Sino-Japanese Air War 1937-1945: The Longest Struggle

by Hakan Gustavsson

Overview

The Sino-Japanese war of 1937-1945 was the longest struggle of the Second World War. It started with the Japanese aggression in July 1937 and soon accelerated into a full-scale war with the Chinese Kuomintang government. The Chinese Air Force was to suffer large losses during the whole conflict with Japan. During the first weeks of the war the Chinese lost almost all of their medium bombers. This was a pattern that would be repeated again and again. Not getting much help from the outside world, the Kuomintang government, led by Chiang Kai-shek, soon closed a un-holy treaty with the communistic Soviet Union to receive armament including a large number of aircraft and Soviet volunteers to fly some of them. This difficult relation with the Soviet Union lasted until 1941, when the USA became the main supplier of armament to China, which included the short-lived but famous US voluntary group called the Flying Tigers. Everything was to change with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, but the struggle was to continue until the end of the war in August 1945.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781781555361
Publisher:	Fonthill Media
Publication date:	11/18/2016
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	6.40(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Håkan Gustavsson is a Swedish aviation researcher and writer specializing in the early air war of the Second World War and especially the use of biplane fighters. He runs one of internet’s oldest and largest sites (surfcity.kund.dalnet.se) featuring biographies of pilots that flew biplane fighters during the conflict. He has been in contact with numerous veterans, and their families, over the past two decades, unearthing first-hand accounts and other invaluable material relating to their often forgotten wartime exploits.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements 5

Introduction 9

1 Background 11

2 1937: Initial Clashes 13

3 1937: Soviet 'Volunteers' 20

4 1937: The Fall of Shanghai and Nanking 30

5 1938: The Fall of Canton and Wuhan 38

6 1939: The Nomonhan Incident 69

7 1940: The Soviet Volunteers Leave 76

8 1940: Combat Debut of the A6M Zero 83

9 1941: The Hardest Year 88

10 1941: The Arrival of the AVG 93

11 1941: Global War 95

12 1942: The Loss of the Burma Road 98

13 1942: The Hump 103

14 1942: The Arrival of the US Army Air Force and Formation of CATF 105

15 1943: The 14th Air Force 112

16 1943: The Formation of the Chinese-American Composite Wing 125

17 1944: Mission 'A' 137

18 1944: Operation Ichi-Go 140

19 1945: The Last Japanese Offensive 190

20 1945: Retreat and the End of War 195

Appendix: Biographies of Four Pilots 197

Bibliography 204