10 World War II Battles Not Involving U.S.
How long did World War II last? For the United States, it started in 1941 when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. For Germany, the United Kingdom, and France, it started in 1939 when they all declared war on each other over a treaty the latter two had with Poland. For the Soviet Union, it started in 1941 when Germany launched a sneak attack on the Bolshevik republic.
For Japan and China, though, the timeline for participation in World War II is muddled. The two countries started fighting each other in 1937 at the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, long before hostilities between the UK and France began with Germany. This war, which is known as the Second Sino-Japanese War, bled into World War II as the Japanese Empire began expanding into the colonial empires of France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and, of course, the United States.
The battles between Japan and the United States are, for various reasons, usually more well-known than the battles between Japan and other regional players. Here are 10 battles fought in World War II’s Pacific Theatre not involving America:
ONE. Battle of Taiyuan - Sept. 1, 1937-Nov. 9, 1937: This was a major battle fought between Japan and mostly Chinese nationalist forces (remember: China was in the midst of a civil war between communists and nationalists before Japan decided to crash the party). The Japanese Army routed the undertrained Chinese forces and the battle helped lay the groundwork for Japan’s invasion and eventual conquest of all of northern China.
TWO. Battle of Nanking - Sept. 1937-Jan. 1938: This is the infamous battle during which China’s nationalist forces lost to Japan and resulted in the Rape of Nanking. Tokyo’s Imperial Army moved quickly through Chinese terrain and attacked Nanking with a force of about 200,000 soldiers. The nationalist soldiers, mostly volunteers, were slaughtered, as were a large number of civilians. The treatment of Nanking’s citizens led to China’s decision to not pursue peace with Japan, which in turn led to Japan being forced to contend with not only Western empires but the Chinese as well.
THREE. Battle of Wuhan - June 11-Oct. 27, 1938: This battle involved more than 1 million Chinese troops and 350,000 Japanese troops. China suffered heavy losses, and Japan ultimately captured the city of Wuhan. China was able to inflict heavy losses on Tokyo’s Imperial Army. Some estimates put the number of dead on both sides at over half a million. The Battle of Wuhan also had some limited Soviet involvement, as Moscow sent “volunteers” to help out the nationalist (not communist) forces in their fight against the Japanese.
FOUR. Battle of Changsha - Sept. 17-Oct. 6, 1939: This was a battle between evenly matched forces, and the casualties - 40,000 on each side - show this to be the case. China had more men and Japan had better technology and generals, but thanks to this battle, it became apparent that the Chinese were getting smarter as the war dragged on. Changsha was the first Chinese city to successfully fend off the invading, marauding Japanese army.
FIVE. Hundred Regiments Offensive - Aug. 20-Dec. 5, 1940: This was a large counter-offensive undertaken by China’s communist forces that had a lot of political ramifications for China’s domestic scene after the war. One of Mao Zedong’s generals decided it would be a good idea to blow up as much transportation infrastructure and as many coal mines as possible in the hopes of slowing down the Japanese. The Japanese responded by brutally stamping out suspected communist cells. Because Mao’s general disobeyed him, or at least took matters into his own hands, the Hundred Regiments Offensive was used by communist officials after the war as a propaganda tool to squash dissent.
SIX. Battle of Jitra - Dec. 11-13, 1941: This was one of the heaviest defeats suffered by the British army during the war. The Japanese forced the British military to retreat from Malaya to Singapore and captured military equipment and food supplies. The UK’s commander did not want to retreat from Malaya with so much on the line and thus ordered a stand at Jitra. It soon became apparent that Jitra would be lost and so a demoralizing retreat through the jungle highlands to Singapore was ordered. Part of the larger Malayan Campaign, the UK got its backside handed to it by Tokyo and this is considered to be one of the worst military disasters in British imperial history.
SEVEN. Naval Battle of Malaya - Dec. 10, 1941: This event occurred just a few days after Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, and it showcased the prowess of Tokyo’s Imperial Navy. The Japanese used bombers armed with torpedoes to sink two of the United Kingdom’s most feared warships, the HMS Prince of Wales and the HMS Repulse. With this battle, the Japanese demonstrated to Western policymakers that it would be a force to be reckoned with not only strategically but technologically as well.
EIGHT. Battle of Badung Strait - Feb. 19-20, 1942: Fought at night between the Japanese Navy and a combined British-Dutch force, the Japanese Navy was protecting supply vessels through the strait and was completely outnumbered. The Japanese won the battle decisively and proved that their nighttime fighting prowess was second-to-none in southeast Asia. The Dutch lost particularly badly. The Netherlands’ top admiral was killed and its navy was crippled for months after the battle, which freed up Japanese forces to fight elsewhere.
NINE. Battle of Java - Feb. 28- March 12, 1942: Java was (and still is) a densely populated island and was the heart and soul of the Dutch East Indies. The Japanese struck hard and fast and by the end of March in 1942, Japan had a clear shot at Australia’s coastline.
TEN. Battle of Imphal - March 8-July 4, 1944: Japan had marched all the way from China to British India, where Tokyo’s Imperial forces, bolstered by secessionist-minded guerillas, attacked British Imperial troops with the aim of invading India itself. Instead, Japanese generals were tricked into thinking that marching through the Burmese jungles was a piece of cake. When the Japanese did arrive, the British Imperial Army slaughtered about 50,000 tired, sick, and hungry Japanese troops and drove the rest back into Burma. This was Japan’s worst loss to date and helped shut down the Japanese Empire’s Burma Campaign for good.
Further thoughts
The Age of Empires ended with the surrender of Japan to the United States in 1945. The colonial empires of France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, the United States, and Japan collapsed and in their place was a loose coalition of brand new nation states roughly under the umbrella of US protection.
China, war-torn and divided, decided to chart its own path. If you look back into the battles of World War 2, can you spot the patterns that have led to the state of the world as we know it today?
