What happened in Manchuria in 1944

48
What happened in Manchuria in 1944
Showa Iron and Steel Works in Anshan is the largest iron and steel plant in Manchuria


This was an amazing find of its kind in the collection of digitized publications of the National Library of China. The publication is Chinese, but unusual. Old characters that are now read only in Taiwan. Special chronology. China, only different and unusual for us.



And the data in this book is very interesting.

Another China, a different calendar and an unusual name for Beijing


The book was published in February of the 37th year of Mingo.

Minguo is the calendar of the Republic of China. After the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1911, when Sun Yat-sen was elected provisional president of the Republic of China, he established a new calendar in the manner of previous dynasties. In part, this was a triumph of revolutionaries, and to a certain extent, a purely legal act, since in China before there was no other calendar other than the calendar based on the mottos of the emperors.

So the revolutionaries had to resort to the same approach, only instead of a pious motto there were simply two characters 民國 - that is, “people's state” or “republic”. After the victory of the Kuomintang party in the first phase of the civil war, from 1929 this calendar became mandatory in China until the Communists won and abolished it.

So, Mingo's 37th year is 1948. This was also a time of fierce battles between the White Chinese from the Kuomintang and the Red Chinese from the CCP for the possession of China.

The book was published in Beiping. Where where? In Russian - in Beijing. We have no difference in the name of the Chinese capital, but in the Chinese language there was one. In 1928–1949 the city was called Beiping 北平, and from 1949 it became known as Beijing 北京. The semantic difference is significant: the first option can be understood as “Northern calm”, and the second – “Northern capital”.

The Peiping variant appeared after the Northern Expedition of 1926–1928, when the Kuomintang and the CPC united and defeated the troops of a group of militaristic generals. Although during the campaign a split arose between the White Chinese and the Red Chinese, Chiang Kai-shek managed to complete this campaign, during which Beijing was captured and renamed in June 1928.

This book was published by the Committee for the Regulation of the Traffic of Goods and Materials of Northeast China, as the territory of the former Manchukuo was then called. This committee published a number of works on the economy of the former Manchukuo, including this book on iron and steel industry. It is interesting for two reasons.

Firstly, it presented accurate data on the smelting of iron, steel and the production of rolled steel in Manchukuo, that is, during the period of Japanese rule and during the war.

Secondly, it contained the outline of a plan that the Kuomintang government was developing for the further development of the Manchurian iron and steel industry, a kind of Kuomintang five-year plan.


Showa Iron and Steel Works in Anshan during Japanese times.

Now we will focus our attention on the first point, since the numbers are worth it.

Fall of Manchuria


But for now, a few words about the circumstances of the appearance of this work.

This book itself is compiled in the spirit of Japanese reports, only in Chinese. Apparently, either former Japanese employees of Manchurian metallurgical companies who had not yet left for Japan, or their Chinese assistants, along with the documents that remained with them, took part in its compilation.

The Kuomintang's interest in the former Manchuria, called Dongbei 東北 in Chinese - that is, "Northeast", was very great. In this part of China, the Japanese built a powerful ferrous metallurgy, which surpassed the rest of China in iron smelting by 2,5 times, and in steel smelting by 14,5 times. By European standards, steel production was small, about the size of a mid-range plant, but against the backdrop of backward China it was an impressively large amount.

In addition, the Japanese created a whole complex of industries that produced weapons and equipment, ammunition, and vehicles. Although the Kuomintang received a lot of help from the United States, in 1946–1949 with weapons and equipment worth $4,43 billion, nevertheless, the possession of Dongbei was important, both for its own weapons and so that the Red Chinese did not get it.

The territory of Manchukuo was occupied by Soviet troops in August-September 1945. According to the agreement, Soviet troops were withdrawn three months after the surrender of Japan, that is, in December 1945, with the exception of the tip of the Liaodong Peninsula leased by the USSR.

As Soviet troops entered this territory, both Red Chinese and White Chinese troops rushed into this territory. The first to succeed were the Red Chinese, who, with the consent of the Soviet command, occupied the northern part of Manchuria. The Americans landed White Chinese troops from the western provinces and Burma in China by sea, tried to land them in Manchurian ports, but failed.

Kuomintang troops landed in Tianjin, southwest of Manchuria, from where they launched an offensive to the northeast in October 1945. They managed to capture the central part of Manchuria and divide the communist forces into three parts: the southern on the Liaodong Peninsula, the eastern near the border with Korea, and the northern north of the Songhua River.


Scheme of the situation in Manchuria as of November 1946: red - communists, green - Kuomintang, red-green shading - areas controlled by the Kuomintang, where communist forces operate.

The former Japanese industry of Manchuria was, to a first approximation, divided into parts. Ferrous metallurgy was captured by White Chinese troops, and arsenals and military enterprises by Red Chinese troops. The communists organized the production of weapons and ammunition, and also received from the USSR a large number of captured Japanese weapons, including Tanks и artillery.

It was at this point that the above-mentioned committee began studying the Manchurian economy and planning its development. The work was carried out during 1947, when a temporary balance of power was established in Manchuria, and it was completed in February 1948.

But these plans were not realized. At the beginning of 1948, the situation in Manchuria for the Kuomintang deteriorated sharply, the Communists advanced and captured a number of cities, and Kuomintang troops found themselves blocked in large cities.

Just in February 1948, the Red Chinese captured Anshan with the largest metallurgical plant in Manchuria. The Communists also waged a successful offensive in northern China that threatened to cut off Manchuria. In September - November 1948, the Battle of Liaoshen took place, during which the Communists defeated large Kuomintang forces and completely captured Manchuria.


Red Chinese on captured Japanese Ha-go tanks advance on Shenyang

Soon after, the offensive began on Beijing, which was surrendered by the commander of Beijing's defense, General Fu Zuoi, in January 1949. His troops joined the PLA, and Fu Zuoi himself became the Minister of Water Resources and Electricity, as well as the Deputy Chairman of the State Defense Committee of the People's Republic of China.

Basic data for the war years


As already mentioned, this work provides actual data on the smelting of iron and steel in Manchukuo under Japanese rule and during the war years, up to and including 1944.

The Japanese received Manchuria with an already existing ferrous metallurgy, in the form of two large factories: in Anshan and Benxihu, which in the 21st year of Minguo (1932) smelted 394,1 thousand tons of metal.


Blast furnaces of the Showa plant in Anshan near

Under the Japanese, smelting grew continuously as new furnaces were built at these plants and existing equipment was modernized. In the 29th year of Mingo (1940), smelting reached 1 thousand tons of metal. Subsequently, during the war years, there was an abrupt increase in smelting with a sharp drop in 062,1:

30th year of Mingo (1941) - 1 thousand tons;
31th year of Mingo (1942) - 1 thousand tons;
32th year of Mingo (1943) - 1 thousand tons;
33rd year of Mingo (1944) 1 thousand tons.

The Manchurian ferrous metallurgy smelted both cast iron for production, that is, without conversion into steel, as well as steel and then rolled steel. A significant part of the products was exported. For example, at the peak of pig iron production, in the 31st year of Mingo (1942), 773,3 thousand tons of pig iron were produced, of which 560,8 thousand tons were exported, and 212,4 thousand tons were consumed locally. Domestic consumption of cast iron in Manchuria grew from the mid-1930s and reached its peak in 1943, which was associated with the development of metalworking and mechanical engineering, mainly military.

Steel ingots were almost never exported; export began only in 1942, when 731,6 thousand tons of steel were smelted, of which only 30 thousand tons were exported. And in the production of rolled steel, local consumption also dominated over export. For example, in the 32nd year of Mingo (1943), 718,9 thousand tons of rolled products were produced, of which 140 thousand tons were exported, and 578,8 thousand tons were consumed locally.


Rolling mill at the Showa plant in Anshan

Thus, the Manchurian iron and steel industry exported approximately a third of its output, mainly in the form of iron and rolled steel, and sold two-thirds of its output for local consumption for construction, engineering and military production.

Manchuria apparently supplied mainly the Kwantung Army and Japanese troops fighting in China. So the Japanese fought with China, in a certain sense, with Chinese resources.

Unanswered question


But what is a big question is the reasons for the sharp drop in production in Manchuria in 1944. Metal smelting fell by 32% compared to 1943 levels.

But why?

At that time there were no military operations on the territory of Manchuria. The partisans who operated in Manchuria in the 1930s were largely defeated in 1940, and their remnants soon fled to Soviet territory.

In China in 1944, the Japanese conducted successful offensive operations in which they managed to defeat the White Chinese troops and in December 1944 even established a direct railway connection through China from Korea to occupied French Indochina. Serious setbacks and defeats for the Japanese in China began only in the summer of 1945, when, after the USSR left the neutrality pact with Japan, the Japanese began to gather troops in Manchuria.

All the battles of 1944 were fought far from Manchuria and therefore such a strong drop in iron and steel production cannot be explained by military reasons.

So what happened in Manchuria in 1944?

At the moment, I don’t even have any assumptions about the reasons for such a strange fact, which, of course, greatly influenced Japan’s combat capability. Here you will have to study a lot of different materials in order to find the thread, and then the answer to this, in my opinion, most interesting question.
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  1. +6
    1 August 2024 04: 28
    The book was published in Beiping. Where where? In Russian - in Beijing. We have no difference in the name of the Chinese capital, but in the Chinese language there was one. In 1928–1949 the city was called Beiping 北平, and from 1949 it became known as Beijing 北京. The semantic difference is significant: the first option can be understood as “Northern calm”, and the second – “Northern capital”.

    The author has delved into conspiracy theories with such force that even such a simple question as the name of the Chinese capital strives to be “conspiratorial.”
    Beijing is the capital of China. The first mention of a settlement on the site of modern Beijing dates back to the 1368nd millennium BC. e. Subsequently, the city grew and during its existence repeatedly became the capital of various states. formations that arose in northern China, and with changes in its watering, affiliation and administration. The provisions changed and so did its names. First, this is a small trading village of Ji (Chinese ji 'village, town', as well as 'market, fair'), then the capital of the state Yan Yanjing (Chinese jing 'capital'), Yuzhou - 'right city' (at orientation in the south, right - 'west'). In the 1421th century, during the invasion of the Khitans from the North, it received the name Nanjing - 'southern capital', but in the 1927th century. already Zhongdu - 'middle capital', in the XIII-XIV centuries. capital of the Yuan Empire Dadu - 'main capital'. After liberation from the Mongols in 1949, it received the name Beiping - 'pacified north'. In 1949, the capital of the empire was moved to it from Nanjing, and from that time on the city received its current name Beijing - 'northern capital'. However, in XNUMX-XNUMX, when Nanjing was the capital of Chiang Kai-shek, the city was returned to its medieval name Beiping; since XNUMX it has been called Beijing again. In Russian In use, the form Beijing was fixed from that adopted in Europe. countries spelling Peking, based on South China. pronunciation of this name.

    Pospelov E. M. Geographical names of the world. Toponymic dictionary
    1. -4
      1 August 2024 10: 15
      You are lazy, incurious, and essentially shutting yourself out from history. laughing
    2. +1
      3 August 2024 00: 12
      Quote from Frettaskyrandi
      Pospelov E. M. Geographical names of the world. Toponymic dictionary
      Well, why the personal views of Pospelov E.M. pass it off as the ultimate truth?
  2. +20
    1 August 2024 04: 53
    But what is a big question is the reasons for the sharp drop in production in Manchuria in 1944. Metal smelting fell by 32% compared to 1943 levels.
    ...
    At the moment, I don’t even have any assumptions about the reasons for such a strange fact, which, of course, greatly influenced Japan’s combat capability. Here you will have to study a lot of different materials in order to find the thread, and then the answer to this, in my opinion, most interesting question.

    In order to “find the answer to a question,” you don’t need to study “many materials” or “search for clues.”
    You just need to open the book by the American historian of World War II Gerald The Jungle War: Mavericks, Marauders and Madmen in the China-Burma-India Theater of World War II on page 312.
    I won’t bother the audience with English, just a translation, notes in brackets are mine):
    Therefore, it (the Shōwa plant) was of strategic importance in the Pacific War and was subject to constant attacks by the United States Army Air Forces B-29 Superfortress strategic bombers. The Imperial Japanese Army assigned the 1st Chutai (Squadron) of the 104th Sentai (Regiment) of the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force to Anshan along with other air squadrons to provide air defense for the plant. Despite the fact that the units were equipped with modern Nakajima Ki-84 fighters, the plant suffered greatly from the air raids, losing up to 30% of its capacity.

    That's the whole secret. Finding the answer took about 10 minutes.
    1. +11
      1 August 2024 08: 38
      Finding the answer took about 10 minutes.
      It’s immediately obvious that you are not a professional writer, but the author of an article is another matter! wink laughing
    2. -5
      1 August 2024 10: 13
      Americans love to brag and present their boasting as the ultimate truth.
      However, their raids do not fully explain either this decline or the subsequent collapse of the Manchurian economy.
      There was something else.
      1. +9
        1 August 2024 11: 04
        Still, you shouldn’t demonstrate your ignorance like that, sorry for being blunt. You undertake to write about the "collapse of the Manchurian economy", but, apparently, you have never heard of Operation Matterhorn.
        If you have even a vague idea about the production of iron and steel, then try to imagine what will happen to the production of a metallurgical plant if six of the sixteen coke oven batteries are bombed?
        1. -5
          1 August 2024 12: 15
          There were other coke oven batteries in Manchuria, and a possible supply from Japan. In addition, damaged batteries can be restored.
          Moreover, Anshan was not the only metallurgical plant in Manchuria.

          So the American explanation is clearly wrong. Yes, it is in line with their concept like: “the Japanese are yellow fools,” but it does not explain anything.
          And when I see how an obviously incorrect explanation is being pushed through with screams and hysteria, my instinct tells me that there is something to hide and there is a taste of discovery.
          1. +8
            1 August 2024 12: 28
            So the American explanation is clearly wrong.

            I will follow the specialist's recommendation.
            You should not go into conflict, argue and defend your point of view; you also should not raise your voice, gesticulate strongly or turn your back to such a person. Just try to stop the dialogue.
            1. -9
              1 August 2024 12: 39
              Yes please!
              I hope you are well compensated for your efforts?
              1. +8
                1 August 2024 12: 57
                I hope you are well compensated for your efforts?

                Do you really think that there are people willing to pay to criticize your works?! Urgently send off the coordinates of this eccentric!
                1. -8
                  1 August 2024 21: 46
                  If criticism of my works is not worth the money, then let me ask you: why are you wasting time and energy on this criticism?
                  Explain this to me.
                  1. +11
                    1 August 2024 22: 28
                    Why does the site’s functionality include comments on articles? Probably so that readers can express their opinions about them, exchange information, and discuss them.
                    Accordingly, they expressed their criticisms or expressed their delight.
                    Or do you see this process differently?
                    1. -8
                      1 August 2024 23: 55
                      The question was not about the functionality of the site, but about your labor costs.
                      Well, why do you waste energy and time on something that, in your opinion, is not worth the money?

                      I have my own version, but I will listen to your explanation first.
                      1. +5
                        2 August 2024 00: 11
                        So the answer was not about the functionality of the site, but about my comments. It's just that MB26.05 in the eleventh revision does not allow you to consider this answer.
                        But John Nash's laurels will not shine on you. All the best. Until next time.
                      2. -7
                        2 August 2024 10: 29
                        And now my version of your works. It was you who squealed: “Don’t you dare not scald according to the training manual!” laughing

                        Did you expect me to drop this topic just by your comment? Haha. If I started learning Japanese to understand this topic, then I don’t care about your opinion. As well as the opinion of American authors, individually and all together.
                        The primary source is what feeds historical science.
                      3. +3
                        2 August 2024 11: 11
                        by training manual

                        You guessed it! You guessed it! And in relation to your case, I used three (!) manuals at once - Kandinsky, Melekhov and Zeigarnik! Well, and I had one eye on Zinoviev, I admit.
        2. +2
          1 August 2024 13: 06
          about Operation Matterhorn.
          Now I have refreshed my memory of the circumstances of the operation. In my opinion, it turned out to be unreasonably expensive, both in terms of resources expended and in terms of losses in material and technical resources and personnel. But the most successful raid was on Anshan.
          1. +4
            1 August 2024 13: 24
            In my opinion, it turned out to be unreasonably expensive, both in terms of resources expended and in terms of losses in material and technical resources and personnel.

            The Americans had no choice. At the Casablanca Conference in January 1943, when Roosevelt, despite serious doubts expressed by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Chiang Kai-shek that he would send a large bomber force to attack Japan from China, the promise had to be kept.
            The Americans themselves, in tactical terms, gave Operation Matterhorn approximately the same assessment. The goals were too ambitious and they failed to achieve them. But in strategic terms, Matterhorn was a kind of experiment that allowed the Americans to work out all the problematic issues of B-29 operation, organization, logistics, and from March 1945, to move on to strategic bombing of Japan, which simply destroyed Japanese industry.
            1. +3
              1 August 2024 13: 28
              But in strategic terms, Matterhorn was a kind of experiment that allowed the Americans to work out all the problematic issues of operating the B-29, organization, logistics
              I agree with this.
    3. -2
      2 August 2024 04: 19
      The Americans decided to carry out the first massive raid on Manchuria on December 1944, XNUMX.
      1. 0
        2 August 2024 04: 31
        The first raid on the Showa plant was on July 29, 1944. The second, which was personally led by Curtis LeMay, was on September 8, 1944.
        1. -1
          2 August 2024 04: 38
          I didn’t have time to fix it, it got bugged and the message was duplicated.
        2. -1
          2 August 2024 04: 42
          The Japanese also understood that Manchuria would sooner or later be subject to airstrikes, and took appropriate measures. On August 28, 1944, the 104th Fighter Sentai (air regiment), formed two weeks earlier, flew to Mukden from Japan. (August 14)
          Source https://hist-etnol.livejournal.com/4603155.html
        3. -1
          2 August 2024 04: 42
          The Japanese also understood that Manchuria would sooner or later be subject to airstrikes, and took appropriate measures. On August 28, 1944, the 104th Fighter Sentai (air regiment), formed two weeks earlier, flew to Mukden from Japan. (August 14)
          Source https://hist-etnol.livejournal.com/4603155.html
        4. -1
          2 August 2024 04: 45
          https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/12546085.pdf нашел японский источник про завод
        5. -1
          2 August 2024 04: 48
          104th Sentai

          Formed 26.07.1944/4/XNUMX in Ozuki, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan on the basis of the XNUMXth Sentai.

          Aircraft: Ki-43 and Ki-84.

          Coverage area: Manchuria.

          After the war it was disbanded in Manchuria. Comments: In August 1944, the sentai was reorganized into the 25th separate chutai.
        6. -1
          2 August 2024 04: 48
          104th Sentai

          Formed 26.07.1944/4/XNUMX in Ozuki, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan on the basis of the XNUMXth Sentai.

          Aircraft: Ki-43 and Ki-84.

          Coverage area: Manchuria.

          After the war it was disbanded in Manchuria. Comments: In August 1944, the sentai was reorganized into the 25th separate chutai.
        7. 0
          2 August 2024 05: 09
          Sixty B-29s attacked the plant. The bombs hit a by-products plant near the target. The cost of losing five B-29s was direct hits on two of the sixteen coke batteries and damage to a third, which was estimated to take a year to repair.
          1. 0
            2 August 2024 05: 10
            Thanks, but I have all this information. You better send all this to the author.
            1. 0
              2 August 2024 06: 03
              Maybe he’ll see it, but how did they calculate 30%? If we consider that by miracle we hit 3 out of 16. The plant worked normally for more than six months, it should have already produced approximately 1 thousand tons, then the next 000 months would have seen a drop of almost 5%. The raid was underestimated and yet there is something else?
            2. 0
              2 August 2024 06: 03
              Maybe he’ll see it, but how did they calculate 30%? If we consider that by miracle we hit 3 out of 16. The plant worked normally for more than six months, it should have already produced approximately 1 thousand tons, then the next 000 months would have seen a drop of almost 5%. The raid was underestimated and yet there is something else?
              1. -1
                2 August 2024 06: 06
                I wrote that there were two raids. During the second raid, six coke oven batteries were disabled.
                1. 0
                  2 August 2024 17: 47
                  Based on aerial photography, intelligence estimated that the two raids on Anshan knocked out three of the sixteen batteries for at least a year and another three for at least six months. The 3rd raid was unsuccessful because the weather was bad. How did they calculate that the raids reduced production by a third? Here we need production by month. The Japanese source talks about the fate of the plant after the war, but there is a lot of data in the footnotes about the pre-war and war periods. I learned that not only Germans, but also Americans participated in the life of the plant.
                2. 0
                  2 August 2024 17: 48
                  Based on aerial photography, intelligence estimated that the two raids on Anshan knocked out three of the sixteen batteries for at least a year and another three for at least six months. The 3rd raid was unsuccessful because the weather was bad. How did they calculate that the raids reduced production by a third? Here we need production by month. The Japanese source talks about the fate of the plant after the war, but there is a lot of data in the footnotes about the pre-war and war periods. I learned that not only Germans, but also Americans participated in the life of the plant.
                  1. -2
                    2 August 2024 17: 57
                    How did they calculate that the raids reduced production by a third?

                    Have you read the article?
                    1. -2
                      2 August 2024 18: 26
                      The Americans simply took the final figures for the year, saw a drop of 30% and attributed it to themselves. There were 3 raids. During the 1st and 2nd, 6 were damaged (3 were knocked out for a year, 3 for six months) out of 16. Even according to American data, we do not see 80% damage to the plant, which would result in a drop of 30% by the end of the year.
                      1. 0
                        2 August 2024 21: 13
                        Have you read the article? Read the article first, so as not to pull an owl on the globe.
                    2. The comment was deleted.
    4. 0
      2 August 2024 04: 19
      The Americans decided to carry out the first massive raid on Manchuria on December 1944, XNUMX.
  3. +5
    1 August 2024 08: 00
    So what happened in Manchuria in 1944?
    Well, just some kind of intrigue laughing Information for thought smile The answer was given above, and it is correct and respected commentators, there is no need to break spears.
    1. +7
      1 August 2024 08: 38
      ABOUT! "Old" names again! It's like Tallinn should be called Tallinn correctly....
      1. +3
        1 August 2024 09: 32
        Monster_Fat (What's the Difference), dear sir, I really want to answer "in European style" this morning:
        “So-a-a, neither ka-a-ak nor “Kolyvaan”, ka-a-ak etti vene pritumaali... The owner said: “Reval” is correct!”
      2. ANB
        +5
        1 August 2024 09: 35
        . what is the correct name for Tallinn? Tallinn

        The correct name is Revel.
      3. 0
        28 November 2024 16: 15
        Quote: Monster_Fat
        This is how Tallinn should be called correctly...

        In Russian, the spelling Tallinn is unacceptable. The hard "n" is written with one letter "n", the soft "n" with the letters "нь". Perhaps in Estonian, the soft "n" is written with the letter n, and the hard "n" with two letters "nn".
  4. Des
    +1
    1 August 2024 09: 27
    It was interesting to read.
    Thank you.
    But what is the power of the Chinese communists! And of course their opponents in the civil war.
    To that. We taxied out in the end. Both those and others. Bravo.
  5. +5
    1 August 2024 09: 29
    What happened in Manchuria in 1944

    @
    Well, um, in short there was a PLANT! Here.

    wassat
  6. +3
    1 August 2024 09: 56
    So what happened in Manchuria in 1944?

    Japan was losing the war to the US
  7. +4
    1 August 2024 21: 09
    Special chronology. China, only different and unusual for us.
    The typically Asian calendar is still used in Japan. At one time, I was amazed to see his year of birth on the taxi driver’s badge, but it turned out that they still use chronology from the date of accession to the throne of the current (current) emperor.