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130-726: Many Westerners were living in the city at that time, conducting trade or on missionary trips. As the Japanese army began to approach Nanjing, the Chinese government departed, moving to the transitional capital of Hankou . Most of the foreigners in Nanjing fled the city as well. However, a small number of Westerners chose to remain behind. It is not clear exactly how many Westerners stayed behind and who they were. The number reported ranges from 20 to 30. David Askew has analyzed various sources who provide differing numbers of foreigners remaining in

260-626: A 15,000-strong force, some of which had been trained by French military advisers. They were opposed by 5,000 troops from the Satsuma, Chōshū, and Tosa domains. At the two road junctions of Toba and Fushimi just south of Kyoto, the two forces clashed. On the second day, an Imperial banner was given to the defending troops and a member of the Imperial Family, the Prince Ninnaji , was named nominal commander in chief , in effect making

390-543: A Qing territory. It marked the first overseas deployment of the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy. An Imperial Rescript to Soldiers and Sailors of 1882 called for unquestioning loyalty to the Emperor by the new armed forces and asserted that commands from superior officers were equivalent to commands from the Emperor himself. Thenceforth, the military existed in an intimate and privileged relationship with

520-466: A counterbalance to the Chinese troops camped at Asan. Simultaneously, the Japanese decided to send a reinforced brigade of approximately 8,000 troops to Korea. The reinforced brigade, included auxiliary units, under the command of General Oshima Yoshimasa was fully transported to Korea by June 27. The Japanese stated to the Chinese that they were willing to withdraw the brigade under General Oshima if

650-633: A decisive blow to the Russian armies. Over-reliance on infantry led to large casualties among Japanese forces, especially during the siege of Port Arthur . The Empire of Japan entered the war on the Entente side . Although tentative plans were made to send an expeditionary force of between 100,000 and 500,000 men to fight in France on the Western Front , ultimately among the few actions in which

780-517: A factor in the government's abolition of the han system . The military ministry ( Hyōbushō ) was reorganized in July 1871; on August 29, simultaneously with the decree abolishing the domains, the Dajōkan ordered local daimyos to disband their private armies and turn their weapons over to the government. Although the government played on the foreign threat, especially Russia's southward expansion, to justify

910-597: A few hundred men and women, and either summarily execute them or rape and then kill them. The Japanese army claimed that there were guerrillas in the Safety Zone due to the fact that anyone not wearing a uniform could enter. In late January 1938, the Japanese army forced all refugees in the Safety Zone to return home, and claimed to have "restored order". On February 18, 1938, the Nanking Safety Zone International Committee

1040-588: A higher degree of return for their low pay than they otherwise would have received. However, at the end of the war, the Imperial Japanese ministry of finance cancelled all military bank notes, rendering the military yen worthless. Throughout the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II, the Imperial Japanese Army had shown immense brutality and engaged in numerous atrocities against civilians , as well as prisoners of war – with

1170-590: A means of resolving disputes. This was enacted by the Japanese in order to prevent militarism , which had led to conflict. However, in 1947 the Public Security Force was formed; later in 1954, in the early stages of the Cold War , the Public Security Force formed the basis of the newly created Ground Self-Defense Force. Although significantly smaller than the former Imperial Japanese Army and nominally for defensive purposes only, this force constitutes

1300-530: A national army, the immediately perceived danger was domestic insurrection. Consequently, on August 31, the country was divided into four military districts, each with its own chindai ( garrison ) to deal with peasant uprisings or samurai insurrections. The Imperial Guard formed the Tokyo garrison, whereas troops from the former domains filled the ranks of the Osaka, Kumamoto, and Sendai garrisons. The four garrisons had

1430-745: A nursing home. Fitch and his wife Geraldine are now buried in the Valley View Cemetery of Essex County, New York . For his role in the Korean independence movement, Fitch is remembered fondly in South Korea. On January 8, 1952, Fitch received the Order of Cultural Merit from the South Korean government . On March 1, 1968, Fitch was among 56 foreigners who were awarded the Order of Merit for National Foundation . As of 2015 , Fitch

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1560-573: A public awareness tour across the United States that drew significant media attention. Fitch and his wife are also remembered in South Korea for their roles as Korean independence activists . They provided aid to and befriended notable Korean politicians, including first President of South Korea Syngman Rhee and President of the Provisional Government of Korea Kim Ku . After he left China, Fitch eventually served as head of

1690-652: A shortage of supplies, especially food, medicine, munitions, and armaments, largely due to submarine interdiction of supplies, and losses to Japanese shipping, which was worsened by a longstanding rivalry with the Imperial Japanese Navy . The lack of supplies caused large numbers of fighter aircraft to become unserviceable for lack of spare parts, and "as many as two-thirds of Japan's total military deaths [to result] from illness or starvation". Compared to respective armies in Europe or America , soldiers in

1820-538: A total of about 8,000 troops – mostly infantry, but also a few hundred artillerymen and engineers. Smaller detachments of troops also guarded outposts at Kagoshima, Fushimi, Nagoya, Hiroshima, and elsewhere. By late December 1871, the army set modernization and coastal defense as priorities; long-term plans were devised for an armed force to maintain internal security, defend strategic coastal areas, train and educate military and naval officers, and build arsenals and supply depots. Despite previous rhetoric about

1950-602: A wrecked merchant vessel from the Ryukyu Kingdom on the southwestern tip of Taiwan. 12 men were rescued by the local Chinese-speaking community and were transferred to Miyako-jima in the Ryukyu Islands. The Empire of Japan used this as an excuse to both assert sovereignty over the Ryukyu Kingdom, which was a tributary state of both Japan and Qing China at the time, and to attempt the same with Taiwan,

2080-498: Is a hell I had never before envisaged. On January 23, 1938, Fitch and 13 other Americans were allowed to leave the city on a Japanese military train. He smuggled in the lining of his coat eight reels of 16 mm negative movie film that contained evidence of the massacre. The film mainly contained evidence filmed by John Magee at the Nanjing University Hospital. This evidence later proved instrumental in

2210-828: The Hokushin-ron doctrine, and the Japanese establishment of a puppet state in Manchuria brought the two countries into conflict. The war lasted on and off with the last battles of the 1930s (the Battle of Lake Khasan and the Battles of Khalkhin Gol ) ending in a decisive victory for the Soviets. The conflicts stopped with the signing of the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact on April 13, 1941. However, later, at

2340-480: The San Francisco Chronicle : I heard the cries of tens of thousands of women kneeling and praying for help which we were helpless to give. First, their husbands and sons were torn from them and ruthlessly murdered. Then night after night squads of Japanese soldiers would invade the neutral zone and drag away hundreds of them, crying hysterically, to be subjected to unspeakable indignities. Theirs

2470-526: The Bolshevik Revolution , the Imperial Japanese Army initially planned to send more than 70,000 troops to occupy Siberia as far west as Lake Baikal . The army general staff came to view the Tsarist collapse as an opportunity to free Japan from any future threat from Russia by detaching Siberia and forming an independent buffer state. The plan was scaled back considerably due to opposition from

2600-731: The College of Wooster , Ohio in 1906, and Union Theological Seminary in New York with a Bachelor of Divinity in 1909. He also studied at Columbia University around this time. His first official post was as chaplain at the Riverview Military Academy from 1906 to 1907. He then served as assistant pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in New York City. In 1909, he was ordained in

2730-949: The Dagu forts near Tianjin. Four days later, the Qing court declared war on the foreign powers. The British, in light of the precarious situation, were compelled to ask Japan for additional reinforcements, as the Japanese had the only readily available forces in the region. Britain at the time was heavily engaged in the Boer War , and, consequently, a large part of the British army was tied down in South Africa. Deploying large numbers of troops from British garrisons in India would take too much time and weaken internal security there. Overriding personal doubts, Foreign Minister Aoki Shūzō calculated that

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2860-537: The French military mission to Japan (1918–19) , headed by Commandant Jacques-Paul Faure , was requested to assist in the development of the Japanese air services. The Japanese invasion of Taiwan under Qing rule in 1874 was a punitive expedition by Japanese military forces in response to the Mudan Incident of December 1871. The Paiwan people , who are indigenous peoples of Taiwan, murdered 54 crewmembers of

2990-750: The German General Staff , was established directly under the Emperor and was given broad powers for military planning and strategy. Other known foreign military consultants were Major Pompeo Grillo from the Kingdom of Italy , who worked at the Osaka foundry from 1884 to 1888, followed by Major Quaratezi from 1889 to 1890; and Captain Schermbeck from the Netherlands, who worked on improving coastal defenses from 1883 to 1886. Japan did not use foreign military advisors between 1890 and 1918, until

3120-741: The International Committee for the Nanking Safety Zone or the International Red Cross Committee of Nanking . The Westerners who remained behind established the Nanjing Safety Zone, which was composed of a score of refugee camps that occupied an area of about 3.4 miles (8.6 km). The Safety Zone was bordered by roads on all four sides, and had an area of approximately 3.86 km, with 25 refugee camps centered around

3250-962: The International Military Tribunal for the Far East (also "Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal") in 1946, which he would later testify in. After Fitch's departure, Hubert Lafayette Sone was elected administrative director of the successor to the Nanking Safety Zone, the Nanjing International Relief Committee. He briefly stayed in Shanghai, Hong Kong , and Guangzhou . He then took the Philippine Clipper and arrived in San Francisco on March 9. He then flew to Washington, D.C. , on March 17 and provided his first-hand account of

3380-537: The Moscow -backed Far Eastern Republic . The continued Japanese presence concerned the United States, which suspected that Japan had territorial designs on Siberia and the Russian Far East . Subjected to intense diplomatic pressure by the United States and Great Britain, and facing increasing domestic opposition due to the economic and human cost, the administration of Prime Minister Katō Tomosaburō withdrew

3510-547: The Nanjing Massacre being the most well known example. Other war crimes committed by the Imperial Japanese Army included rape and forced prostitution , death marches , using biological warfare against civilians, and the execution of prisoners of war. Such atrocities throughout the war caused tens of millions of deaths. Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution renounced the right to use force as

3640-651: The Nanjing massacre , the Safety Zone never existed. The museum of the Yasukuni shrine omits any mention of the Nanjing massacre and proclaims that "The Japanese established a safety zone for Chinese civilians and made a special effort to protect historical and cultural sites. Inside the city, residents were once again able to live their lives in peace." Japanese Army in World War II The Imperial Japanese Army ( IJA )

3770-629: The Second Sino-Japanese War , in 1937. As war approached, the Imperial Army's influence with the Emperor waned and the influence of the Imperial Japanese Navy increased. Nevertheless, by 1938 the Army had been expanded to 34 divisions. From 1932 to 1945 the Empire of Japan and the Soviet Union had a series of conflicts . Japan had set its military sights on Soviet territory as a result of

3900-450: The YMCA for most of his career. He is most notable for his assistance of civilians and documentation of the Nanjing Massacre . Fitch served as director of the International Committee for the Nanking Safety Zone , and like John Rabe , was one of the few foreigners in the city at that time. When he eventually left the city, he smuggled with him evidence of the atrocities. He then embarked on

4030-661: The Yalta Conference , Stalin agreed to declare war on Japan; and on August 5, 1945, the Soviet Union voided their neutrality agreement with Japan. In 1941, the Imperial Japanese Army had 51 divisions and various special-purpose artillery, cavalry, anti-aircraft, and armored units with a total of 1,700,000 people. At the beginning of the Second World War , most of the Japanese Army (27 divisions)

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4160-466: The siege of the diplomatic legations in Beijing . An international force consisting of British , French , Russian , German , Italian , Austro-Hungarian , American , and Japanese troops was eventually assembled to relieve the legations. The Japanese provided the largest contingent of troops, 20,840, as well as 18 warships. A small, hastily assembled, vanguard force of about 2,000 troops, under

4290-457: The 1890s, the Imperial Japanese Army had grown to become the most modern army in Asia: well-trained, well-equipped, and with good morale. However, it was basically an infantry force deficient in cavalry and artillery when compared with its European contemporaries. Artillery pieces, which were purchased from America and a variety of European nations, presented two problems: they were scarce, and

4420-767: The Chinese left Asan prior. However, when on 16 July, 8,000 Chinese troops landed near the entrance of the Taedong River to reinforce Chinese troops garrisoned in Pyongyang , the Japanese delivered Li Hongzhang an ultimatum, threatening to take action if any further troops were sent to Korea. Consequently, General Oshima in Seoul and commanders of the Japanese warships in Korean waters received orders allowing them to initiate military operations if any more Chinese troops were sent to Korea. Despite this ultimatum, Li, considered that Japanese were bluffing and were trying to probe

4550-536: The Chinese readiness to make concessions. He decided, therefore to reinforce Chinese forces in Asan with a further 2,500 troops, 1,300 of which arrived in Asan during the night of July 23–24. At the same time, in the early morning of July 23, the Japanese had taken control of the Royal Palace in Seoul and imprisoned King Gojong , forcing him to renounce ties with China. During the almost two-month interval prior to

4680-590: The Christian community in both Shanghai and Suzhou. Fitch's father served as the chairman of the Chinese branch of the U.S. Presbyterian Mission Agency . They held bible study sessions every Wednesday, in which they encountered high-profile Chinese people, including Sun Yat-sen , Tang Shaoyi , and Wang Chonghui . Fitch's parents also corresponded with a number of Korean Christians during their time in China, including Yun Chi-ho and Lyuh Woon-hyung . While

4810-561: The Donghak Peasant Revolution would lead to Chinese intervention in Korea. As a result, soon after learning word about the Korean government's request for Chinese military help, immediately ordered all warships in the vicinity to be sent to Pusan and Chemulpo . On June 9, a formation of 420 rikusentai , selected from the crews of the Japanese warships was immediately dispatched to Seoul, where they served temporarily as

4940-541: The Fitch collection at the Harvard–Yenching Library of Harvard University . Fitch's first wife was Alberta Casterlin Kempton (1887–1919), whom he met while studying in the United States in 1910. They married around 1911 in Bristol , United Kingdom. To get there from Shanghai, they took the Trans-Siberian Railway . The couple had four children together, two daughters and two sons. However, she died in February 1919 from typhoid fever . In 1924, he married Geraldine Townsend (1892–1976) in Albion, Michigan . Townsend

5070-522: The Fitches' interest in Korea was initially primarily religious, after the Japanese formally colonized Korea in 1910 , the Fitches began providing assistance to Korean independence activists . For example, in 1919, they helped Ahn Chang-ho and the Korean Provisional Government with the reestablishment of the Korean Red Cross , as the original had been forcefully absorbed into the Japanese Red Cross in 1909. In addition to providing direct aid, they also shared their connections to important people with

5200-415: The Imperial Japanese Army received a rather meagre salary; however, the cost of living in Japan was also cheaper than in most Western nations. The below table gives figures from December 1941, when one Japanese yen was worth approximately $ 0.23. For comparison, in 1942, an American private was paid approximately $ 50 per month (or 204 yen), meaning the lowest ranking soldier in the United States military

5330-399: The Imperial Japanese Army was involved was the careful and well executed attack on the German concession of Qingdao in 1914 and the seizure of various other small German islands and colonies. During 1917–18, Japan continued to extend its influence and privileges in China via the Nishihara Loans . During the Siberian Intervention , following the collapse of the Russian Empire after

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5460-408: The International Committee for the Nanking Safety Zone managed to persuade the Chinese government to move all their troops out of the area. According to Miner Searle Bates , one of the American missionaries, "The Chinese authorities agreed to the idea of the Zone, though the military were naturally reluctant to move out of the area before the very last minute." Bates described the Japanese position on

5590-451: The Japanese forces in October 1922. In the 1920s the Imperial Japanese Army expanded rapidly and by 1927 had a force of 300,000 men. Unlike western countries, the Army enjoyed a great deal of independence from government. Under the provisions of the Meiji Constitution , the War Minister was held accountable only to the Emperor ( Hirohito ) himself, and not to the elected civilian government. In fact, Japanese civilian administrations needed

5720-403: The Japanese invasion. He also worked as a Chinese-English interpreter. Around 1944, he helped coordinate logistics for the US military on the Burma Road . He was also appointed head of the YMCA in Lanzhou in that year. The Fitch couple joined two organizations that Syngman Rhee founded: the Korea–America Association (KAA) in 1942 and the Christian Friends of Korea in 1943. During

5850-399: The Japanese of the action. It was decided to send 2,500 men to Asan , about 70 km from the capital Seoul. The troops arrived in Asan on June 9 and were additionally reinforced by 400 more on June 25, a total of about 2,900 Chinese soldiers were at Asan. From the very outset the developments in Korea had been carefully observed in Tokyo. Japanese government had soon become convinced that

5980-409: The Japanese, constituting slightly less than half of the assault force, accounted for almost two-thirds of the losses, 280 of 453. The Russo–Japanese War (1904–1905) was the result of tensions between Russia and Japan , grown largely out of rival imperialist ambitions toward Manchuria and Korea . The Japanese army inflicted severe losses against the Russians; however, they were not able to deal

6110-422: The Koreans. For example, they introduced Lyuh to Charles Richard Crane on November 28, 1918. However, these activities drew the ire of the Japanese government, who went on to monitor the family for decades. Fitch and his siblings all returned to the United States for schooling and went back to China to work as missionaries. Fitch returned to the United States in 1900 to pursue his education. He graduated from

6240-514: The Massacre to U.S. State Department officials. Afterwards, he toured the United States and gave speeches and showed movies of the massacre to various audiences. He visited cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles , New York City , Chicago , and Seattle . In a speech at the Cleveland Heights Presbyterian Church, he said: The destruction of Nanking was the blackest page in modern history [...] The Japanese for two months kept up continuous looting, burning, robbing and murdering [...] Chinese men by

6370-648: The Presbyterian Church. He then arrived in Shanghai , China on 25 December to work with YMCA . In 1912, he briefly visited Korea during one of his trips to Moscow via Manchuria and Siberia . In February 1923, his father also died, and Fitch briefly returned to the United States. Around this time, his wife Geraldine became close friends with the wife of Chiang Kai-shek , Soong Mei-ling . Like his father, Fitch assisted Koreans for much of his lifetime, and in his autobiography stated that he considered many prominent Koreans as his friends. In his 1967 autobiography, he said of Koreans: The Japanese had been telling

6500-423: The Safety Zone in this way, "The Japanese authorities never formally recognized the Zone, but did say that they would not attack an area which was not occupied by Chinese troops. On this narrow margin of agreement, the Chinese promise to evacuate the area and the Japanese statement that they would not intentionally attack an unoccupied place, the Safety Zone was finally put through." The Japanese army did not subject

6630-416: The Safety Zone to concentrated air bombardment or shelling. Only a few shells landed in the Zone throughout the siege, which wounded about 40 refugees. The Japanese did respect the Zone to an extent; no shells entered that part of the city leading up to the Japanese occupation except a few stray shots. During the chaos following the attack of the city, some were killed in the Safety Zone, but the atrocities in

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6760-452: The South Korean YMCA between 1947 and 1949. Fitch was born on January 23, 1883, in Suzhou , Jiangsu Province , China. He was born the fourth child of his parents, Presbyterian missionaries George Field Fitch (1845–1923) and Mary McLellan Fitch (1848–1918). He had a brother and three sisters. Fitch and his siblings were all born in China. Fitch's parents had arrived in China on November 5, 1870. During that time, they were active in

6890-464: The U.S. Embassy. To coordinate their efforts, the Westerners formed a committee, called the International Committee for the Nanking Safety Zone . German businessman John Rabe was elected as its leader, partly because of his status as a member of the Nazi party and the existence of the German-Japanese bilateral Anti-Comintern Pact . The International Committee for the Nanking Safety Zone was formed on November 22, 1937. The City of Nanjing affirmed

7020-418: The United Kingdom, by any standards, despite being widely considered a "first rate" or professional fighting force, men serving in the IJA were very poorly compensated. Complicating matters further was that, by 1942, most Japanese soldiers were paid using the Japanese military yen (JMY), an unsupported currency that could not be redeemed for the regular Japanese yen. In territories under Japanese occupation,

7150-447: The United States and its allied coalition partners withdrew from Vladivostok , after the capture and execution of the White Army leader, Admiral Kolchak, by the Red Army. However, the Japanese decided to stay, primarily due to fears of the spread of communism so close to Japan and Japanese-controlled Korea . The Japanese Army provided military support to the Japanese-backed Provisional Priamurye Government , based in Vladivostok, against

7280-468: The United States sent forces to Siberia to bolster the armies of the White movement leader Admiral Aleksandr Kolchak against the Bolshevik Red Army . Once the political decision had been reached, the Imperial Japanese Army took over full control under Chief of Staff General Yui Mitsue ; and by November 1918, more than 70,000 Japanese troops had occupied all ports and major towns in the Russian Maritime Provinces and eastern Siberia. In June 1920,

7410-433: The United States. In 1951, he resigned his post as head of the Korean YMCA and went to Taiwan , where the Kuomintang had retreated to after their 1949 loss of the Chinese Civil War . In Taiwan he served as advisor to the physics department of Tamkang University in Taiwan between 1958 and his retirement in 1963. In 1963, Fitch retired to Pomona, California . There, he died at the age of 95 on January 21, 1979, in

7540-453: The United States. In July 1918, the U.S. President , Woodrow Wilson , asked the Japanese government to supply 7,000 troops as part of an international coalition of 24,000 troops to support the American Expeditionary Force Siberia . After a heated debate in the Diet , the government of Prime Minister Terauchi Masatake agreed to send 12,000 troops, but under the command of Japan, rather than as part of an international coalition. Japan and

7670-499: The Westerners had cooperated in the Japanese slaughter of Chinese. As Chinese concerns about "American imperialism" diminished, and as Japan became the target of official vitriol (partly at least because of the highly politicized and contentious issue of Japanese textbooks ), views in China dramatically changed. Westerners were now depicted as active resistors rather than active collaborators. However, certain right-wing and nationalist Japanese authors and politicians claim that along with

7800-478: The advantages of participating in an allied coalition were too attractive to ignore. Prime Minister Yamagata likewise concurred, but others in the cabinet demanded that there be guarantees from the British in return for the risks and costs of a major deployment of Japanese troops. On July 6, the 5th Infantry Division was alerted for possible deployment to China, but without a timetable being set. Two days later, on July 8, with more ground troops urgently needed to lift

7930-444: The armed forces. In 1931, the Imperial Japanese Army had an overall strength of 198,880 officers and men, organized into 17 divisions. The Manchurian incident , as it became known in Japan, was a pretended sabotage of a local Japanese-owned railway, an attack staged by Japan but blamed on Chinese dissidents. Action by the military, largely independent of the civilian leadership, led to the invasion of Manchuria in 1931 and, later, to

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8060-416: The army numbered approximately 17,900 from a population of 35 million at the time; it doubled to about 33,000 in 1875. The conscription program slowly built up the numbers. Public unrest began in 1874, reaching the apex in the Satsuma Rebellion of 1877, which used the slogans, "oppose conscription", "oppose elementary schools", and "fight Korea". It took a year for the new army to crush the uprising, but

8190-424: The army would undertake immediate landings on the coast between Shanhaiguan and Tianjin, and advance to the Zhili plain in order to defeat the main Chinese forces and bring the war to a swift conclusion. If neither side gained control of the sea and supremacy, the army would concentrate on the occupation of Korea and exclude Chinese influence there. Lastly, if the navy was defeated and consequently lost command of

8320-416: The army, those who failed the exam were excused from all examinations except for the national guard. Recruits who passed entered the draft lottery, where some were selected for active duty. A smaller group would be selected for replacement duty ( hojū-eki ) should anything happen to any of the active duty soldiers; the rest were dismissed. One of the primary differences between the samurai and the peasant class

8450-432: The bombing. He also introduced Jo So-ang to the Kuomintang Foreign Minister Guo Taiqi . In September 1936, Fitch went to Nanjing (then called "Nanking") after being appointed general manager of the Nanjing YMCA. However, after the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War on July 7, 1937, Fitch became an advisor for the War Area Service Corps, a Chinese organization that provided soldiers with basic needs. Fitch

8580-400: The campaign, the imperial government established logistical relay stations along three major highways. These small depots held stockpiled material supplied by local pro-government domains, or confiscated from the bakufu and others opposing the imperial government. Local villagers were routinely impressed as porters to move and deliver supplies between the depots and frontline units. Initially,

8710-402: The cause – such as Tottori ( Inaba ) , Aki ( Hiroshima ) , and Hizen ( Saga )  – emerged to take a more active role in military operations. Western domains that had either supported the shogunate or remained neutral also quickly announced their support of the restoration movement. The nascent Meiji state required a new military command for its operations against

8840-404: The city on different dates. According to Askew, the best estimate seems to be that there were 27 foreigners in the city, five of whom were journalists who left the city on December 16, a few days after it fell to the Japanese army. Other than these five journalists, the other Westerners who remained in Nanjing were businessmen, physicians and missionaries. Almost all of these were members of either

8970-428: The city. The allies then consolidated and awaited the remainder of the 5th Division and other coalition reinforcements. In early August, the expedition pushed towards the capital where on August 14, it lifted the Boxer siege. By that time, the 13,000-strong Japanese force was the largest single contingent, making up about 40 percent of the approximately 33,000 strong allied expeditionary force. Japanese troops involved in

9100-478: The command of British Admiral Edward Seymour, departed by rail, from Tianjin, for the legations in early June. On June 12, mixed Boxer and Chinese regular army forces halted the advance, some 30 miles from the capital. The road-bound and badly outnumbered allies withdrew to the vicinity of Tianjin , having suffered more than 300 casualties. The army general staff in Tokyo became aware of the worsening conditions in China and had drafted ambitious contingency plans, but

9230-575: The creation of an Imperial Guard ( Goshinpei ) of six thousand men, consisting of nine infantry battalions, two artillery batteries and two cavalry squadrons. The emperor donated 100,000 ryō to underwrite the new unit, which was subordinate to the court. It was composed of members of the Satsuma, Chōshū and Tosa domains, who had led the restoration. Satsuma provided four battalions of infantry and four artillery batteries; Chōshū provided three battalions of infantry; Tosa two battalions of infantry, two squadrons of cavalry, and two artillery batteries. For

9360-455: The declaration of war, the two service staffs developed a two-stage operational plan against China. The army's 5th Division would land at Chemulpo to prevent a Chinese advance in Korea while the navy would engage the Beiyang fleet in a decisive battle in order to secure control of the seas. If the navy defeated the Chinese fleet decisively and secured command of the seas, the larger part of

9490-796: The early 1940s, Geraldine stayed in the United States and actively participated in both of these groups. She wrote an article on behalf of the KAA and KPG that was published in The New York Times . She also advocated for the formal recognition of the KPG by the Kuomintang and by the US government via her connections to Soong Mei-ling and Eleanor Roosevelt. Through these efforts, she became close to influential Korean Americans such as Rhee and Yong-jeung Kim  [ ko ] . George also advocated for

9620-550: The encounter at Toba–Fushimi, as well as yeoman and masterless samurai from various domains. The imperial court told the domains to restrict the size of their local armies and to contribute to funding a national officers' training school in Kyoto. However, within a few months the government disbanded both the military branch and the imperial bodyguard: the former was ineffective while the latter lacked modern weaponry and equipment. To replace them, two new organizations were created. One

9750-686: The entry to the Bohai Gulf, in mid-October. While, the First Army pursued the remaining Chinese forces from Korea across the Yalu River, Second Army occupied the city of Dairen on November 8 and then seized the fortress and harbor at Port Arthur on November 25. Farther north, the First army's offensive stalled and was beset by supply problems and winter weather. In 1899–1900, Boxer attacks against foreigners in China intensified, resulting in

9880-423: The existence of the Safety Zone, sent cash and food, and staffed security personnel in the zone. On December 1, 1937, the mayor of Nanjing, Ma Chao-chun , ordered all Chinese citizens remaining in Nanjing to move into the "Safety Zone" and then fled the city. The Japanese army did not recognize its existence, but they agreed not to attack parts of the city that did not contain Chinese military forces. The members of

10010-504: The expense of the domains advocated for the creation of a standing national army along European lines under the control of the government , the introduction of conscription for commoners and the abolition of the samurai class. Ōkubo Toshimichi preferred a small volunteer force consisting of former samurai. Ōmura's views for modernizing Japan's military led to his assassination in 1869 and his ideas were largely implemented after his death by Yamagata Aritomo . Aritomo has been described as

10140-596: The father of the Imperial Japanese Army. Yamagata had commanded mixed commoner-samurai Chōshū units during the Boshin War and was convinced of the merit of peasant soldiers. Although he himself was part of the samurai class, albeit of insignificant lower status, Yamagata distrusted the warrior class, several members of whom he regarded as clear dangers to the Meiji state. In March 1871, the War Ministry announced

10270-475: The fighting had acquitted themselves well, although a British military observer felt their aggressiveness, densely packed formations, and over-willingness to attack cost them excessive casualties. For example, during the Tianjin fighting, the Japanese, while comprising less than one quarter (3,800) of the total allied force of 17,000, suffered more than half of the casualties, 400 out of 730. Similarly at Beijing,

10400-400: The first time, the Meiji government was able to organize a large body of soldiers under a consistent rank and pay scheme with uniforms, which were loyal to the government rather than the domains. The Imperial Guard's principal mission was to protect the throne by suppressing domestic samurai revolts, peasant uprisings and anti-government demonstrations. The possession of this military force was

10530-410: The foreign menace, little substantive planning was directed against Russia. In February 1872, the military ministry was abolished and separate army and navy ministries were established. The conscription ordinance enacted on January 10, 1873, made universal military service compulsory for all male subjects in the country. The law called for a total of seven years of military service: three years in

10660-736: The formal recognition of the KPG. In June 1944, he sent a letter to the US Department of State with twelve points that advocated for the recognition of the KPG. Upon the end of the war in August 1945, Fitch announced his retirement from the YMCA. He then served as deputy director of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration in the flooded Yellow River area of Kaifeng in 1946. After this role, Fitch, then around 63 year old, intended to retire. However, Fitch

10790-662: The government, in light of the Triple Intervention refused to deploy large forces unless requested by the western powers. However, three days later, the general staff did dispatch a provisional force of 1,300 troops, commanded by Major General Fukushima Yasumasa , to northern China. Fukushima was chosen because his ability to speak fluent English which enabled him to communicate with the British commander. The force landed near Tianjin on July 5. On June 17, with tensions increasing, naval Rikusentai from Japanese ships had joined British, Russian, and German sailors to seize

10920-454: The guns that are killing them; while a thousand women kneel before you crying hysterically, begging you to save them from the beasts who are preying on them; to stand by and do nothing while your flag is taken down and insulted, not once but a dozen times, and your home is being looted and then to watch the city you have come to love and the institution to which you have planned to devote your best deliberately and systematically burned by fire-this

11050-473: The imperial institution. Top-ranking military leaders were given direct access to the Emperor and the authority to transmit his pronouncements directly to the troops. The sympathetic relationship between conscripts and officers, particularly junior officers who were drawn mostly from the peasantry, tended to draw the military closer to the people. In time, most people came to look more for guidance in national matters more to military than to political leaders. By

11180-425: The last holdouts but there are reports of other Japanese holdout later then December 1974. Total military in August 1945 was 6,095,000 including 676,863 Army Air Service. Over the course of the Imperial Japanese Army's existence, millions of its soldiers were either killed , wounded or listed as missing in action . George Ashmore Fitch George Ashmore Fitch (January 23, 1883 – January 21, 1979)

11310-416: The loose assembly of domain forces with the imperial court , which was the only national institution in a still unformed nation-state. The army continually emphasized its link with the imperial court: firstly, to legitimize its cause; secondly, to brand enemies of the imperial government as enemies of the court and traitors; and, lastly, to gain popular support. To supply food, weapons, and other supplies for

11440-439: The military yen – or "Japanese invasion money", as it came to be known by the locals – was the only legal tender in circulation. The Japanese authorities seized or ordered surrendered all other bank notes in territories under their occupation and provided compensation at an "exchange rate" as they saw fit, in the form of JMYs. This had the effect of affording Japanese soldiers in many occupied territories

11570-665: The modern army of Japan. Separately, some soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Army continued to fight on isolated Pacific islands until at least the 1970s, with the last known Japanese soldier surrendering in 1974. Intelligence officer Hiroo Onoda , who surrendered on Lubang Island in the Philippines in March 1974, and Teruo Nakamura , who surrendered on the Indonesian island of Morotai in December 1974, appear to have been

11700-566: The nation depended upon the cooperation of its vassals' armies. The opening of the country after two centuries of seclusion subsequently led to the Meiji Restoration and the Boshin War in 1868. The domains of Satsuma and Chōshū came to dominate the coalition against the shogunate. On 27 January 1868, tensions between the shogunate and imperial sides came to a head when Tokugawa Yoshinobu marched on Kyoto , accompanied by

11830-651: The navy was unable to bring the Beiyang fleet into battle in mid-August, temporarily withdrew from the Yellow Sea to refit and replenish its ships. As a consequence, in late August the general staff ordered an advance overland to the Zhili plain via Korea in order to capture bases on the Liaodong Peninsula to prevent Chinese forces from interfering with the drive on Beijing. The First Army with two divisions

11960-425: The need for a strong centralized authority and although the imperial side was victorious, the early Meiji government was weak and the leaders had to maintain their standing with their domains whose military forces was essential for whatever the government needed to achieve. The leaders of the restoration were divided over the future organization of the army. Ōmura Masujirō who had sought a strong central government at

12090-541: The new army created resentment among the samurai class. Although the nascent Meiji government achieved military success, the war left a residue of disgruntled warriors and marginalized commoners, together with a torn social fabric. After the defeat of the Tokugawa shogunate and operations in Northeastern Honshu and Hokkaido a true national army did not exist. Many in the restoration coalition had recognized

12220-503: The new army fought under makeshift arrangements, with unclear channels of command and control and no reliable recruiting base. Although fighting for the imperial cause, many of the units were loyal to their domains rather than the imperial court. In March 1869, the imperial government created various administrative offices, including a military branch; and in the following month organized an imperial bodyguard of 400 to 500, which consisted of Satsuma and Chōshū troops strengthened by veterans of

12350-596: The normalization of relations between China and the West, the Westerners who remained behind in Nanjing to run the Nanking Safety Zone were vigorously criticized by the Chinese government. For example, a group of researchers at Nanjing University in the 1960s condemned the members of the Western community in Nanjing for turning a blind eye to the Japanese atrocities in the city and misused the primary sources to suggest that

12480-450: The outcome of the naval operations. Clashes between Chinese and Japanese forces at Pungdo and Seongwhan caused irreversible changes to Sino-Japanese relations and meant that a state of war now existed between the two countries. The two governments officially declared war on August 1. Initially, the general staff's objective was to secure the Korean peninsula before the arrival of winter and then land forces near Shanhaiguan. However, as

12610-500: The pro-imperial forces officially an Imperial army. The bakufu forces eventually retreated to Osaka, with the remaining forces ordered to retreat to Edo. Yoshinobu and his closest advisors left for Edo by ship. The encounter at Toba–Fushimi between the imperial and shogunate forces marked the beginning of the conflict. With the court in Kyoto firmly behind the Satsuma-Chōshū-Tosa coalition, other domains that were sympathetic to

12740-436: The provinces of Zhili , Shandong and in Manchuria, as a result of the tense situation on the Korean peninsula. These actions were planned more as an armed demonstration intended to strengthen the Chinese position in Korea, rather than as a preparation for war with Japan. On June 3, the Chinese government accepted the requests from the Korean government to send troops to help quell the rebellion, additionally they also informed

12870-431: The regular army ( jōbigun ), two years in the reserve ( dai'ichi kōbigun ), and an additional two years in the second reserve ( daini kōbigun ). All able-bodied males between the ages of 17 and 40 were considered members of the national guard ( kokumingun ), which would only see service in a severe national crisis, such as an attack or invasion of Japan. The conscription examination decided which group of recruits would enter

13000-504: The relatively small number that were available were of several different calibers , causing problems with ammunition supply. In the early months of 1894, the Donghak Peasant Revolution broke out in southern Korea and had soon spread throughout the rest of the country, threatening the Korea capital Seoul , itself. The Chinese, since the beginning of May had taken steps to prepare the mobilization of their forces in

13130-407: The rest of the city were far greater by all accounts. Japanese soldiers committed atrocities in the Safety Zone that were part of the much larger Nanjing Massacre. The International Committee appealed a number of times to the Japanese army, with John Rabe using his credentials as a Nazi Party member, but to no avail. From time to time, the Japanese would forcefully enter the Safety Zone, carry off

13260-585: The richest and most gratifying in my life? According to Fitch's autobiography, he helped facilitate the later South Korean president Syngman Rhee's move to the United States. In 1932, Fitch helped hide and facilitate the escape of Kim Ku and other members of the Korean Provisional Government (KPG) in the aftermath of the KPG's assassination of Japanese colonial personnel at Hongkou Park . He also advocated for Ahn Changho's release after Ahn's arrest for allegedly being connected to

13390-466: The sea, Japanese forces in Korea would be ordered to hang on and fight a rearguard action while the bulk of the army would remain in Japan in preparation to repel a Chinese invasion. This worst-case scenario also foresaw attempts to rescue the beleaguered 5th Division in Korea while simultaneously strengthening homeland defenses. The army's contingency plans which were both offensive and defensive, depended on

13520-608: The shogunate. In 1868, the "Imperial Army" being just a loose amalgam of domain armies, the government created four military divisions: the Tōkaidō , Tōsandō , San'indō , and Hokurikudō , each of which was named for a major highway. Overseeing these four armies was a new high command, the Eastern Expeditionary High Command ( Tōsei daisō tokufu ), whose nominal head was prince Arisugawa-no-miya , with two court nobles as senior staff officers. This connected

13650-526: The siege of the foreign legations at Beijing, the British ambassador offered the Japanese government one million British pounds in exchange for Japanese participation. Shortly afterward, advance units of the 5th Division departed for China, bringing Japanese strength to 3,800 personnel, of the then-17,000 allied force. The commander of the 5th Division, Lt. General Yamaguchi Motoomi, had taken operational control from Fukushima. A second, stronger allied expeditionary army stormed Tianjin , on July 14, and occupied

13780-535: The support of the Army in order to survive. The Army controlled the appointment of the War Minister, and in 1936 a law was passed that stipulated that only an active duty general or lieutenant-general could hold the post. As a result, military spending as a proportion of the national budget rose disproportionately in the 1920s and 1930s, and various factions within the military exerted disproportionate influence on Japanese foreign policy. The Imperial Japanese Army

13910-617: The third French military mission to Japan (1884–89) . However, after France's defeat in 1871 the Japanese government switched to the victorious Germans as a model. From 1886 to April 1890, it hired German military advisors (Major Jakob Meckel , replaced in 1888 by von Wildenbrück and Captain von Blankenbourg) to assist in the training of the Japanese General Staff. In 1878, the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office, based on

14040-550: The third agency with oversight of the IJA. At its height, the IJA was one of the most influential factions in the politics of Japan . In the mid-19th century, Japan had no unified national army and the country was made up of feudal domains ( han ) with the Tokugawa shogunate ( bakufu ) in overall control, which had ruled Japan since 1603. The bakufu army, although a large force, was only one among others, and bakufu efforts to control

14170-420: The thousands were taken out to be killed by machine guns or slaughtered for hand grenade practice. [...] The poorest of the poor were robbed of their last coins, deprived of their bedding and all that they could gather out of a city systematically destroyed by fire. There were hundreds of cases of bestiality inflicted upon Chinese women. Fitch was quoted in a June 11, 1938, story about Fitch's advocacy published in

14300-407: The very poor are having their last possession taken from them-their last coin, their last bit of bedding (and it is freezing weather), the poor ricksha [sic] man his ricksha; while thousands of disarmed soldiers who had sought sanctuary with you together with many hundreds of innocent civilians are taken out before your eyes to be shot or used for bayonet practice and you have to listen to the sounds of

14430-491: The victories proved critical in creating and stabilizing the Imperial government and to realize sweeping social, economic and political reforms that enabled Japan to become a modern state that could stand comparison to France, Germany, and other Western European powers. The early Imperial Japanese Army was developed with the assistance of advisors from France, through the second French military mission to Japan (1872–80) , and

14560-496: The wealthier domains and, in June, the organization of the army was fixed, where each domain was required to send ten men for each 10,000 koku of rice produced. However, this policy put the imperial government in direct competition with the domains for military recruitment, which was not rectified until April 1868, when the government banned the domains from enlisting troops. Consequently, the quota system never fully worked as intended and

14690-476: The wealthy. Under the new 1873 ordinance, the conscript army was composed mainly of second and third sons of impoverished farmers who manned the regional garrisons, while former samurai controlled the Imperial Guard and the Tokyo garrison. Initially, because of the army's small size and numerous exemptions, relatively few young men were actually conscripted for a three-year term on active duty. In 1873,

14820-492: The world that Koreans were backward, inept, and incapable of self-government. Instead, they are highly intelligent and inventive. [...] They are generous, almost to the point of improvidence. Many of the Christians are conscientious tithers. The way they have supported their churches and the YMCA, when they have so little for themselves, is noteworthy. [...] Is it any wonder that I look back upon my three years in Korea as among

14950-681: Was a Methodist missionary in Shanghai. They had two sons together. Townsend was also active in supporting the Chinese Nationalist government and the Korean Provisional Government, for which she is remembered fondly in Korea. In 1947, she helped integrate the female branch of Chung-Ang University into a coed program. For these efforts, she received an honorary degree from the school. In total, Fitch had five children, including three sons (Albert, John, and Robert) and two daughters (Marion and Edith). Marion

15080-642: Was a fate worse than death. Fitch returned to China in 1939 to serve with YMCA and later with the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration until 1947. He also followed the Kuomintang 's flight to Chongqing . Between 1941 and 1943, he served as executive advisor to the Chinese Industrial Cooperatives . Around this time, Fitch provided intelligence and assistance to the US Office of Strategic Services to counter

15210-478: Was abolished the following year. The Imperial forces encountered numerous difficulties during the war, especially during the campaign in Eastern Japan. Headquarters in faraway Kyoto often proposed plans at odds with the local conditions, which led to tensions with officers in the field, who in many cases ignored centralized direction in favor of unilateral action. The army lacked a strong central staff that

15340-534: Was activated on September 1. In mid-September 17, the Chinese forces defeated at Pyongyang and occupied the city, as the remaining Chinese troops retreated northward. The navy's stunning victory in the Yalu on September 17, was crucial to the Japanese as it allowed the Second Army with three divisions and one brigade to land unopposed on the Liaodong Peninsula about 100 miles north of Port Arthur which controlled

15470-691: Was among 46 foreigners to have received the award. On December 12, 2016, Li Qiang , then the Party Secretary of Jiangsu , awarded Fitch and five others the Zijin Grass International Commemorative Medal of Peace for their role in protecting civilians during the Nanjing Massacre. The personal documents of him and his wife between 1909 and 1949, including their correspondence with Syngman Rhee, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Chiang Kai-shek, are held in

15600-525: Was an American Presbyterian missionary that lived and worked in China , southern Korea , and Taiwan . Fitch notably smuggled out of Nanjing some of the only known reels of film that documented the Nanjing Massacre . Fitch was born and raised in China, and was a fluent speaker of Chinese. He and his siblings went to the United States for their education, but all returned afterwards and worked in various religious and humanitarian roles. Fitch himself worked with

15730-580: Was called back to work for the YMCA as the head of its South Korean branch. On July 7, 1947, the Fitch couple arrived on the peninsula. Fitch established YMCA meeting halls around the country and distributed relief aid for two years. He also reunited with his long-time friends Syngman Rhee and Kim Ku. He was present on the peninsula during the 1949 assassination of Kim Ku , and he attended Kim's funeral in Seoul . Fitch left Korea on August 8, 1949, and returned to

15860-488: Was capable of enforcing orders. Consequently, military units were at the mercy of individual commanders' leadership and direction. This was not helped by the absence of a unified tactical doctrine, which left units to fight according to the tactics favored by their respective commanders. There was increased resentment by many lower ranked commanders as senior army positions were monopolized by the nobility together with samurai from Chōshū and Satsuma. The use of commoners within

15990-432: Was earning equivalent to the maximum salary of an Imperial Japanese major, or the base salary of an Imperial Japanese lieutenant colonel, and about 25 times as much as an Imperial Japanese soldier of the same rank. While disproportionate salary ranges were not uncommon between militaries during World War II, for example Australian enlistees could expect to receive roughly triple as much in pay as their counterparts fighting for

16120-585: Was forcibly renamed "Nanking International Rescue Committee", and the Safety Zone effectively ceased to function. The last refugee camps were closed in May 1938. John Rabe and his International Committee were credited with saving 200,000–250,000 lives despite the ongoing massacre. After George Ashmore Fitch departed, Hubert Lafayette Sone was elected Administrative Director of the Nanking International Relief Committee. Before

16250-591: Was one of 27 Westerners who chose to remain in the city during the Battle of Nanking . Fitch served as director of the International Committee for the Nanking Safety Zone at the time. When the massacre began, he worked with John Rabe and Searle Bates to protect civilians from the atrocities of the Imperial Japanese Army . He kept a diary and collected photo and video evidence of the war crimes. Complete anarchy has reigned for ten days-it has been hell on earth... to have to stand by while even

16380-452: Was originally known simply as the Army ( rikugun ) but after 1928, as part of the Army's turn toward romantic nationalism and also in the service of its political ambitions, it re-titled itself the Imperial Army ( kōgun ). In 1923, the army consisted of 21 divisions, but in accordance with the 1924 reform it was reduced to 17 divisions. Two leaps in the development of the military industry (1906–1910 and 1931–1934) made it possible to re-equip

16510-508: Was stationed in China. A further 13 divisions defended the Mongolian border, due to concerns about a possible attack by the Soviet Union. From 1942, soldiers were sent to Hong Kong (23rd Army), the Philippines (14th Army), Thailand (15th Army), Burma (15th Army), Dutch East Indies (16th Army), and Malaya (25th Army). By 1945, there were 6 million soldiers in the Imperial Japanese Army. From 1943, Japanese troops suffered from

16640-439: Was the military affairs directorate which was composed of two bureaus, one for the army and one for the navy. The directorate drafted an army from troop contributions from each domain proportional to each domain's annual rice production ( koku ) . This conscript army ( chōheigun ) integrated samurai and commoners from various domains into its ranks. As the war continued, the military affairs directorate expected to raise troops from

16770-766: Was the principal ground force of the Empire of Japan . Forming one of the military branches of the Imperial Japanese Armed Forces (IJAF), it was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Army Ministry , both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor of Japan , the supreme commander of IJAF. During the 20th century, an Inspectorate General of Aviation became

16900-421: Was the right to bear arms; this ancient privilege was suddenly extended to every male in the nation. There were several exemptions, including criminals, those who could show hardship, the physically unfit, heads of households or heirs, students, government bureaucrats, and teachers. A conscript could also purchase an exemption for ¥ 270, which was an enormous sum for the time and which restricted this privilege to

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