The Battle of Rehe (, sometimes called the Battle of Jehol) was the second part of

Operation Nekka The defense of the Great Wall () (January 1 – May 31, 1933) was a campaign between the armies of Republic of China and Empire of Japan, which took place before the Second Sino-Japanese War officially commenced in 1937 and after the Japanese inv ...

, a campaign by which the

Empire of Japan The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II 1947 constitution and subsequent for ...

successfully captured the

Inner Mongolia Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. Its border includes most of the length of China's border with the country of Mongolia. Inner Mongolia also accounts for ...

n province of

Rehe Rehe (), also romanized as Jehol, was a former Chinese special administrative region and province. Administration Rehe was north of the Great Wall, west of Manchuria, and east of Mongolia. Its capital and largest city was Chengde. The second ...

from the Chinese

warlord A warlord is a person who exercises military, economic, and political control over a region in a country without a strong national government; largely because of coercive control over the armed forces. Warlords have existed throughout much of h ...

Zhang Xueliang Chang Hsüeh-liang (, June 3, 1901 – October 15, 2001), also romanized as Zhang Xueliang, nicknamed the "Young Marshal" (少帥), known in his later life as Peter H. L. Chang, was the effective ruler of Northeast China and much of norther ...

and annexed it to the new state of

Manchukuo Manchukuo, officially the State of Manchuria prior to 1934 and the Empire of (Great) Manchuria after 1934, was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in Manchuria from 1932 until 1945. It was founded as a republic in 1932 after the Japanese in ...

. The battle was fought from February 21 to March 1, 1933.

Background

Following the establishment of

, the

Kwantung Army ''Kantō-gun'' , image = Kwantung Army Headquarters.JPG , image_size = 300px , caption = Kwantung Army headquarters in Hsinking, Manchukuo , dates = Apri ...

launched an operation to secure its southern frontier with China by attacking and capturing Shanhaiguan Pass at the

Great Wall The Great Wall of China (, literally "ten thousand ''li'' wall") is a series of fortifications that were built across the historical northern borders of ancient Chinese states and Imperial China as protection against various nomadic grou ...

on 3 January 1933. The province of

, on the northern side of the Great Wall, was the next target. Declaring the province to be historically a portion of

Manchuria Manchuria is an exonym (derived from the endo demonym "Manchu") for a historical and geographic region in Northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day Northeast China (Inner Manchuria) and parts of the Russian Far East ( Outer ...

, the Japanese Army initially hoped to secure it through the defection of General Tang Yulin to the Manchukuo cause. When this failed, the military option was placed into action. Assigned to this operation were the Japanese 6th Division and 8th Division and

14th 14 (fourteen) is a natural number following 13 (number), 13 and preceding 15 (number), 15. In relation to the word "four" (4), 14 is spelled "fourteen". In mathematics * 14 is a composite number. * 14 is a square pyramidal number. * 14 is a s ...

and 33rd Mixed Brigades of infantry, 4th Cavalry Brigade with Type 92 Heavy Armored Cars, and the 1st Special Tank Company. The Japanese army's chief of staff requested

Emperor Hirohito Emperor , commonly known in English-speaking countries by his personal name , was the 124th emperor of Japan, ruling from 25 December 1926 until his death in 1989. Hirohito and his wife, Empress Kōjun, had two sons and five daughters; he was ...

's sanction for the " strategic operation" against Chinese forces in Rehe. Hoping that it was the last of the army's operations in the area and that it would bring an end to the Manchurian matter, the Emperor approved, while stating explicitly that the army was not to go beyond China's Great Wall.

The battle

On February 23, 1933, the offensive was launched. On February 25 Chaoyang and

Kailu Kailu County (Mongolian language, Mongolian: ''Ḵayilü siyan''; ) is a county in the east of Inner Mongolia, People's Republic of China. It is under the administration of Tongliao City, to the east, and China National Highway 303 passes thr ...

were taken. On March 2 the Japanese 4th Cavalry Brigade encountered resistance from the forces of

Sun Dianying Sun Dianying (; 1889–1948) was a Chinese bandit leader, warlord, and National Revolutionary Army commander who fought in the Warlord Era, Second Sino-Japanese War, and Chinese Civil War, earning notoriety for changing sides multiple times in c ...

, and after days of fighting took over

Chifeng Chifeng ( zh, s=赤峰市), also known as Ulanhad ( mn, (Улаанхад хот), ''Ulaɣanqada qota'', , "red cliff"), is a prefecture-level city in Southeastern Inner Mongolia, People's Republic of China. It borders Xilin Gol League to t ...

. Sun Dianying mounted a counterattack against the Japanese 6th Division on the same day, and at one time penetrated to near the Japanese headquarters. On March 4 Japanese cavalry and the 1st Special Tank Company with Type 89 Tanks. took

Chengde Chengde, formerly known as Jehol and Rehe, is a prefecture-level city in Hebei province, situated about 225 km northeast of Beijing. It is best known as the site of the Mountain Resort, a vast imperial garden and palace formerly used by t ...

, the capital of Rehe.

Aftermath

Rehe was subsequently annexed to Manchukuo. Zhang Xueliang was forced by the

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...

government to relinquish his posts for "medical reasons". Chinese forces fell back in disarray to the Great Wall, where after a series of battles and skirmishes, the Japanese Army seized a number of strategic points, and then agreed to a

ceasefire A ceasefire (also known as a truce or armistice), also spelled cease fire (the antonym of 'open fire'), is a temporary stoppage of a war in which each side agrees with the other to suspend aggressive actions. Ceasefires may be between state ac ...

and a negotiated settlement (the

Tanggu Truce The Tanggu Truce, sometimes called the , was a ceasefire that was signed between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan in Tanggu District, Tianjin, on May 31, 1933. It formally ended the Japanese invasion of Manchuria, which had begun in ...

) whereby a

demilitarized zone A demilitarized zone (DMZ or DZ) is an area in which treaties or agreements between nations, military powers or contending groups forbid military installations, activities, or personnel. A DZ often lies along an established frontier or bounda ...

would be established between the Great Wall and

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. However, this would prove to be only a temporary respite before the full scale combat of the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Thea ...

erupted in earnest in 1937.

Notes

References

* * Hsu Long-hsuen and Chang Ming-kai, History of The Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) 2nd Ed., 1971. Translated by Wen Ha-hsiung, Chung Wu Publishing; 33, 140th Lane, Tung-hwa Street, Taipei, Taiwan Republic of China. Pg. 159–161. * 中國抗日戰爭正面戰場作戰記 (China's Anti-Japanese War Combat Operations), Guo Rugui, editor-in-chief Huang Yuzhang, Jiangsu People's Publishing House, Date published : 2005-7-1, *

External links

Battles of the Great Wall
* ttp://strweb1-12.websys.aol.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,745247,00.html March 6, 1933 issue of ''Time'', "War of Jehol"br> March 6, 1933 issue of ''Time'', "Two-Gun Tang"
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History of Inner Mongolia