bigpigeon.us webpage WWII - Japan > China-Burma-India > China - 1941-45, updated by RAC 18 May 2022.

This webpage ties in to the other three China-Burma-India webpages, namely India, Burma, and Crossing the Hump.  

​The War with Japan volume in my website is an outline of the role of the United States vs Japan. The lengthy and brutal conflict on the ground in China only marginally involved the United States. Thus, this is a brief webpage.
World War II in China - Overview
China in 1941 was already the world's most populous nation, but unlike today it had a small economy and was far from unified. Since 1928, Chiang Kai-shek led both the major political party, the Koumintang or Nationalist Party, and the Republic of China government.

WW II in China was a continuation of the Second Sino-Japanese War, which began in 1937 and pitted the Republic of China against the Japanese Empire.  By the end of 1938, Chiang Kai-shek's government had fled the central China capital of Nanking and retreated to Chongqing, then known as Chungking, in mountainous southwestern China, where it remained until World War II ended.
China in 1941
China in 1941
Throughout WW II, Chinese forces continued to tie up the majority of the IJA (Imperial Japanese Army) without launching a major offensive on their own. From 1941 until April 1944, the area in China controlled by the IJA did not change greatly.  

However, from April to December 1944, the IJA mounted a successsful offensive, Operation Ichi-go, which opened a rail route south through China and overran some of the US Fourteenth Air Force bases in southern China.

​A final Japan offensive in early 1945 failed.
​In addition to the Japanese occupation of key portions of his country, Chiang faced a possible resumption of the civil war with Mao Zedong's Communist party. Moreover, traditional Chinese warlords often possessed regional power and military influence.

​Even before Pearl Harbor, Russia, Great Britain and the United States supported Chiang's government by providing shipments of supplies. Shipment by sea through Chinese ports was not feasible because of Japanese control of coastal areas. Thus three avenues were used:
  • From Russia through northwest China (closed after the Soviet-Japanese Non-Aggression Pact of 13 Apr 1941).
  • From Haiphong and Hanoi in northern French Indo-China by rail to Kumning in China's Yunnan Province or by truck directly to Chungking. (closed 16 Jul 1940 by the Vichy France government after Japanese pressure.)
  • By ship to Rangoon, Burma, then north to Lashio, Burma by rail, and then by truck over the Burma Road, completed in 1938, from Lashio to Kumning and on to Chungking. (closed March 1942 by the Japanese conquest of Burma.)
The subsequent US-led lifeline to China is the subject of the Crossing the Hump webpage - there is a link near the top of this webpage.
 PictureWW II in China
Of the belligerents in the War With Japan, China bore by far the greatest human costs.
The American Volunteer Group - aka The Flying Tigers
By 1941, the Japanese Air Force had increased its ability to interdict traffic on the Burma Road, the sole remaining avenue into China.

The United States government sanctioned and supported the creation of the AVG, the American Volunteer Group, whose core consisted of about 100 American fighter pilots, organized to fly under the Republic of China flag.

The AVG was in Burma preparing for combat when the War with Japan began in December 1941. They helped protect the Burma Road area as the Japanese progressed north in Burma in the first half of 1942.

Claire Chennault, the AVG commander, taught his pilots a different style of aerial combat. Rather then engaging in dogfights, they would make an initial surprise attack, and then break off combat.
P-40 Flying Tiger Aircraft on the Flight Line
P-40 Flying Tiger Aircraft on the Flight Line
Although their numbers were not sufficient to stem the  Japanese advance, AVG tactics were overwhelmingly successful. The AVG is credited with 297 Japanese planes destroyed, with only 14 AVG pilots lost in combat.

With the loss of Burma, the AVG withdrew into the Kumning area in southwestern China, where they were transferred to the American flag, forming the nucleus of the 23rd Fighter Group, which in March 1943 then became part of the new Fourteenth Air Force, based in China and also headed by Claire Chennault.
Sources for the WWII - China - 1941-45 webpage:
  • The China in 1941 map is courtesy of Emerson Kent.
  • The WW II in China map is courtesy  of The Map Archive.
  • The P-40 Flying Tiger Aircraft on the Flight Line photo is courtesy of MilitaryHistoryNow.com.

Pottawattamie Area WWII Dead - China - 1941-45:11-01 - China-Burma-India Theater > China - 1941-45: (five dead, updated 22 Jan 2022)† Berringer, Merroll Jackson, SN O-735025, USAAF, Pott. & Page Cos.
  • Flight H, 35th Photo Recon. Sqdn., 14th AF; Lockheed F-5E Photo Lightning #44-23237 pilot; KIA 21 Nov 1944 over South China Sea; disappeared on triangular flight Suichuan-Nimrod Sound-Batanes Is.-Suichuan; China-Burma-India Theater > China; BNR.​
† Chancellor, Elmer Lee, SN O-711946, USAAF, Pott. Co.
  • 118 Tactical Recon. Sqdn., 14th AF; based at Chengkung, China w/ advance base at Suichwan, China; North American P-51C Mustang #43-24938 pilot; KIA 28 Dec 1944, over Yangtze River, Anking, southern China; China-Burma-India Theater > China; BNR.​
† Cox, Kenneth A., SN 17-078-406, USAAF, Douglas Co., NE
  • 16th Combat Camera Unit, based at Kumning, China; on this mission flying with 11th Bomb. Sqdn., 341st Bomb. Gp., 14th AF, based at Yangkai 33 miles NE of  Kumning, China; North American B- 25 Mitchell #_____ w/ pilot John J. Wise, co-pilot Buster P. Meadows; KIA 18 Jan 1945 Chihkiang, Hunan Province, China; after bombing Puchi railroad bridge NW of Chungking, plane overshot runway when landing at staging base at Chihkiang ~ 300 M SE of Chungking; three dead, four survivors; China-Burma-India Theater > China.
† Holm, Darcy Lee, SN 39-836-855, USAAF, Pott. Co. & San Francisco Co., CA
  • 373rd Bomb Sqdn., 408th Bomb. Gp., 14th AF, based at Yangkai, 33 miles NE of Kumning, Yunnan, China; Consolidated B-24J Liberator #42-73252 flight engineer, KIA 15 Jan 1944 E of Kweilin & N of Hong Kong, China; crash after departing Kweilin on a search and rescue mission; all ten crew members died; China-Burma-India Theater > China.
† Mallette, Richard Earl, SN O-742498, US Army, Cass & Decatur Cos.
  • 373rd Bomb. Sqdn., 308th Bomb. Gp., Fourteenth Air Force; group based at Kumning, Yunnan, China w/ squadron based at Yangkai near Kumning; Consolidated B-24 Liberator #42-40786 copilot w/ pilot Ruie W. Suggs; KIA 15 Sep 1943 near Kumning; five B-24s from the 373rd Bomb. Sqdn. attempted to bomb a cement works at Haiphong near Hanoi in Indo-China and were attacked by a force of around 50 Japanese fighter aircraft; three B-24s were shot down; Mallette's damaged aircraft returned to China and crashed near Kumning; all 11 or 12 on board died.