Figure 1.--The Chinese were driven steadily into the interior. There the Japanese faced a costly dilemma. Wars are expensive. And the Japanese expectation of a short victoirious campaign leading to the easy exploitation of China, turned into a long, draining struggle. Worse for the Japanese, the deeper they drove the Nationalist into the interior, the more difficult it became to come to grips with them and defeat them. China did not have modern infrastructure system, even in the east, moving west into the interior the infrasture was virtually non existent. China's backwardness thus proved and asset. It mase it increasingly difficult for the Japanese to bring their superior military forces to bear. And even worse, as they seized mote of China, they had to garison their conquests. This meant that more and more troops were needed, increasing the cost of the war, but only a fraction of the force could be deployed at the front.

The Japanese had to fight pitched battles with the Nationalist Army during the first year of the War. After that and the strong of costly lossess, the Chines were less inclined to go toe to toe wuth the Japanese. As a result, the Japanese methodically moved south, seizing control of most of eastern China, and all of the major ports. The ports were a major priority. China unlike Japan had not industrilized. Thus they had to obtain heavy weapns oversea. Seizung the ports cut off the Chinese from foreign arms and other supplies. The Japanese also seized the agriculturally rich Chang Jiang Valley in central China by the time war broke out in Europe (1939). The Chinese were driven steadily into the interior. There the Japanese faced a costly dilemma. Wars are expensive. And the Japanese expectation of a short victoirious campaign leading to the easy exploitation of China, turned into a long, draining struggle. Worse for the Japanese, the deeper they drove the Nationalist into the interior, the more difficult it became to come to grips with them and defeat them. China did not have modern infrastructure system, even in the east, moving west into the interior the infrasture was virtually non existent. China's backwardness thus proved and asset. It mase it increasingly difficult for the Japanese to bring their superior military forces to bear. And even worse, as they seized mote of China, they had to garison their conquests. This meant that more and more troops were needed, increasing the cost of the war, but only a fraction of the force could be deployed at the front. Scenes like the one in the village here took place all over China (figure 1). And it maent that the village scene here multiplied by the huge size of China meant that much of the Japanese Army in China maintained at great cost was dispursed.

Created: 2:31 AM 10/30/2016
Last updated: 2:31 AM 10/30/2016