China - Defence

CHINA - DEFENCE Historical.—Up to the date of the reforms of 1905-06 the Chinese constitution provided for two sorts of military organiza tion, the Manchu army and several armies in the provinces. When the dynasty of 1644 was originally established the victorious troops, mostly composed of Manchus, but including also Chinese and Mongols, remained in Peking as a hereditary national army. Every adult male was entitled by birth to be enrolled as a soldier under one of the eight banners and, after enrolment, to draw an al lowance of tribute rice, whether employed on active service or not. Some were sent to garrison such places as Canton, Foochow, Hang chow, etc., but the bulk of them, both in Peking and elsewhere, lost all military value. The other military organization, the pro vincial forces, was styled the army of the Green Standard, and resembled a local constabulary rather than an army. They were poorly paid, practically untrained, and badly armed. By 1894 only a few beginnings had been made at building modern arsenals and in training troops in modern ways. The soldiers were in low repute, poorly trained, and even more poorly led. In the war with Japan in 1894-95 the Chinese troops formed an easy prey for the better led, better organized, and more formidably armed Japanese forces, with their modern equipment and years of training under German expert advice. After the war, some of the corps of "braves" or irregulars were quartered near Peking and Tientsin and became spoken of generally as the Army of the North. By 190o this was the only real fighting force which China possessed. After the Boxer rising of I 90 I an Imperial decree or dered the reorganization of the military forces of the Empire and something was accomplished on provincial lines, especially in Hop-eh, but little was done towards establishing an army on Euro pean lines until after the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05, when various military schools and training organizations were estab lished (or provided for on paper) . By 191 o some progress had been made towards evolving an efficient body of officers. An army board was organized, and progress made with a general staff. Service, mostly voluntary, was for three years with the colours, three in the reserve, and four in the territorial army. Reservists were called up annually for training, and territorials once in two years. The Japanese system of training was followed. Nine divi sions and seven mixed brigades were formed with a total strength of about 6o,000 with 3 5o guns, one-third stationed in Manchuria, the remainder elsewhere. The above-mentioned Green Standard army had been brought under the Minister of War, given a bat talion organization, and so on, by an Imperial edict of Sept. 1907, but its duties had remained much as before.

China, although a belligerent on the side of the Allied and Asso ciated Powers, took no effective part in the victory which they achieved over the Central Powers group in the World War of 1914-18. The country was in the throes of internecine strife. In the spring of 1919 the Governments of Great Britain, Spain, Por tugal, the United States, Russia, Brazil, France and Japan agreed "effectively to restrain their subjects and citizens from exporting to or importing into China arms and munitions of war and material destined exclusively for their manufacture until the establishment of a Government whose authority is recognized through the whole country." The Governments of the Netherlands, Denmark, Bel gium and Italy adhered to the agreement subsequently and the diplomatic body appealed to the Chinese Government to prohibit imports. No effective action was taken, and the Russian Soviet Government added its activities to those of the nationals of some of the Signatory Powers in carrying on this traffic, with deplorable results. The import of war material, of which a large surplus remained for disposal in belligerent countries at the time of the Armistice, was largely supplemented from the resources of the numerous arsenals and factories in Chinese territory, such as those at Mukden, Peiyang, Paotingfu, Tehchow, Tsinanfu, Tai yuanfu, Kaif engf u, Kunghsien, Sianfu, Hanyang, Nanking, Kiang nan, Changsha, Chengfu, Foochow, Canton, Swatow, Kiungchow, Yunnanfu and Kalgan.

Army-1940.

Any attempt to describe the army in 194o in terms of accurate statistics is hopelessly futile. For years after the Revolution of 1911 various war-lords had larger or smaller units in various stages of ill-equipment and poor training and discipline. Most of these armies were in theory part of the na tional forces, but in practice they were not co-ordinated under any general staff or supreme command. Their total enrolment ran into the millions, but few if any were effective fighters. They were largely the refuge for the riff-raff and the unemployed, a way of taking care of some of the many millions who were thrown out of their normal occupations by civil strife and natural disasters in a land in which the margin of subsistence was always slender. The transition from bandit to soldier and from soldier to bandit was usually easy and was very frequent. Equipment was inferior and discipline, training, and leadership were worse. Battles be tween the war-lords were aptly characterized as "much noise, little fighting, less damage." Loss of life, except through disease and to non-combatants through starvation brought by the destruc tion of means of subsistence, was slight. The coming of the Na tionalist government in 1927 brought some improvement. The prolonged struggle against the communists and especially prepara tion against the Japanese menace forced progress. Such leaders as Chiang Kai-shek, Li Tsung-jen, and Pai Chung-hsi, especially the first, brought advance. Schools for officers turned out a better leadership. Here and there arsenals began to supply native-made equipment, mostly small arms and trench mortars. German of ficers supervised the training of the army. At the outbreak of the war with Japan in 1937 the Chinese army was well past the million and possibly the two million mark. But in officers' train ing and mechanized equipment it was still far behind its doughty opponent. Many of the best troops were sacrificed in the early stages of the war. New armies were recruited in "Free China," to the west of the Japanese lines. However, the loss of the ports to the Japanese cut off most of the imports of arms from abroad. Only limited amounts could come over the French railway to Yunnan, from Russia via Sinkiang, and by way of Burma over the newly constructed highway. Adequate arsenals could not quickly be developed. Most of the railroads were in Japanese hands and motor transport and roads were backward. A support ing industry was largely lacking. Much emphasis was placed upon an organized guerrilla warfare, especially that led by communists who had evolved a skilful technique in their long campaigns against the Kuomintang. However the guerrillas, while they could annoy the Japanese and make difficult the occupations of the rail roads, could not drive the enemy out of the country. The tradi tional Chinese strategy was one of defence, not of aggressive at tack and this made it difficult to expel the invader.

Air Forces.

Air forces have been established in various areas on a small scale, machines of various types being in use. The Chinese pilots were trained by foreigners. Neither were con sidered satisfactory from the disciplinary point of view. All the aeroplanes have been of foreign make. In numbers the force has been far inferior to that of the Japanese, and most of the machines were lost in the early stages of the war with Japan which began in 1937. By July 1939 a new supply of aeroplanes was gradually being assembled from abroad.

Foreign Troops.

Though not strictly germane to the subject of Chinese armies, it is important, in connection therewith, to take note of the presence of foreign troops in various parts of China. In the North, Peking and Tientsin, they have the right, by Proto col of 1901, to put the legation quarter in a state of defence, and to occupy selected points between Peking and the sea. Japan has had troops in the Southern Manchurian railway zone under a treaty of Dec. 1905 with the former Chinese Government. Foreign garri sons in the North, distributed between Peking, Tientsin, Tangku, Tongshan, Chinwangtao and Shanhaikwan, were strongly rein forced in 1927, during the conflict between North and South. The total number at the end of 1927 was 11,88o, compared with 4,74o in 1926. The nationalities, in order of numbers, were American, French, British, Japanese and Italian. The Shanghai Defence Force, amounting to a mixed division with armoured cars and attached troops, was in 1927-28 gradually reduced in strength to about a brigade. The Shanghai Volunteer Corps, founded in 1854, is highly efficient. It consists of infantry, machine-gunners, field and light artillery. The total strength is about 1,400, or 1,60o with its reserves. In 1939 Japan had in China Proper an army of perhaps three-quarters of a million men.

(G. G. A. ; K. S. L.) Navy.—The beginning of a navy in China dates from about the year 1881, approximately the same period as that which saw the introduction of the telegraph into the country. An arsenal at Foochow turned out a few small composite gunboats and a train ing ship was bought and placed under the command of a British officer. Several armoured cruisers were ordered from England, while naval bases were fortified at Port Arthur and Wei Hai Wei. Forts were also built and guns mounted at Foochow, Shanghai, Canton and other points which appeared vulnerable from the sea. Money for these purposes was forthcoming from the customs duties on foreign trade.

The Chinese fleet had not, however, developed into a formidable force when, in 1884, France had occasion to take reprisals against that nation for attacks by irregular troops in Tongking. A wretched collection of craft, the chief of which was the "Yang-Woo," a composite cruiser, was practically wiped out by a French squadron in seven minutes in the river Min, where it had taken cover, near Foochow.

In 1894, when China found herself at war with Japan, the former country had an appreciable fleet, in fact one which on paper was stronger than her adversary, but owing to the dis organized state of administration, only one out of the four squad rons into which it was organized took part in the hostilities. This squadron consisted of two small battleships, the "Chen Yuen" and "Ting Yuen," built in Germany, five other small armoured vessels and six sloops. It had attained a good standard of disci pline and efficiency under Captain W. M. Lang of the British Navy, but after his departure and by the time war broke out, the ships had deteriorated and the personnel had relapsed into their normal state of inefficiency. The squadron was defeated by the Japanese fleet at the battle of Yalu.

In 1909 an effort was made to re-establish a fleet and a naval commission under Tsai Hsiin, a brother of the Emperor Kwang-su, was sent to Europe to obtain the necessary information and advice. Various societies had already started in several provinces to collect funds for naval purposes. At this time the fleet consisted of four armoured cruisers, some modern gunboats built in Japan, a few miscellaneous vessels and some old torpedo boats, but the efforts of China to create and maintain a navy have never been crowned with much success, chiefly owing to the corruption of the Government and the irresponsibility of the officers.

In 1928 the Chinese navy was composed of two small armoured cruisers, the "Ping Jui" and "Chao Ho" (two 6 in. and four 4 in.), completed in 1911, four old protected cruisers completed in three old destroyers, a few torpedo boats, a number of river gunboats and auxiliary vessels. Its state of efficiency was decidedly poor, while the internal disruption of the country pre cluded any prospect of it developing into a serious force. No marked improvement was made under the Kuomintang. The Nationalist Government gave almost no attention to the navy. In their invasion of China the Japanese had unchallenged con trol of the sea.