministers of War and Navy, and the Minister of Finance developed a policy declaration on the basic principles of national policy. It provided for the introduction of the Japanese Empire into East Asia, as well as expansion into the South Seas region through active diplomatic activity and military efforts on land and sea (91).
The Japanese imperialists understood that alone they would not be able to implement their plans in the Far East. The powerful ally they needed was found in Hitler's Germany, which was no less concerned about finding a reliable partner.
The rapprochement of the two imperialist predators took place under the banner of anti-communism. Both sides hoped to gain important political benefits from this alliance. Germany hoped, with the help of Japan, to complicate the situation in the regions of East and Southeast Asia and thereby draw the forces of the Soviet Union to the Far East, and England, France and the United States to the Pacific theater, which, according to the fascist leaders, was supposed to strengthen Germany’s position in Europe, on the Mediterranean, Baltic and North Seas. And Japan expected support from Germany in its aggressive policy against the Soviet Union and China.
Having agreed, Germany and Japan signed the “Anti-Comintern Pact” on November 25, 1936. A month later, Japan, meeting the wishes of Germany and Italy, recognized the Franco regime.
As the first practical steps to implement the secret articles of the concluded treaty, the Japanese militarists planned to “destroy the Russian threat in the north” under the pretext of “creating a strong defense of Japan in Manchuria.” It was noted that military forces must be ready to deliver a crushing blow to the most powerful army that the USSR could deploy along its eastern borders. Based on this, military and “self-reliance” plans were drawn up in 1937 “to be prepared for the historical stage in the development of Japan's destiny, which must be achieved regardless of any difficulties” (92).
The plan to seize China was most clearly expressed in the recommendations of the Chief of Staff of the Kwantung Army, Tojo, sent on June 9, 1937 to the General Staff and the War Ministry. They stated that it was advisable to carry out an attack on China in order to secure the rear of the Kwantung Army before the deployment of actions against the USSR (93).
In 1933 - 1937 Japan, using the capitulatory policy of the Kuomintang government, managed to gain a foothold not only in Manchuria, but also in the provinces of Hebei, Chahar, and partly in Suiyuan and Zhehe.
The open expansion of Japanese imperialism found moral, diplomatic and material support from the USA, England and France. Intending to strangle the national liberation movement in China at the hands of the Japanese military, they sought to use Japan as a striking force against the Soviet Union. Under the guise of traditional isolationism, a policy of “non-intervention” and “neutrality”, the United States significantly increased the supply of scrap metal, fuel and other strategic materials to Japan. During the first half of 1937, preceding the outbreak of war in China, exports of goods to Japan increased by 83 percent. In 1938, Morgan and other financial monopoly tycoons provided Japanese firms with a loan in the amount of $125 million.
England defended Japan in the League of Nations. Its press wrote a lot about the military weakness of China and the power of Japan, about the latter’s ability to quickly conquer its neighbor, which, in essence, was provoking Japan’s aggressive actions. The British government, not interested in the defeat of China, nevertheless wanted its maximum weakening, as it feared that a single independent Chinese state would arise next to India and Burma (at that time British colonial possessions). In addition, England believed that a strong Japan could serve not only as a weapon in the fight against the USSR, but also as a counterweight to the United States in the Far East.
In the summer of 1937, Japan began implementing a plan to conquer all of China. On July 7, units of General Kawabe's 5th Mixed Brigade attacked a Chinese garrison located 12 km southwest of Beiping (Beijing), in the area of the Lugouqiao Bridge. The garrison personnel offered heroic resistance to the enemy (94). The incident provoked by the Japanese served as the reason for the start of the next stage of the war in China, a war on a wider scale.
By forcing military events in the summer of 1937, the Japanese militarists wanted to prevent the beginning of the process of creating an anti-Japanese front in China, to induce the Kuomintang government to return to the fratricidal civil war, and to demonstrate their “military power” to the fascist partner in the “Anti-Comintern Pact.” By this time, a favorable situation had been created for an invasion of China: England and France showed complete reluctance to interfere with the Italian-German intervention in Spain, and the United States of America did not want to get involved in the fight with Japan because of China.
Japan's ruling circles also hoped that China's military-technical backwardness and the weakness of its central government, to which local generals often did not obey, would ensure victory in two or three months.
By July 1937, the Japanese allocated 12 infantry divisions (240 - 300 thousand soldiers and officers), 1200 - 1300 aircraft, about 1000 tanks and armored vehicles, more than 1.5 thousand guns for operations in China. The operational reserve consisted of part of the forces of the Kwantung Army and 7 divisions stationed in the metropolis. Large naval forces were allocated to support the actions of ground forces from the sea (95).
For two weeks, the Japanese command assembled the necessary forces in Northern China. By July 25, the 2.4, 20th infantry divisions, 5th and 11th mixed brigades were concentrated here - in total more than 40 thousand people, approximately 100 - 120 guns, about 150 tanks and armored vehicles, 6 armored trains, up to 150 airplanes. From isolated battles and skirmishes, Japanese troops soon moved on to conducting operations in the directions of Peiping and Tianjin.
After capturing these largest cities and strategic points in China, the general staff planned to capture the most important communications: Beiping - Puzhou, Beiping - Hankou, Tianygzin - Pukou and the Longhai Railway. On August 31, after heavy fighting, Japanese formations occupied fortifications in the Nankou area and then captured the city of Zhangjiakou (Kalgan).
The Japanese command, continuously bringing up reserves, expanded the offensive. By the end of September, more than 300 thousand soldiers and officers were operating in Northern China (96). The 2nd Expeditionary Force, advancing along the Beiping - Hankou railway, occupied the city of Baoding in September 1937, Zhengding and the Shijiazhuang junction station on October 11, fell on November 8 Big City and the industrial center of Taiyuan. The Kuomintang armies, suffering heavy losses, retreated to the Longhai Railway.
Simultaneously with the offensive in the north, the Japanese launched military operations in Central China. On August 13, their troops numbering 7-8 thousand people, with the support of the fleet, began fighting on the approaches to Shanghai, the area of which was defended by about 10 thousand Kuomintang troops. Fierce fighting continued for three months. During this time, the strength of Matsui's 3rd Expeditionary Force increased to 115 thousand people. It received 400 guns, 100 tanks, and 140 aircraft (97). Using an encirclement maneuver and using toxic substances, the Japanese captured Shanghai on November 12 and created a real threat to the Kuomintang capital, Nanjing (98). Japanese aircraft bombed Shantou (Swatou), Guangzhou (Canton), and Hainan Island, preparing the conditions for the landing of their forces in the most important points of Southeast and Eastern China.
Using the success achieved, Japanese troops in the second half of November 1937 launched an offensive along the Shanghai-Nanjing railway and the Hangzhou-Nanjing highway. By the end of November they managed to cover Nanjing from three sides. On December 7, 90 planes subjected the city to a barbaric bombardment. On December 12, the Japanese burst into the capital and carried out a bloody massacre of the civilian population for five days, as a result of which about 50 thousand people died (99).
With the capture of Shanghai and Nanjing, the Japanese formed two isolated fronts: northern and central. Over the next five months, there was a fierce struggle for the city of Xuzhou, where the Japanese invaders used toxic substances and tried to use bacteriological weapons. After two “general offensives,” the Japanese managed to unite these fronts and capture the entire Tianjin-Pukou railway.
The results of the battles showed that, despite the poor technical equipment of the Chinese army and the lack of a navy, the Japanese were unable to implement the idea of a one-act war. The ruling circles of Japan had to reckon with both the growing discontent of the people and the anti-war sentiments in the army. The Japanese government decided to overcome enormous economic and internal political difficulties through “extraordinary measures”: establishing complete military control over the economy, eliminating all democratic freedoms and organizations, and introducing a system of fascist terror against the working people.
The Konoe cabinet, which was an organ of the dictatorship of the reactionary military and monopoly capital, intended to defuse the internal political situation in the country by unleashing military operations on the Soviet border. Undertaking the occupation of Manchuria, the command of the Kwantung Army developed operational plans: “Hei” - against China and “Otsu” - against the USSR. The latter provided for the occupation of Soviet Primorye. Subsequently, this plan was repeatedly revised and refined. The concentration of the main Japanese forces in Eastern Manchuria was planned for 1938-1939. At the first stage of hostilities against the USSR, it was planned to capture Nikolsk-Ussuriysk, Vladivostok, Iman, and then Khabarovsk, Blagoveshchensk and Kuibyshevka-Vostochnaya (100). At the same time, an invasion of the Mongolian People's Republic was planned.
Taking advantage of the tense situation that has developed in Europe in connection with the preparation fascist Germany to the capture of Czechoslovakia, Japan decided to accelerate the attack on the Mongolian People's Republic and the Soviet Union. In July 1938, she accused the USSR of violating the borders with Manchukuo and launched a wide propaganda and diplomatic campaign around this. At the same time, the militarists were preparing an open armed provocation in the area of Lake Khasan, not far from the junction of the borders of Manchukuo, Korea and Soviet Primorye.
Back in 1933, the Kwantung Army, preparing for an attack on the USSR, conducted a topographical study of the area, the boundaries of which run along the Tumen-Ula River and the heights west of Lake Khasan, from where the area is clearly visible. The enemy decided to capture these heights, since they dominated communications leading to Vladivostok and other cities of Primorye. At the same time, he intended to test the strength of the Soviet Army in this area and test his operational plan in practice.
On July 15, 1938, Japanese diplomats presented to the Soviet government a demand to withdraw border troops from the Zaozernaya and Bezymyannaya heights, allegedly belonging to Manchukuo. They refused to take into account the text of the Hunchun Protocol, signed by China in 1886, presented by the Soviet side, with maps from which it was clear that the Japanese side’s claims were illegal.
By July 29, the Japanese had brought several infantry and cavalry formations, three machine-gun battalions, separate tank, heavy artillery and anti-aircraft units, as well as armored trains and 70 aircraft to the border. This group consisted of more than 38 thousand people. But after two weeks of fierce fighting, the Japanese troops were completely defeated and driven back beyond the Soviet border.
The fighting at Lake Khasan cannot be considered a border incident. Planned by the General Staff, they were sanctioned by five ministers and the Emperor of Japan. The attack represented an aggressive action against the USSR. The victory of Soviet weapons inspired Chinese patriots, morally supported the fighters of the Chinese armed forces and was a deterrent in Japan's outbreak of war in the Far East.
In the fall of 1938, Japan shifted its strategic efforts to southern China. On October 22, 1938, the Japanese army captured Guangzhou with a naval attack (101). With the loss of this port, China became isolated from the outside world. Five days later, a 240,000-strong Japanese force advancing from Nanjing up the Yangtze, supported by 180 tanks and 150 aircraft, captured the Wuhan tricity and cut the only railway crossing China from north to south from Beiping to Guangzhou. Communication between the military regions of the Kuomintang army was interrupted. The Kuomintang government evacuated to Chongqing (Sichuan Province), where it remained until the end of the war. By the end of October 1938, the Japanese managed to capture a vast territory of China with the main industrial centers and the country's most important railways. The first stage of the Sino-Japanese War, when the Japanese launched an offensive along the entire front, has ended.
The new stage of aggression was characterized by the political and economic offensive of Japanese imperialism. Military actions were carried out for limited purposes. Thus, on February 10, 1939, Japanese landing forces captured Hainan Island, and in March Nanwei (Spratlys). The Japanese later carried out an offensive operation south of the Yangtze, which resulted in the occupation of Nanchang on April 3; in May Chongqing was subjected to fierce bombardment, and in June the port city of Shantou was occupied. However, these operations were not of great strategic importance: the front line remained more or less stable for several years. The Japanese did not dare to throw well-knit, technically equipped units concentrated on the borders with the USSR against the Chinese armed forces. This greatly alleviated the situation of the Republic of China.
Having captured the most economically and strategically important areas of China and taking into account the great influence of pro-Japanese elements in the Chinese government, the inability, and sometimes unwillingness of the Kuomintang command to wage an active war, the Japanese command hoped to achieve the capitulation of the Kuomintang leadership by political rather than military means.
However, the Chinese people did not stop fighting against the aggressor. By the end of 1938, in the territory occupied by Japanese troops, and especially on their too extended communications, active actions Chinese guerrilla units deployed. To destroy partisan detachments and their bases located in Northern and Central China, as well as on Hainan Island, the Japanese command organized several “destructive” campaigns. However, to end partisan movement he failed.
Intensively exploiting the country's economic resources, the Japanese monopolists tried to create an extensive military-industrial base in the occupied territory. By this time, large concerns and their branches were operating in Manchuria, which had already been turned into the main military-economic and strategic springboard of Japanese imperialism (the South Manchurian Railway Company, the Manchurian Heavy Industry Development Company "Mange" and others). Throughout China, old concerns were revived and new concerns were created (Northern China Development Company, Central China Revival Company). The main attention was paid to the development of heavy industry, primarily metallurgy, energy, oil, as well as the production of weapons and ammunition. The construction of military factories and arsenals, ports and airfields continued, and the number of military settlements grew. To the borders of the Soviet Union and Mongolian People's Republic Strategic railways and highways were built at an accelerated pace from Northeast and Northern China, for the construction of which the forced labor of millions of Chinese workers and peasants was used.
The aggressive actions of the Japanese imperialists caused serious damage to the interests of the monopoly circles of the USA, England and France, which had large investments in China. Since August 25, 1937, the Japanese navy and army blockaded the coast of China and closed the mouth of the Yangtze to ships of all states, aircraft bombed foreign ships, concessions and various American and British missions. By preventing the activities of foreign entrepreneurs, the Japanese administration established control over currency and customs in the occupied areas.
Having captured the island of Hainan, the Japanese reached the approaches to English and French possessions. However, the ruling circles of the imperialist powers, hoping for a clash between Japan and the USSR, did not take effective measures against it and limited themselves to only diplomatic gestures. In the summer of 1939, the US Congress, again considering the issue of “neutrality,” decided to keep the laws of 1935 - 1937 in force. President Roosevelt, in his message to Congress on January 4, 1939, acknowledged that the Neutrality Act did not advance the cause of peace. By this, he confirmed that the policy of the US ruling circles objectively contributed to the outbreak of a world war by the aggressor countries, and the victims of the attack could not count on purchasing military materials from the United States of America.
Despite the fact that American interests were infringed on in the Far East more than in Europe, the United States during the first two years of the war, the most difficult for China, did not provide it with significant assistance in the fight against the Japanese aggressors (102). At the same time, American monopolies supplied Japan with everything necessary to carry out this aggression, and therefore to prepare for the “big war” against the USSR. In 1937 alone, the United States exported more than 5.5 million tons of oil and more than 150 million yen worth of machine tools to Japan. In 1937 - 1939 they provided Japan with $511 million worth of war materials and strategic raw materials, representing nearly 70 percent of all American exports to that country (103). No less than 17 percent of strategic materials went to Japan from England.
The expansion of Japanese aggression in China was also facilitated by the policy of the imperialist powers in the League of Nations. Thus, on October 6, 1937, the League limited itself to only a resolution on “moral support” for China. The 19-nation conference in Brussels rejected the Soviet proposal to impose sanctions against Japan.
Nazi Germany counted on a quick victory for Japan. In this case, the forces of the Japanese army would be freed up to attack the USSR from the east. The Nazis also hoped that after the defeat the Chiang Kai-shek government would enter into the “anti-Comintern Pact.”
Germany and Italy, despite the differences between them, continued to supply their eastern ally with weapons and kept technical specialists and aviation instructors in the Japanese army, many of whom were directly involved in air raids on Chinese cities (104).
The Japanese militarists understood that without isolating the Soviet state, no military effort could lead them to victory in China, and therefore showed great interest in a German attack on the Soviet Union. Advertising their commitment to the spirit of the “anti-Comintern Pact,” they assured the Nazi leadership that Japan would join Germany and Italy in the event of a war against the USSR. On April 15 and June 24, 1939, the Soviet military intelligence officer R. Sorge, based on data from the German ambassador to Japan Ott, reported to the General Staff of the Red Army that if Germany and Italy started a war with the USSR, Japan would join them at any time, not setting no conditions (105). A detailed assessment of Japan's policy towards the USSR was given by the naval attache of Italy in Mussolini's report on May 27, 1939: “... if for Japan the government of Chiang Kai-shek is an open enemy, then enemy No. 1, an enemy with which it can never there will be no truce, no compromise, is Russia for her... The victory over Chiang Kai-shek would not have had any meaning if Japan had been unable to block Russia’s path, throw it back, and cleanse the Far East once and for all of Bolshevik influence . Communist ideology, naturally, is outlawed in Japan; the best army of Japan - the Kwantung Army - stands on the continent guarding the coastal province. Manchukuo was organized as a starting base for an attack on Russia" (106).
Having stabilized the front in China, the Japanese military, despite the defeat in the Lake Khasan area, again turned its predatory gaze to the north. In the fall of 1938, the General Staff of the Japanese Army began to develop a plan for war against the USSR, which received the code name “Operation Plan No. 8.” As part of this plan, two options were developed: option “A” provided for delivering the main blow in the direction of Soviet Primorye, “B” - in the direction of Transbaikalia. The War Ministry insisted on carrying out Plan A, the General Staff, together with the command of the Kwantung Army, insisted on Plan B. During the discussion, the second point of view won, and from the spring of 1939, active preparations began for the implementation of aggression against the MPR and the USSR according to Plan “B” (107). By the summer of 1939, the number of Japanese troops in Manchuria reached 350 thousand people, armed with 1052 guns, 385 tanks and 355 aircraft; in Korea there were 60 thousand soldiers and officers, 264 guns, 34 tanks and 90 aircraft (108).
By implementing their plans, the Japanese militarists hoped to bring closer the conclusion of a military alliance with Germany and Italy, to cast doubt on the ability of the USSR to fulfill its obligations of mutual assistance and thereby contribute to the failure of negotiations between the Soviet Union and England and France.
The Mongolian People's Republic has long been attracted to Japan. The capture of this country would give it major strategic benefits, which the Chief of Staff of the Kwantung Army Itagaki clearly spoke about in a conversation with the Japanese Ambassador to China Arita in 1936. He stated that the MPR “is very important from the point of view of the Japanese-Manchu influence of today, for it is the flank of the defense of the Siberian Railway, connecting Soviet territories in the Far East and Europe. If Outer Mongolia (MPR - Ed.) is united with Japan and Manchukuo, then the Soviet territories in the Far East will find themselves in a very difficult situation and it will be possible to destroy the influence of the Soviet Union in the Far East without military action. Therefore, the goal of the army should be to extend Japanese-Manchu rule over Outer Mongolia by any means at its disposal" (109).
The Soviet government knew about Japan's aggressive plans for the Mongolian People's Republic. True to its allied and international duty, it declared in February 1936 that in the event of a Japanese attack on the Mongolian People's Republic, the Soviet Union would help Mongolia defend its independence. On March 12, 1936, the Soviet-Mongolian protocol on mutual assistance against aggression was signed.
In an effort to justify their aggressive actions, the Japanese resorted to forgery. On their own topographic maps they marked the border of Manchukuo along the Khalkhin Gol River, which actually ran to the east. This, in their opinion, should have created a “legal basis” for the attack.
At the beginning of 1939, the Soviet government officially declared that “the border of the Mongolian People's Republic, by virtue of the mutual assistance agreement concluded between us, we will defend as resolutely as our own” (110).
However, the militarists did not heed this warning and secretly brought a large group of troops to the borders of the MPR. They not only conducted intensive reconnaissance, but also repeatedly violated borders. The most serious incident occurred on May 11. The next day, the Japanese brought an infantry regiment into battle, supported by aviation, and, pushing back the border outposts of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Army, reached the Khalkhin Gol River. Thus began an undeclared war against the MPR, which lasted more than four months.
The fighting on the territory of the Mongolian People's Republic coincided with negotiations between Japanese Foreign Minister Arita and the British Ambassador in Tokyo, Craigie. In July 1939, an agreement was concluded between England and Japan, according to which England recognized the Japanese seizures in China. Thus, the British government provided diplomatic support for Japanese aggression against the MPR and its ally, the USSR.
The United States also took advantage of the situation on the borders of the Mongolian People's Republic. Encouraging Japan to go to war in every possible way, the American government first extended the previously canceled trade agreement with Japan for six months, and then completely restored it. Transatlantic monopolies had the opportunity to pocket large profits. In 1939, Japan purchased ten times more iron and steel scrap from the United States than in 1938. The US monopolists sold Japan $3 million of the latest machine tools for aircraft factories. In 1937 - 1939 In return, the United States received $581 million worth of gold from Japan (111). “If anyone follows the Japanese armies in China and ascertains how much American equipment they have, then he has the right to think that he is following American army"(112)," wrote the US trade attaché in China. In addition, financial assistance was provided to Japan.
The provocative attacks of the Japanese at Lake Khasan and on the Khalkhin Gol River were nothing more than the “anti-Comintern Pact” in action. However, the aggressors' expectation that they would be supported by Hitler's Germany did not materialize. It was also not possible to achieve any concessions from the USSR and the MPR. The aggressive plans of the Japanese militarists collapsed.
The defeat of the Japanese at Khalkhin Gol, their strategic failures in China, and the crisis in relations with Germany caused by the conclusion of the Soviet-German non-aggression pact were deterrents that temporarily separated the forces of the aggressors.
The enslavement of Ethiopia, the seizure of the Rhineland, the strangulation of the Spanish Republic, and the outbreak of war in China were links in one chain of imperialist policy in the late thirties. The aggressive states - Germany, Italy and Japan - with the direct support of the USA, England and France, sought to fan the flames of a world war through local wars and military conflicts as quickly as possible. The intense rivalry between the imperialist powers was entering a new phase. The usual forms of struggle - competition in markets, trade and currency wars, dumping - have long been recognized as insufficient. The talk was now about a new redistribution of the world, spheres of influence, colonies through open armed violence.
China's armed struggle against the Japanese invaders began in nineteen thirty-seven and lasted for nine long years. During this time, the air force of the Kuomintang, the internationally recognized government of China, managed to change its material several times, at times losing almost all of its aircraft in battles and then being revived due to supplies from abroad. During one of these periods, from approximately 1938 to 1940, Chinese aviation was represented exclusively by Soviet aircraft, including I-152 and I-16 fighters, and Soviet volunteer pilots flew them together with the Chinese. This article talks about the contribution of the I-16 aircraft to the defense of Chinese airspace.
Brief description of events
In the thirties of the 20th century, the Republic of China was in a very difficult situation. The state apparatus is mired in corruption; then died down, then flared up again Civil War between the officially recognized ruling party, the Kuomintang, Communist Party China and separatists in the provinces. Against this background, the eastern neighbor, Japan, became more active, rapidly gaining strength and dreaming of building a “Great East Asian Sphere of Mutual Prosperity” under its own auspices, of course. In 1931, as a result of the actions of the Japanese armed forces, Manchuria was torn away from China, on whose territory the puppet state of Manchukuo was later formed. A continuation followed six years later.
On July 7, 1937, the “Second Sino-Japanese War” began with the conflict at Lugouqiao Bridge. China, essentially, was not ready for this war. The Kuomintang troops retreated, losing strength in bloody battles. The governors-general of the Chinese provinces left the best army units to defend their territory (in case relations with the central government deteriorated), sending practically unarmed territorial troops to the front. There was not enough artillery. The state of the Chinese air force was even more deplorable.
The West's reaction to events in China was rather sluggish. The League of Nations limited itself to only formally condemning Japan's actions, and even then very late (the resolution was released only on November 24, 1937).
Japanese ace Takeo Kato near his Ki.10. China, 1938.
Air force composition of the parties
With the outbreak of war, Japanese industry sharply increased aircraft production to provide aviation for the army and navy. new technology. In 1937, Japanese factories produced 1511 aircraft, and in 1938 already 3201, more than twice as many. First of all, the rearmament affected the Imperial Fleet Aviation, in which the outdated Nakajima A2M1 and A4M1 biplanes were replaced by the new Mitsubishi A5M monoplane fighter designed by Jiro Horikoshi. The main fighter of the army aviation was still the Kawasaki Ki.10 biplane, so the army air force during this period was used mainly to cover Japanese troops in Northern China and provide air defense to Manchuria. However, already in March 1938, a new fighter, the Nakajima Ki.27, appeared in the skies of China, which soon began to arrive in ever-increasing quantities to Imperial Army Aviation units.
| Japanese army fighters | |
|---|---|
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Ki.10 Takeo Kato, autumn 1937 |
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Ki.27 captured by the Chinese and repainted in Kuomintang Air Force colors |
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Nakajima Ki-43 25th Sentai. Nanjing, 1943. |
The Republic of China could do little to counter the might of the Japanese military machine. In China itself there was practically no developed aviation industry; factories were engaged in assembling foreign aircraft from kits. Aviation at the beginning of the war included about six hundred aircraft, including three hundred and five fighters. Fighter aircraft were represented by American Curtiss (the Hawk-II and Hawk-III biplanes were in service), Boeing-281 (better known as R-26), as well as Italian Fiat CR.32. The best fighter from this “hodgepodge” was considered the Curtiss Hawk III, a biplane with retractable landing gear, which, while superior to the Japanese A2M, A4M and Ki.10 biplanes, could not compete on equal terms with the new A5M and Ki.27 monoplanes.
*According to other sources: 16 delivered; 24 ordered, 9 of them delivered.
Initially, the Chinese managed to beat up the enemy fighter units, but with the appearance of the A5M in the skies over Shanghai, the Japanese seized air supremacy. The number of combat-ready fighters began to fall catastrophically, and the question arose about purchasing new combat vehicles abroad. Attempts to conclude trade agreements with Western powers encountered strong political opposition from Japan. The Europeans, even in the east, faithful to their “policy of appeasement,” did not want to quarrel with the growing empire.
In August 1937, a batch of twenty-four French Devoitin D.510C fighters was ordered; they took part in combat operations from the summer of 1938. At the beginning of December 1937, thirty-six British Gladiators Mk.I were delivered to Hong Kong, but under pressure from Japan, the British authorities refused to provide technical assistance for the assembly of the aircraft, as a result of which their introduction into service was very delayed. In any case, all this was like a drop in the bucket.
There was nowhere to wait for help. Therefore, the head of the Chinese government, the leader of the Kuomintang, Chiang Kai-shek, had no choice but to turn to the Soviet Union for help. The USSR government was interested in keeping the Japanese as far as possible from the borders of their country, so the negotiations proceeded quickly and without delay. On August 21, 1937, a non-aggression pact was concluded between the USSR and China. In September, a Chinese military delegation arrived in Moscow and was shown samples of Soviet weapons, including one training aircraft, at the Shchelkovo airfield. UTI-4. Already in October 1937, before the signing of the official agreement, the Soviet Union began to transfer weapons to China, including aircraft. Simultaneously with the dispatch of aircraft, at the request of Chiang Kai-shek, the Soviet Union began sending volunteer pilots. In 1937, one I-16 squadron (thirty-one aircraft and one hundred and one flight and technical personnel) was sent to help. By the end of November, however, only twenty-three aircraft had arrived.
The first deliveries of equipment on credit (that is, official) began on March 1, 1938. By June 10, the first contract had delivered, among other things, 94 I-16s ( type 5 And type 10), as well as 8 UTI-4. In the very first battles, the insufficient firepower of the two wing-mounted ShKAS machine guns on the I-16 type 5 was revealed, so in the spring of 1938, along with the I-16 type 10, additional machine guns began to arrive in China to rearm the I-16 type 5. From July 5, 1938 to On September 1, 1939, another 20 I-16 type 10 (with two sets of spare parts) and 10 guns were transferred I-16 type 17(with one set of spare parts). Deliveries of “donkeys” continued further, perhaps until 1941. It is known that in addition to the listed types of “donkeys”, China was transferred I-16 type 18, and probably type 6.
Help is coming
The selection of pilots to participate in the Sino-Japanese War was carried out very carefully. Volunteers were gathered in Moscow in October 1937, where they were familiarized with the characteristics of the Japanese Ki.10 fighter. By October 21, 1937, 447 people, including ground personnel, had been trained for deployment to China. Dressed in civilian clothes, they went by train to Alma-Ata, where I-16 fighters were waiting for them at the airfield.
Upon arrival in Alma-Ata, it turned out that the entire group flew only I-15s, and at the local airfield more than thirty already assembled, but not yet flown I-16s were waiting for them. As a result, G.N. Zakharov had to fly over the entire batch of I-16s for two to three weeks while waiting for a new group of pilots. It was sent only at the end of November. The personnel of the I-15 fighter squadron (99 people, including 39 pilots) led by Captain A.S. Blagoveshchensky was sent to China in three groups in November, December 1937 and January 1938.
The first batches of I-15 and I-16, by analogy with bombers, were transported along the “southern route” Almaty-Lanzhou (Gansu Province). The air route, about 2,400 km long, consisted of a chain of bases with airfields: Alma-Ata - Gulja - Shikho - Urumqi - Guchei - Hami - Shinshinxia - Anxi - Suzhou - Lianzhou - Lanzhou. The main bases were in Almaty, Hami and Lanzhou. Each route base was headed by a Soviet commander, who was responsible for the required number of specialists, as well as a minimum of technical equipment for servicing the aircraft being transported.
Poorly suited for high-speed bombers, the small, unequipped high-mountain sites of the “southern route” were simply dangerous for fighters, especially for I-16s with their high landing speed. In addition, the cars were overweight. As G. Zakharov wrote, “In addition to being fully loaded with fuel and ammunition, we had to carry with us everything that we might need in emergency conditions - hooks, cables, tents, tools, even some spare parts. In short, every fighter has turned into a truck.".
Winter weather also contributed. During the overnight stay of G. Zakharov’s group in Guchen, the site and the planes were so covered with snow overnight that the next morning they had to rack their brains about how to take off. There was nothing to clear the runway - the place was wild and sparsely populated. “I then released two fighters to taxi, and for two and a half to three hours they, steering track after track, rolled into a rut. Taking off from a rut is risky - it’s not like walking on a ski track with a backpack on your back. A meter to the side during the take-off run - and there will be an accident... But there was no other way out..." One of the I-16 groups spent about a month in Guchen and celebrated the New Year of 1938 there in an adobe hut. When the snow storm subsided, according to technician V.D. Zemlyansky, “it turned out that the fighters were only guessing under the snowdrifts”. To clear the airfield, a small local population was mobilized - Chinese, Uighurs, Dungans. They pierced taxiways and runways in the snow debris. At the same time, a group of F.P. Polynin’s bombers at another airfield took shelter from a sandstorm for two weeks.
In his memoirs, navigator P.T. Sobin described in detail how from September 1937 to June 1938, he and pilots A.A. Skvortsov or A. Shorokhov on the SB repeatedly led groups of 10 - 12 fighters. To ferry G.V. Zakharov of the very first group of I-16 fighters, N.N. Ishchenko from TB-3, who was already familiar with the flight route, was appointed navigator to A. Shorokhov. The ferrying of I-16 and I-15 usually took place according to the following scenario: the leader took off first, collecting the fighters taking off one by one in a circle. They walked along the route in links or pairs, while the leader’s crew carefully watched the followers to see if anyone was lagging behind. On approaching the airfield, the leader disbanded the formation, the fighters stood in a circle and landed in turn. Intermediate airfields were mainly located at the limit of the fighters' flight range, so the group was assembled very quickly after takeoff, and usually landed on the move, otherwise there might not be enough fuel. The leader was the last to land. Then his commander debriefed the flight and gave instructions to the pilots for the next stage of the route. According to Sobin, during the entire flight he had only one case of the plane being lost on the route. Due to an engine malfunction, the I-16 made an emergency landing in the Mulei area (70 km east of Gucheng). The pilot suffered a head injury during landing; the emergency aircraft was left on site until the repair team arrived.
Quite often, at intermediate airfields, planes were “hooded” when landing. The pilots, as a rule, escaped with minor bruises, but the aircraft ended up with bent propellers, damaged engine cowlings and tail units. These aircraft were quickly restored. The most serious incident occurred during the ferrying of the first group. On October 28, when landing at an airfield in Suzhou, located in the middle mountains, the commander of a group of ten I-16s, V.M. Kurdyumov, did not take into account the lower air density and increased landing speed: the plane rolled off the runway, overturned and burned, the pilot died.
On October 31, 1937, brigade commander P.I. Pumpur began to command the southern route. Having learned about flight accidents in Kurdyumov’s group, he canceled the already scheduled departure dates for the second group of I-16s, which included mainly Far Eastern fighters: fighters from the 9th and 32nd separate squadrons. Pumpur began intensively training pilots in flights at extreme altitudes with landings in hard-to-reach places in the hills, in limited areas. The pilot Korestelev, who showed daring, was suspended on a tiny site in the mountains, was suspended from flying and was almost sent back to his unit, but his friends defended him. In addition, the group stood out for its preparation. This group on 9 I-16s took off from Alma-Ata in early December 1937, they were led by brigade commander P.I. Pumpur himself. The group flew to Lanzhou without any special incidents, there the I-16 was handed over to the Chinese, then they returned to Alma-Ata by transporter for a new batch of vehicles. As volunteer D.A. Kudymov recalled, after the second successful “flight” Pumpur was going to leave this group as ferrymen, but then, taking pity, he still let him go “to war.”
Unjustified losses and delays due to weather conditions during the ferrying led to the fact that the “air bridge” was soon reduced, and disassembled fighters began to be delivered by truck to Hami (Xinjiang province). To do this, thousands of Soviet builders had to be sent to this area; under the most difficult conditions, they built a highway through the mountains and deserts between the main points of the route in the shortest possible time. The first cargoes went along the “road of life” in April 1938, at the end of the month the automobile convoy reached Hami.
The highway along which goods were supplied to the Chinese had a length of 2925 km. Her route: Sary-Ozek (Soviet territory) - Urumqi - Hami - Anxi - Suzhou - Lanzhou - Lanzhou. The headquarters in Alma-Ata was in charge of the management. Transportation of aircraft fuselages was carried out on ZiS-6 trucks; planes, tails, propellers and spare parts were transported on ZiS-5. Caravans carrying aircraft usually numbered 50 vehicles, and their movement was limited to daylight hours. Parts of the fighters were transported to Hami, which was 1,590 km and required about eleven days of travel. In Hami, the fighters were assembled by Soviet specialists, after which the planes were flown by air to Lanzhou. The total travel time was 18-20 days.
In battles
Pilots from the Soviet Union entered combat immediately after arriving. On November 21, 1937, the first duel between Soviet and Japanese pilots took place in the skies over Nanjing. Reflecting a raid on the city, 7 I-16s of Kurdyumov’s group intercepted 20 Japanese aircraft and scored three victories (two A5Ms and one bomber) without losses. The next day, November 22, Prokofiev’s group opened its combat account, 6 I-16s in a battle with six A5Ms won one victory without losses.
When Soviet pilots appeared in the air, the Japanese began to suffer heavy losses, and their air superiority was jeopardized. However, after some time they “got the hang of it,” and our pilots, who mostly had no combat experience, began to act less effectively. The absence of a commander in Kurdyumov’s group also had an effect: the deputy squadron commander Sizov, in a difficult situation, did not want to take full responsibility and categorically refused command. As a result, air battles were sluggish and unorganized. The pilots, having no combat experience, acted as they pleased. The pilots were also burdened by the fact that they always had to fight a numerically superior enemy. As a rule, one Soviet fighter was opposed by five to seven Japanese ones.
Due to the impossibility of properly covering the airfields from sudden attacks by Japanese aircraft, Blagoveshchensky organized a kind of analogue of the Soviet VNOS service (air surveillance, warning and communications), in full accordance with the “Chinese realities”. From morning to evening, the pilots were with parachutes near their planes, next to the technicians and mechanics servicing the aircraft. The commander's plane usually stood next to the command post, while the other planes were located nearby in a checkerboard pattern. Immediately upon receiving a signal about the appearance of the enemy, a blue flag fluttered on the tower, indicating an alarm. Blagoveshchensky usually took off first, followed by the others. The group in battle was controlled only by swinging its wings. The signals were previously clearly identified on the ground.
A. S. Blagoveshchensky also took the initiative in organizing the interaction between the “high-speed” I-16 and the “maneuverable” I-15. At the suggestion of one of the pilots, he centralized the firing of machine guns, ordering the installation of a push-button trigger on the handle, to make it easier, he removed the batteries on all aircraft and installed armored backs on the I-15, which saved the lives of many pilots.
As a result of the measures taken, the ratio of losses again changed in favor of the Soviet volunteers.
As mentioned above, in the initial period of the war (1937 - 1939), Soviet and Chinese fighters were mainly opposed by the Mitsubishi A5M aircraft with a fixed landing gear. Its advantage over the I-16 was high horizontal maneuverability, its disadvantages were low speed, poor vertical maneuverability and weak armament. However, the experience of Japanese pilots partially compensated for these shortcomings, so the A5M can be considered a quite worthy adversary. The army Nakajima Ki.27 also fought in China at this time. , in many ways similar to the A5M, but with better characteristics. They do not appear in the memoirs of Soviet fighter pilots; it is possible that they simply did not distinguish them from A5M (or simply did not encounter them). The pilots of the Red Army Air Force were subsequently to become acquainted with them during battles at Khalkhin Gol. The SB crews had a completely different attitude towards the Ki-27: with the advent of these fighters in the area of combat operations of Soviet bombers, the losses of the latter increased, since the I-97 (the name of the Nakajima fighter according to the Soviet classification), unlike the I-96 (A5M) ) and I-95 (Ki-10), could easily catch up with Soviet high-speed bombers. Air battles in the skies over China were notable for the fact that both sides actively used ramming. The most famous, of course, is the Anton Gubenko ram, produced on May 31, 1938, and which became the first Soviet ram. Gubenko on the I-16 destroyed the A5M fighter, and he himself landed safely at his airfield. However, this ram was not the first. At least two more rams are known, carried out by Chinese pilots on the I-15 (February 18 and April 29, 1938). However, in both cases the planes were lost; one pilot escaped by parachute, the other died. Even earlier, on December 22, 1937, Japanese pilot N. Obbayashi rammed an I-16. Both pilots were killed.
A5M4 fighters of the 12th air group in flight over China, 1939
In China, Soviet pilots fought night battles for the first time on I-16s ( in Spain for Polikarpov’s monoplanes this turned out to be impossible due to the lack of suitable runways, so the “night lights” flew there on I-15). So, one night, squadron commander A.I. Lysunkin, together with E. Orlov, took off to intercept Japanese bombers heading towards Henyang. At 23.00, following an alarm signal, the pilots left for the airfield. Details of the battle are mentioned in the memoirs of military doctor S. Belolipetsky:
“The airfield, well known during the day, had a different, almost unrecognizable appearance in the ghostly light of the moon. Near the ruins of the commandant's premises stood several trucks with powerful jupiters installed on the platforms of their bodies. Lysunkin and Orlov, already in full gear, with suspended parachutes, tablets and rocket launchers in their hands, negotiated through an interpreter with the head of the airfield, General Yan: “Take off by moonlight. Jupiters are not needed. As soon as the enemy is bombed, the anti-aircraft guns stop firing, and the searchlights indicate the direction of the enemy's flight. Landing request - white rocket." A minute later, Regimental Commissar Ivan Ivanovich Sulin and I watched as, in the silvery haze of the moonlight, two blunt-nosed “swallows”, rapidly picking up speed, rushed past us one after the other, soared up and sank in the night sky. Judging by the receding noise of the engines, the fighters headed southwest, towards the city. Suddenly, a luminous chain of red tracer dots fell from the sky to the ground, and machine gun fire could be heard. A second sound was heard behind her, but in a different direction. Then the third. Subsequently, we learned: Lysunkin and Orlov, on instructions from the Chinese command, “extinguished” in this way in different areas of Hengyang the lights that continued to glow in conditions of complete darkness. Perhaps the fire was burned out of indiscipline, or perhaps out of malicious intent... The translator took Ivan Ivanovich and me to an air-raid shelter for which a large railway pipe was adapted next to the airfield. Soon the muffled noise of engines penetrated the wary silence of the night. The first explosion exploded. The hundreds of explosions that followed at imperceptibly short intervals merged into a roar of monstrous power. The earth shook, stones of the road embankment fell down. Close explosions hit my ears, showering my face with hot air. This was the first time I was so close to the “epicenter” of a bomb strike. The hellish cannonade ended at once: the last two or three bombs fell alone, and it suddenly became strangely quiet. Sulin and I hastily climbed the embankment in the hope of seeing how our brave fighters would meet the air enemy moving south. There, following the enemy planes, pale blue stripes of searchlight rays stretched out. The airfield was covered in smoke and dust. It was in vain that we strained our eyes and ears. Only once did Ivan Ivanovich suddenly exclaim: “Look, doctor, something flared up over there!” But the roar of the bomber engines stopped, the searchlights went out, and the time for which our fighters had enough fuel was coming to an end. General Yang announced: “The second wave is approaching, and the third has arrived.” But Lysunkin and Orlov were still not there. Finally, the rumble of a single engine was heard in the sky, and a white rocket flew down. One of our people returned and asked permission to land. Where is the second one? Why is he not there, what’s wrong with him? Asking each other these troubling questions, we were afraid that the returning pilot would not have time to land and would fall under Japanese bombs. But then the plane taxied on the ground.
A5M4 fighter on board the aircraft carrier Soryu, 1939
Some more time passed in agonizing anticipation, and the pilot still continued to maneuver, apparently looking for gaps between fresh craters. The pilot most likely had no idea about the danger that threatened him. Unable to resist, Sulin sent an aircraft technician to the airfield to pick up the returnee. Finally the engine fell silent, and immediately in the ensuing silence the distant noise of another group of Mitsubishi was clearly visible. Enemy bomb carriers were already humming menacingly over the airfield when breathless aircraft technicians and Yevgeny Orlov, who had arrived, ran up to our shelter. We barely had time to squeeze into the crowded bomb shelter when the bombs thundered. - Where is Lysunkin? - Don't know. The last time I saw him was when we attacked the Japanese. They responded with heavy fire. I thought Alexander had already returned... It turns out that something wrong happened to him. Now everyone understood that Lysunkin would not be able to return safely: he had long ago run out of gas.”
Unfortunately, A. Lysunkin died. During the battle, his plane was damaged and made an emergency landing. In the moonlight, the pilot mistook the surface of the lake for land; As a result of a strong impact during landing, Lysunkin received a fatal injury, hitting his head on the aiming tube. There are no reports of downed planes in this battle, but the next night, during a raid on the city, several Japanese pilots, remembering the attack by the “donkeys,” mistook their planes for Soviet ones and opened fire on them. As a result of the intensified shelling, as well as due to the actions of Chinese anti-aircraft gunners, the Japanese lost eleven bombers. According to some reports, S.P. Suprun also flew flights at night on a donkey. As S. Ya Fedorov writes, “S. P. Suprun, as a deputy adviser on fighter aviation, was in Chongqing, where two fighter squadrons under his command were based. The Japanese often violated the airspace of the temporary capital of Kuomintang China, making massive reconnaissance flights mainly at night and at dusk. Suprun flew the I-16 fighter designed by P. N. Polikarpov. It was a very good car for that time, maneuverable, with great visibility. S.P. Suprun fought selflessly; there was not a single combat mission to intercept Japanese aircraft and cover the city in which he did not participate. For military services in China, S.P. Suprun was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.” In April 1938, the Japanese government demanded that the USSR recall Soviet volunteers from China. This demand was categorically rejected. Soviet pilots continued to fight in China. Launched by the Japanese in July 1938 conflict on Lake Khasan, designed to force the USSR to stop providing assistance to China, also did not achieve its goal. It is known, however, that all the pilots had already returned to their homeland by the beginning of 1940. This was caused by the outbreak of the Second World War in Europe, as well as by the cooling of relations between the USSR and China (at this time, incidents began in China with attacks by Kuomintang party troops on communist troops). True, there remained a number of our advisers and instructors in the troops who did not take part in the hostilities. January 10, 1940 can probably be considered the day of the last victory of Soviet volunteers in China. It was won by K. Kokkinaki, commander of the I-16 group. This is how he himself recalled this battle:
“The Japanese bombers were flying in two groups of 27 aircraft each, under strong fighter cover. Some of our guys engaged Japanese fighters in battle, while others attacked the bombers. We must pay tribute to the enemy’s combat training and tenacity. The Japanese planes flew in tight formation, wing to wing, skillfully supporting each other with fire. If one vehicle, engulfed in flames, fell to the ground, its place was taken by the one coming from behind, maintaining combat formation. We had to fight with covering fighters. There were significantly more of them. In this battle I shot down the seventh Japanese plane. Coming out of the attack, I saw that two Japanese were attacking the I-16. I hurried to the rescue of my comrade and came under attack myself. The machine-gun fire severely damaged my car, and it went into a steep spiral toward the ground. The experience of a test pilot helped me here. I managed to get the car into horizontal flight and get to my airfield.”
During the war, about seven hundred pilots and technicians visited China, and about two hundred Soviet volunteer pilots died. Fourteen pilots received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for fighting in China, and more than four hundred were awarded orders and medals.
Chinese units on I-16
The first Chinese unit to master the “donkey” was IV tattoo, who on September 21, 1937, having handed over his Hokies III, left for Lanzhou to receive I-16 type 5 and I-15bis. Began to retrain on I-16 21st Changtai, the remaining chantai of the IV tattoo (22nd and 23rd) received biplanes.
Commander IV tattoo Kao Chi-Han (in another transcription - Zhao Jihan)
On November 21, the pilots of the 21st Changtai IV Tattoo flew to Nanjing on donkeys. In total, 15 aircraft took part in the flight, seven of them were piloted by Soviet pilots, eight by the Chinese. The leader of the group was Colonel Kao Chi-Han, commander of the IV Tattoo, who already had five victories to his credit. After takeoff, the fighters were caught in a snowstorm, as a result, only eight I-16s landed at the intermediate airfield in Ankyang - Soviet pilots and Kao, the rest of the Chinese were lost. While refueling, the planes were hit by ten G3M2 bombs. Kao Chi-Han was killed by a bomb while trying to take off. His plane was the first I-16 lost in combat during the Sino-Japanese War. The commander of the IV tattoo was Lee Kuei-Tan.
Changtai pilots, having flown to Nanjing, carried out combat missions until December 3, 1937. On December 13, Nanjing fell. During the retreat, the Chinese left several damaged “donkeys” at the airfields, which were subsequently studied by the Japanese. After the retreat of the 21st Chantai, together with other parts of the IV Tattoo, flew flights from Hankou. The first major battle took place on February 18, 1938. On this day, twelve G3M2 bombers, covered by twenty-six A5M fighters, raided Hankou. Twenty-nine I-16 IV Tattoos and a number of I-15s took off to intercept. According to Chinese data, twelve Japanese were shot down (Japanese data confirms the loss of only four fighters), while five I-16s and four I-15s were lost, all the pilots from the “donkeys” (including the tattoo commander Li Guidan) were killed. In September 1938, due to a shortage of materiel, the IV Tattoo was sent to Lanzhou and re-equipped with the I-15bis.
A Chinese pilot took a photo in front of his I-16 type 17. 24th Changtai, June 1941.
Given IV tattoo 24th Chantai received the first I-16 type 10 in Lanzhou on March 29, 1939. The unit was to provide air defense for Chongqing, where the government of the country was located at that moment. The pilots of the 24th Changtai had the dubious pleasure of being the first to meet Japanese Zero fighters in battle (see below for more details). After this, the 24th Changtai was transferred to Chendu. and then in February 1941 in Hami, where the unit received I-16 III fighters (as the I-16 type 18 was designated in the Chinese Air Force). Units of IV Tattoo received 35 I-16 and 20 I-153 fighters. In June 1940, the group received three times fewer monoplanes than biplanes. On September 1, 1941, the 24th Chantai became part of the new “fighter group”. At the end of March 1942, the pilots of IV Tattoo handed over the last Soviet-designed fighters and headed to Kunming for retraining on the Republic P-43A Lancer aircraft.
26 chantai V tattoo was re-equipped with I-16 at Lanzhou in January 1938. At the end of July 1938, the unit took part in the defense of Hankow. The pilots fought a series of fierce battles with Japanese aircraft. For example, on August 3, up to seventy Japanese aircraft took part in the battle. The commander of the 26th Changtai, Wang Hanxun, shot down one plane. The plane of flight commander Liu Linzi (tail number “5922”) was shot down, the pilot jumped out with a parachute. The pilot of the I-16 fighter with tail number “5920” Ha Huyen made an emergency landing. The I-16 with tail number “5821” was lost, the pilot died. On October 1, the 26th Changtai was given a V tattoo. In September 1939, the unit received seven new I-16 Type 10s. In November, the squadron took part in fierce air battles over Chendu. In 1940, nine new I-16 type 18 arrived in Lanzhou, but by the end of the year all of them were lost for one reason or another or turned out to be ineffective. The squadrons were re-equipped with I-153 aircraft, but already at the beginning of March 1941, the 26th Changtai received the I-16 III, which was left in Lanzhou to cover the route for the transfer of aircraft from the USSR. On September 1, 1941, the unit became part of a new fighter group and by May 1942 was re-equipped with the I-153. Another unit of V Tattoo that received I-16 fighters was formed in July 1941 4th Airlift Command Group. The group was led by the commander of the 29th Chantai, Wang Yanhua, and the unit was armed with seven I-16 III fighters. The pilots continued to carry out air defense missions for Lanzhou. By the end of 1942, the group had become a de facto autonomous unit, reporting not to the central command, but to the leadership of the Xinjiang province, where clashes began between the Chinese and the local Uyghur population. Clashes continued until the Communists came to power in the province in 1943. In September 1943, V Tattoo received American P-66 fighters and surviving I-16s from other groups. At the end of 1943, a Chinese-American air wing was formed on the basis of Tattoo, which received P-40N fighters. It is quite possible that not all I-16s and P-66s were replaced by new fighters.
Future ace Liu Chi-Shen against the background of his I-16 type 5. 21 Changtai, Hankou airfield, March 1938
In January 1940 in Chengdu III tattoo received I-16 and I-152 fighters, most likely left behind by Soviet volunteers recalled to the USSR. I-16 aircraft entered service with the 7th and 32nd Chantai. There were significantly fewer Donkeys than I-152. At the beginning of 1941, I-153 “Chaika” fighters also appeared in the III Tattoo. The group suffered heavy losses in daily air battles with Zeros over Chendu. At the end of April and beginning of May, the group received several more I-16 III fighters. At the beginning of August, at least five I-16s from the “spring” batch took part in the battles. On August 11, twenty-nine Chinese fighters, including nine I-16s, took off to intercept seven new G4M1 bombers and 16 Zero escorts. Five “donkeys” became victims of the Japanese: three were shot down by “Zero” pilots, two by G4M1 air gunners. As far as is known, on August 11, 1941, Chinese I-16 fighters last took part in a battle with Japanese aircraft. It is quite possible that the I-16s remained in service with III Tattoo in mid-September, when the group was re-equipped with P-66 Vanguard aircraft.
The last group to receive I-16 was XI tattoo, formed in Chengdu on December 16, 1940, consisting of the 41st, 42nd, 43rd and 44th Chantai. For the newly formed tattoo, four I-153s, five Curtiss Hawk-75s, twenty I-152s and fifteen I-16s were allocated. The 43rd and 44th Chantai were armed only with I-16 and I-152, while the 42nd were armed with Soviet aircraft and “old fighters of all types.” Presumably, Soviet fighters from XI Tattoo carried out their last air battle on August 11, 1941. In September 1942, the group was mainly rearmed with American P-66 Vanguard fighters. However, the 41st Chantai continued to fly Polikarpov monoplanes and even win victories on them. On June 6, 1943, unit commander Chen Zhaoji shot down a Japanese army fighter Ki.43 Hayabusa over the Burma Road. Apparently, this unit was the last Chinese unit to fight on the I-16.
In general, Soviet pilots speak well of the qualities of their Chinese colleagues. However, most of the Chinese clearly lacked the skill to fight Japanese aircraft. The number of accidents was very high; many Soviet aircraft were lost in non-combat conditions. The battles, in the absence of Soviet volunteers, were not in favor of the Chinese; It often happened that not a single plane returned to base after departure. The command was also not up to par. For example, on July 31, 1940, the deputy commander of the 24th Changtai led a group of seven I-16s on a night interception, despite the fact that the fighters did not have the appropriate equipment. As a result, only three “donkeys” were able to gain altitude, including the leader, and in the battle with the Japanese they were all shot down and the pilots died.
The appearance of a new fleet fighter in 1940 was a real nightmare for the Chinese. Mitsubishi A6M Zero with retractable landing gear and cannon armament. Only experienced pilots could fight it on donkeys, even on the new I-16 type 18 with the M-62 engine, and there weren’t many of them in the Kuomintang Air Force (especially after the Soviet volunteers returned home). Therefore, the very first battle with them, which took place on September 13, 1940, turned out to be catastrophically unsuccessful for the Chinese. On this day, the Japanese launched a raid on Chongqing with twenty-seven G3M bombers. The attack aircraft were covered by thirteen Zeros. The Chinese raised air defense fighter units of Chongqing to intercept: nine I-16 IV Tatu (including six “donkeys” of the 24th Changtai), 19 I-152 from the 22nd and 23rd Changtai of the same IV air group and six I-152 from 28th Changtai III Group. In the air battle, the commander of the 24th Changtai, Yang Men Chin, was killed, and his deputy and another pilot were injured to varying degrees. In total, nine Chinese pilots were killed, six people were injured, including the commander of IV Tattoo; 13 Chinese aircraft were shot down and 11 damaged. The Japanese did not lose a single aircraft. An interesting fact is that the first Zero flights to Chongqing were made on August 19-20, 1940, but the Chinese simply did not send forces to intercept them (judging by the results of the battle on September 13, this was completely justified).
The battles with the “Zero” mostly ended in the same pitiable way: the Japanese suffered virtually no losses. Therefore, the Chinese government officially issued an order to cease hostilities in the air. Most of the fighting until the end of 1940 occurred when Chinese aircraft were intercepted by the Japanese. Naturally, Chinese victories under such circumstances became an episodic occurrence. The situation was somewhat alleviated by the Flying Tigers group, consisting of American military pilots (in fact, it was a full-fledged part of the USAAF, camouflaged as a group of mercenaries). The Americans who flew the P-40 achieved certain results. It is known, however, that on May 22, 1941, Kao Yu-Ching, a pilot of the 24th Chantai IV Tattoo, won a victory in an I-16 type 18, shooting down a G3M bomber over Lanzhou and damaging another one. It is very possible that this was the only victory of Chinese fighters in the entire 1941. For this reason, it is worth telling about this battle in more detail. At 10.20 IV the tattoo was ordered to disperse. Liu Chi-Shen, commander of the 24th Chantai (part of the group, as mentioned above), led a group of seven I-16 Type 18 to Wu Wei. The group was led by the SB-2M-103 bomber from the IX Tattoo. One of the I-16s was unable to retract the landing gear and landed at the Xi Ku Chen airfield in Lanzhou. At 11.02, the remaining six fighters encountered bad weather near Wu Wei and were redirected to Chan Chuan Chun airfield north of Lanzhou. Shortly after 12.10, when everyone had landed, 25 G3M bombers flew over the airfield. Kao-Yu-Chin, who had not yet turned off the engine, took off to intercept. The pilot assumed that the Japanese would soon deploy to attack their airfield. Soon he actually saw a group of nine bombers flying at an altitude of 5000 m. Kao attacked the formation from the left, then went in front. He opened fire from a distance of 400 m, and after the attack he dived. The two leading G3Ms began to smoke. Kao made three more passes, attacking from the side, thereby disrupting the Japanese's targeted bombing. During the air battle, Chinese ground personnel were able to prepare the remaining “donkeys” for takeoff. All five remaining fighters were able to escape destruction, although one of them was still damaged by shrapnel. Kao-Yu-Chin left the battle after he shot his propeller in one of the bursts (the reason for this was a synchronizer defect). In total, he used 600 rounds of ammunition during the battle. One of the Japanese bombers crashed on the way back, killing the entire crew. Beginning in March 1942, Chinese air units began to fly American fighters; the surviving Soviet I-16 and I-153 began to be transferred to flight schools, where they served until 1943-1944. The Chinese UTI-4 served a little longer, which was widely used for training flight personnel and began to be written off by 1945, when they were replaced by American counterparts.
I-16 made in China
Before Soviet military assistance began, China was home to several small fighter aircraft factories. In Nanchang, for example, there was a plant for the production of Fiat fighter jets. There are also known attempts to assemble Curtiss Hawk III biplanes from spare parts. Soon after the start of deliveries of Soviet aircraft, the Chinese government decided to host the production of Soviet aircraft. On July 9, 1938, Chinese Ambassador to the USSR Yang Tse discussed this issue with the Soviet government. On August 11, 1939, a protocol was signed between the USSR and China on the construction of an aircraft assembly plant in the Urumqi region. The protocol provided for the assembly at the plant of up to 300 I-16s per year from Soviet parts, parts and assemblies. The first stage of the plant was completed on September 1, 1940. In Soviet documents, the plant received the name “Aircraft Plant No. 600”. However, the Chinese never received the I-16s produced in Urumqi (apparently, type 5 and UTI-4 were produced there). In April 1941, the plant had 143 mothballed I-16s, which had been stored there for 6-8 months. It was then that the decision was made to return these aircraft to the Union. The return began after the start of the war. The vehicles were assembled, tested, camouflaged, followed by acceptance by military pilots and transportation to Alma-Ata. By September 1, 111 aircraft had been transported, one I-16 was lost in the mountains. The remaining 30 I-16s and 2 UTI-4s left for Alma-Ata before the end of the year. During 1941-42, Plant No. 600 was engaged in the manufacture of individual units for the I-16, but no new aircraft were built here.
Soviet volunteers pose in front of the I-16. Note the enlarged wing fairings, which are not typical for Soviet I-16 models. It is possible that this is "Chan-28-I".
There is also evidence that the Chinese have mastered the unlicensed production of “donkeys” on the basis of the Italian-Chinese enterprise SINAW in Nanchang. On December 9, 1937, production there was curtailed by order of Mussolini. The machine park of the SINAW plant was evacuated by river routes to Chongqing in the first half of 1939. The machines were installed in a cave 80 m long and 50 m wide. The arrangement of the new plant took a year, and the enterprise was named “2nd Air Force Aviation Production Workshops.” Work on preparing the release of copies of I-16 fighters began even before the arrival of the machines from the SINAW plant. The Chinese I-16 received the designation “Chan-28 Chia”: chan is the ancient Chinese feudal code of honor; “28” - the year since the founding of the Republic of China, 1939 from the birth of Christ; "chia" - "first". In another way, the designation can be written as “Chan-28-I”. The drawings, as in Spain, were taken from parts of “live” I-16 fighters. There were not enough machines, and the humidity in the caves reached 100%. Based on real conditions, we completely changed the technology for gluing the monocoque fuselage skin. Product quality control methods remained primitive and time-consuming. The metal spars, landing gear and wheels were Soviet-made and were supposed to be removed from faulty aircraft. Engines - M-25 from faulty I-152 and I-16, Wright-Cyclone SR-1820 F-53 engines with take-off power of 780 hp were also used. With. (they were on Chinese Hawk-III biplanes). Two-blade propellers were supplied from the Soviet Union in spare parts kits for I-16 fighters; in addition, Hamilton Standard propellers could be removed from Hawk-II fighters. Armament: two Browning heavy machine guns. Assembly of the first Chan-28-I fighter began in December 1938, and the first aircraft was completed only in July 1939. The aircraft received serial number P 8001. The fighter underwent comprehensive ground checks before it took off for the first time. Flight tests were completed successfully. As far as is known, only two single-seat Chan-28-I fighters were built. With the appearance of Zero fighters in the skies of China, the already not very high performance of Chinese pilots on the I-16 dropped to almost zero. It made no sense to make a obviously outdated fighter into mass production.
| I-16 type 5 | I-16 type 10 | Japanese Fleet Air Arm | Japanese Army Aviation | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nakajima A4M | Mitsubishi A5M | Mitsubishi A6M2 | Kawasaki Ki.10-II | Nakajima Ki.27 | Nakajima Ki.43-IIb | |||
| Manufacturer country | USSR | USSR | Japan | Japan | Japan | Japan | Japan | Japan |
| Start year of release | 1936 | 1938 | 1935 | 1937 | 1940 | 1935 (1937**) | 1937 | 1941 (1943**) |
| Year of appearance on theater | 1937 | 1938 | 1937 | 1937 | 1940 | 1937 | 1938 | 1943 |
| Wingspan, m | 9.00 | 9.00 | 10.00/n. d.* | 11.00 | 12.00 | 10.02/n. d.* | 11.31 | 10.84 |
| Length, m | 5.99 | 6.07 | 6.64 | 7.57 | 9.06 | 7.55 | 7.53 | 8.92 |
| Height, m | 3.25 | 3.25 | 3.07 | 3.27 | 3.05 | 3.00 | 3.25 | 3.27 |
| Wing area, m2 | 14.54 | 14.54 | 22.89 | 17.80 | 22.44 | 23.00 | 18.56 | 21.40 |
| Engine | M-25A | M-25V | Nakajima Hikari | Nakajima Kotobuki-4 | Nakajima NK1F Sakae-12 | Kawasaki Ha-9-IIb | "Army Type 97" | Nakajima Ha-115 |
| Power, hp | 730 | 750 | 730 | 785 | 950 | 850 | 710 | 1150 |
| Aircraft weight, kg. | ||||||||
| - empty | 1119 | 1327 | 1276 | 1216 | 1680 | 1360 | 1110 | 1910 |
| - takeoff | 1508 | 1716 | 1760 | 1671 | 2410 (2796) | 1740 | 1790 | 2590 (2925) |
| Speed, km/h | ||||||||
| - near the ground | 390 | 398 | n. d. | n. d. | n. d. | n. d. | n. d. | n. d. |
| - on high | 445 | 448 | 350 | 430 | 525 | 400 | 470 | 530 |
| Rate of climb, m/min | 850882 | n. d. | 588 | 800 | n. d. | 920 | 880 | |
| Practical ceiling, m | 9100 | 8470 | 7740 | 9800 | 10000 | 11150 | 10000 | 11200 |
| Range, km | 540 | 525 | 845 | 1200 | 3050 | 1100 | 627 | 720 |
| Turn time, s | 14-15 | 16-18 | n. d. | n. d. | n. d. | n. d. | 8 | n. d. |
| Armament | 2 7.62 mm ShKAS machine guns | 4 7.62 mm ShKAS machine guns | 2 7.7 mm machine guns "type 89" | 2 7.7 mm machine guns "type 89" | 2 20 mm Type 99 cannons, 2 7.7 mm Type 97 machine guns2 7.7 mm synchronized machine guns "type 89" | 2 7.7 mm synchronized machine guns "type 89" | 2 12.7 mm machine guns "type 1" | |
| Pilot's name | A country | Number of victories on I-16 (personal+group*) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blagoveshchensky A. S. | USSR7+20** | ||
| Gubenko A. A. | USSR | 7 | |
| Kokkinaki K. | USSR | 7 | |
| Suprun S.P. | USSR | 6+0 | |
| Kravchenko G. P. | USSR | 6 | |
| Kudymov D. A. | USSR | 4 | |
| Liu Chi Shen | China | 3+1 (10+2) | |
| Fedorov I. E. | USSR | 2** | |
| Kao Yu-Chin | China | 1+0 (1+1) | |
| Chen Zhaoji | China | at least 1+0 | commander of the 41st chantai |
| Gritsevets S. I. | USSR | 1||
| Konev G. N. | USSR | 1 | |
| Teng Min-Te | China | 0+1 (2) |
* the total number of victories in the theater of operations is given in parentheses
** aircraft type is not established reliably
Information sources
A Brief History of the Japanese Aviation Industry
Curtiss Hawks in the Chinese Air Force // Hakan's aviation page
Demin A. Soviet aviation technology in China on the eve and during the years of the Great Patriotic War. // “Wings of the Motherland”, No. 2, 2006.
Kristjan Runarsson. Fiat CR.32bis/ter/quater fighters in foreign colors. //www.brushfirewars.com (currently not operational)
Fiat CR.32)
S. Ya. Fedorov. Unforgotten pages of history. //sb.: In the sky of China. 1937–1940. - M.: Nauka, 1986.
Sino-Japanese Air War 1937-45 // Hakan's aviation page.
Mukhin M. Yu. Soviet aircraft plant in Xinjiang. 1930-1940s. // “New and Contemporary History”, No. 5, 2004. (electronic version)
“The fighting donkey of Stalin’s falcons”, part 2 // “War in the Air”, No. 42 (electronic version)
I fought samurai. From Khalkhin Gol to Port Arthur. - M.: Yauza, 2005.
“Japanese naval aviation aces” // “War in the Air”, No. 15 (electronic version)
"Japanese aces 1937-1945. Army Aviation." // “War in the Air”, No. 4 (electronic version)
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