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One of the most successful volunteer armies was the Chinese People's National Salvation Army or NSA (no connection to the church known as
The Salvation Army
The Salvation Army (TSA) is a Protestant church and an international charitable organisation headquartered in London, England. The organisation reports a worldwide membership of over 1.7million, comprising soldiers, officers and adherents col ...
), led by a former bandit turned soldier,
Wang Delin Wang Delin (, 1875－1938) was a bandit, soldier, and leader of the National Salvation Army resisting the Japanese pacification of Manchukuo.
Early life
Wang Delin was born in October 1875. He became a bandit in Manchuria after the Russian inva ...
. At the time of the
invasion
An invasion is a military offensive in which large numbers of combatants of one geopolitical entity aggressively enter territory owned by another such entity, generally with the objective of either: conquering; liberating or re-establishing ...
, Wang Delin's 200 man battalion was stationed near
Yanji
Yanji (; Chosŏn'gŭl: 연길, ''Yeon-gil;'' Hangul: 옌지, ''Yenji;'' alternately romanized as Yenki) is a county-level city in the east of China's Jilin Province, and is the seat of the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture. Its population i ...
, a small town in the east of
Jilin
Jilin (; Postal romanization, alternately romanized as Kirin or Chilin) is one of the three Provinces of China, provinces of Northeast China. Its capital and largest city is Changchun. Jilin borders North Korea (Rasŏn, North Hamgyong, R ...
province. After Wang's troops fired on a party of Japanese surveyors, and Wang refused to submit to the
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 ...
regime, his defiance attracted other resisters to his side. Wang established the NSA on February 8, 1932, numbering over 1,000 men. Within a few months this army became one of the most successful of the volunteer armies. Following news of his victories over Japanese and Manchukuoan forces between February and April, troops who had been reluctant members of the new puppet state's forces deserted and joined the NSA boosting its strength from 4,600 on March 1, to above 10,000 men, possibly as many as 15,000 men, organised in five brigades in April. It is estimated that the NSA had 30,000 volunteers by July 1932.
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 T ...