The Doolittle Raid
In December 1941, with the shock of Pearl Harbor still evident, many senior commanders in the United States expressed a desire to hit back directly at Japan. President Roosevelt himself was amongst the first to […]
Sino-Japanese War
The Fall of Hong Kong
One of the few remaining ports on the Chinese coast that was not under the control of the Japanese was the British colony of Hong Kong. Strategically located at the mouth of the Pearl River, […]
Operation 102: Storm Over Chungking
Despite mounting perhaps the longest and most sustained bombing campaign against a single city, the Japanese had failed to force China out of the war. Operations 100 and 101 had caused tremendous destruction to Chungking’s […]
Operation 101: Chungking, the Underground City
Operation 100 had proved that the Japanese had the capability to conduct a sustained bombing campaign against Chinese cities, however it had also proved that the effectiveness of these raids was questionable. The government of […]
Khalkhin Gol Part 2: Zhukov’s Whirlwind
After two months of fighting, neither side had made a decisive breakthrough in the Battle of Khalkhin Gol. Although the Japanese had failed in their first attempt to claim the disputed area, they were determined […]
Khalkhin Gol Part 1: Border Wars
The Battle of Khalkin Gol, or the ‘Nomonhan Incident’ as the Japanese termed the battle, was the culmination of a series of skirmishes that had occurred along the disputed Mongolia-Manchukuo border. In 1938 Russian and […]
Operation 100: The Bombing of Chungking
The tri-city of Wuhan fell to the Japanese invaders in October 1938. The invaders, believing that the Chinese would capitulate with the fall of their temporary capital, were surprised to see Chiang Kai-Shek and the rest of […]
The Invasion of Canton
Although the Japanese had successfully eliminated most Chinese air opposition in Southern China during the autumn of 1937, shipments of new aircraft from foreign partners continued to arrive in the area. American, British, German and […]
Central China
In March 1938, with the Japanese having consolidated their hold on Shanghai and Nanking, the advance into Central China slowed down. No plan existed for further operations, as the Japanese had expected the Chinese to […]
The Soviet Volunteer Group In Action
In November 1937, with Shanghai secured, the Japanese turned their attention on Nanking. The old capital was devoid of any worthwhile defences so the Chinese decided not to fight for the city as they had […]