On April 18, 1942, the United States launched the Doolittle Raid, an attack by 16 B-25 Mitchellbombers from the aircraft carrierUSS Hornet on Tokyo, Nagoya, and Yokohama. The original plan was for the aircraft to bomb Japan and land at airfields in unoccupied portion of China. Because the raid had to be launched earlier than planned, all but one of the aircraft (which against orders diverted to the Soviet Union) ran out of fuel and crashed in the Chinese provinces of Zhejiang and Jiangxi or their offshore islands.
Sixty-four American airmen parachuted into the area around Zhejiang. Most were given shelter by Chinese civilians but eight Americans were captured by Japanese troops; three were shot after a show trial for "crimes against humanity".[7]
The campaign
Imperial General Headquarters was aware of possible air attacks from Chinese territory on Japan. Two days before the Doolittle Raid, Headquarters set up an operational plan with the goal of defeating Chinese forces and destroying air bases. The operation started on May 15, 1942, with 40 infantry battalions and 15–16 artillery battalions of the Imperial Japanese Army.[8]
The main force of the regiment, Commander Anan Weiji of the 11th Army, commanded two divisions and four detachments, advancing from east to west from Hangzhou and Nanchang to attack in the direction of Shangrao, Jiangxi.
On May 15, the main force of the Japanese 13th Army invaded westward along the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Railway and both sides from Fenghua, Shangyu, Shaoxing, Xiaoshan and other towns in Zhejiang. On August 15, the Japanese army was ordered to retreat, and the Chinese army followed and pursued them. By the end of September, except for Jinhua, Wuyi and the northeastern region, all along the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Railway had been recovered.[9]
Japanese troops conducted a massive search for American airmen and in the process whole towns and villages that were suspected of harboring the Americans were burned to the ground and many civilians executed.[10] The Japanese also wanted to occupy the area to prevent American air force from ever using airfields in China that could put the Japanese mainland within reach.
Aftermath
When Japanese troops moved out of the Zhejiang and Jiangxi areas in mid-August, they left behind a trail of devastation. The Japanese executed 250,000 civilians for helping the American fliers escape.[7][10] The Imperial Japanese Army had also spread cholera, typhoid, plague-infected fleas and dysentery pathogens.[11] The Japanese biological warfare Unit 731 brought almost 300 pounds of paratyphoid and anthrax to be left in contaminated food and contaminated wells with the withdrawal of the army from areas around Yushan, Kinhwa and Futsin.[12] This attack took place at Jinhua in Zhejiang and the Japanese soldiers inadvertently advanced in the area they spread with biological weapons and got themselves infected,[13][14][15][16][17] leading to over 1,700 dying and 10,000 getting sick.[18][19][20]
^“Attached table No. 2 List of total successful results of battle of Zhegan operations ” Japan Center for Asian Historical Records (JACAR) Ref.C13032320900, Wartime monthly report of Ro Group, Supplement of No. 8 Outline of progress of Zhegan operations, 11th Army August 31, 1942 (National Institute for Defense Studies)
^Carter, James (2022). "The Costs of Alliance: The Doolittle Raid and China." Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society China, 82(1), 56-68.
