The term Collaborationist Chinese Army refers to the military forces of the puppet governments founded by Imperial Japan in mainland China during the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II. They include the armies of the Provisional (1937–1940), Reformed (1938–1940) and Reorganized National Governments of the Republic of China (1940–1945), which absorbed the former two regimes.
Those forces were commonly known as puppet troops but went under different names during their history depending on the specific unit and allegiance, such as Nanjing Army. In total, it was estimated that all pro-Japanese collaborationist Chinese forces combined had a strength of around 683,000.
Provisional Government Originally, the Japanese did not allow Wang Kemin's Provisional Government of the Republic of China to have an army of its own and instead relied on a police force of 5,000 men for security. In May 1938 steps were taken towards forming an actual army for his government by opening a military academy in Beijing, with an initial intake of a hundred cadets for a one-year course. In February 1939, a Training School was opened for non-commissioned officers with one thousand cadets undergoing a six-month course. The target strength the Provisional Government wanted to reach was 13,200 men divided into 8 infantry regiments, with six of them being formed into brigades, commanded by a Chinese major general and a Japanese advisor. Along with graduates of the academies, who were given the rank of lieutenant or second lieutenant, there were also former Nationalist and warlord officers. In addition, there was also a 400-man bodyguard unit for Wang.Jowett (2004), pp. 44–49.
The Provisional Government Army's order of battle was as follows: 1st Brigade 'Beijing' (Maj. Gen. Liu Fengzhi) 1st Regiment (Peking) 2nd Regiment (Tongzhou) 2nd Brigade 'Baoding' (Maj. Gen. Huang Nanbeng) 3rd Regiment (Paotingfu) 4th Regiment (Chengtingfu) 3rd Brigade 'Kaiping' (Maj. Gen. Lu Zhensheng) 5th Regiment (Kaiping) 6th Regiment (Tangshan) 7th Independent Regiment 'Tianjin' (Col. Sun Zhizhang) 8th Independent Regiment 'Jinan' (Col. Ma Wenzhi)
Reformed Government
The poorly-organized Reformed Government of the Republic of China, which managed the occupied zones in central China, raised a minimal armed force of generally poor quality. In December 1938, Pacification Minister Ren Yuandao announced that the army consisted of 10,000 troops. A military academy was established with 320 cadets between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five, with the intent of creating a new officer class "untainted" by prior service in the Nationalist Army and loyal to the Reformed Government. The year-long training course was given by Japanese officers. However, their training was cut short as the expanded army, which numbered 30,000 men by November 1939, needed officers. Its quality was low, as reports indicated that Reformed Government troops fled from guerillas that they engaged.
The Reformed Government Army was initially organized as follows: 1st Pacification District – Zhejiang and Jiangxi provinces 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Pacification Districts – regions south of Yangtze River 5th Pacification District – regions north of the Yangtze River
In addition, a 'water patrol corps' was created in June 1939 to police the coastline and inland waterways. It was commanded by Vice Admiral Xu Jianding, the former commander of the Nationalist navy's Yangtze Squadron. A water police training school was established with 150 cadets trained by 30 Japanese and 30 Chinese instructors. However, it had few vessels to carry out its duty with. There were also plans to form an air force and several training gliders were purchased from Japan, but these plans never came to fruition by the time the Reformed Government was merged with the newly-formed Reorganized National Government of China as the Nanjing Army in 1940.
Nanjing Government Army
During its existence, the Reorganized National Government of the Republic of China fielded a force that was estimated by Western sources to have been between 300,000 and 500,000 strong.Barett (2002), pp. 109–11. Wang Jingwei initially planned to raise a force of twelve divisions under his personal command,Jowett (2004), pp. 65–67. although most Nanjing Government troops were only under his nominal control throughout the war. All military matters were theoretically managed by the Central Military Commission, but in reality the body was largely symbolic and had little authority. The Nanjing Army commanders were able to operate without much interference from Wang's government and in many cases were former warlords or officers of Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist Army. Wang initially recruited his troops from former Nationalist soldiers and the collaborationist troops that had previously served the Provisional and Reformed Governments, which were both united under Wang's command. In the "Japan–China Military Affairs Agreement" signed by Japan and the Reorganized National Government, the Japanese agreed to train and equip an unspecified number of divisions for the Nanjing Army. They were provided with mostly captured Nationalist equipment along with small amounts of Japanese weapons.
Their Japanese advisors viewed the army as a strictly infantry force, providing it only with minimal artillery and armor, and what little they did receive was mostly used by Wang's three Capital Guard divisions. The main type of artillery in use by the Nanjing Army were medium mortars, with 31 field guns (including Model 1917 mountain guns) being in use by the Guards divisions. The Japanese provided 18 Type 94 tankettes in 1941 so that the Wang Jingwei regime would have at least a token armored force. Records indicate that the Nanjing Army was also given 20 armored cars and 24 motorcycles. Since there were few factories in the Nanjing Government's territory, it had to rely on weapons captured from Nationalist troops and those provided by Japan. Due to this the quality and quantity of small arms used by the Nanjing Army varied greatly. Two of the most widely used rifles were the Chinese version of the Karabiner 98k and the Hanyang 88, though various other kinds also found their way to the army. In 1941 the Japanese sold some 15,000 captured Carcano rifles and 30,000 new Arisaka rifles which were issued to the best Nanjing Army units. Various machine gun models were also used, including the Czech ZB-26 light machine gun and Type 3 heavy machine gun. Even when Nanjing troops were decently armed, the amount of ammunition they received was limited, but later in the war the Nanjing regime was producing some equipment in its own factories.Jowett (2004), pp. 75–77.
Among those targeted for recruitment by the Nanjing Nationalist Government and Japanese were former warlord officers of the 1911–1928 period. Due to the personal loyalty of Chinese troops to their commanders, several Nationalist Chinese generals that defected brought their armies over with them. Many Nationalist units defected on orders of Chiang Kai-shek in order to preserve them for the later war against the Chinese Communists that he knew he would fight after Japan's defeat. As a result, the Nanjing Army was never fully trusted due to its suspect loyalties and therefore received limited heavy weapons, but the worsening war situation for Japan meant that they had to rely on it more often and thus Nanjing units were granted better equipment. These troops were mostly used for defending important locations and for combating Communist partisans.Jowett (2004), pp. 69–70. In addition, many local irregular units were raised as well, including militias, volunteer and rural guards, which were mainly formed in order to counter guerrilla fighters. However, their quality was very low due to their limited training and lack of arms, and they were regarded as unreliable.Jowett (2004), pp. 80–82.
The units that were considered to be the most reliable and loyal by Wang Jingwei included the three Guards divisions in Nanjing (about 10,000 men per division), the 1st Front Army (about 20,000 men), based throughout the Lower Yangtze, and the Taxation Police Corps (about 3,000 men), which had been raised personally by Zhou Fohai and were loyal to him. The Capital Guards Divisions were formed from an independent brigade created in May 1941 in Nanjing, which was considered a success and raised to the size of a division. Shortly afterwards another two divisions were created. These Guards units were given the best equipment, weapons, and uniforms, with a personal loyalty to Wang himself. The Taxation Police Corps was created in Shanghai by Finance Minister Zhou Fohai for his own protection and owed its loyalty to him, and he sought to raise its quality to that of a regular IJA division. It increased in size from 3,000 to around 20,000 men. They, like Wang's Capital Guard divisions, received some of the best supplies and were highly regarded as among the Nanjing regime's best units. They were later moved out of Shanghai and were used for fighting guerillas. Morale and reliability of the average Nanjing Army units was a matter of their location. Intelligence reports from 1944 indicate that those units who were stationed near Nanjing and took orders from Wang Jingwei's government were more effective and motivated than those who were further away and commanded by others.
Organization The standard divisional organization of the Nanjing Army was as follows:Jowett (2004), pp. 71–72. 1 headquarters company 3 infantry regiments (3 battalions of 3 companies each) 1 mountain artillery battery 1 engineer company 1 signal unit
However, this structure was rarely followed and there was a disparity in the sizes of different units. For example, some units referred to as "armies" had a strength of a few thousand men while others that were called "divisions" had more than 6,000. Only the elite Guards divisions in Nanjing actually followed the standard structure. In order to improve organization, a central wireless station was built in Nanjing and smaller relay posts throughout occupied China were also established to improve communications between the general staff and outlying units. By January 1943 it was reported that the units in and around Nanjing were organized into a "Metropolitan Defense Army" of some 30,000 men, consisting of the three Guards divisions. Reports from October 1943 claimed that the strength of the Nanjing Army in south and central China was 42 divisions, 5 independent brigades, and 15 independent regiments. Information regarding the Nanjing Army is incomplete and creating a full picture of the Wang Jingwei regime's order of battle is impossible. There were different estimates for their total troop numbers, ranging from 300,000 to as much as 683,000.
In effect, most military forces in north China that were part of the Nanjing Army were really under the authority of the semi-autonomous North China Political Council, led by former Provisional Government leader Wang Kemin. In 1940, it was reported that the total strength of the units in North China was 22 regiments, along with 8 independent and training regiments. As a result of a recruitment drive in November 1940, the North China Political Council's army increased from 26,000 to 41,000 men. The number of collaborationist police in the region was about 135,000 and local militia numbered about 200,000. Following a reform in 1942, the army increased to 30 regiments. The regimental structure of the North China Council forces was as follows:Jowett (2004), pp. 85–87. 3 infantry battalions 1 machine gun company 1 mortar company 1 cavalry troop 1 signal company