1945 Army Information Branch Newsmap, Year 8 of the Second Sino-Japanese War

A 1945 Army Information Branch Newsmap from the last stages of World War II, covering the week of July 3 to 10 and focusing on China. As indicated in the title, China had been engaged in a full-scale war with Japan for eight years by this point, more than double the time the U.S. had been in the war.

A Closer Look

This map displays eastern China, highlighting areas under Japanese occupation. Photographs of Chunking (Chongqing) (China's wartime capital), Kunming (recently liberated by Chinese forces), and an airfield under construction appear at left. An inset map of East Asia sits near top center while a timeline runs down the right side of the sheet.

At this point, the war against Germany had ended and the postwar occupation of Europe was being hashed out. Military planning shifted to forcing a Japanese surrender, which would come within weeks of this map's publication.

The verso includes a quote by General Brehon B. Somervell, commander of the U.S. Army's logistics wing (the Army Service Forces) during the war, stressing the commitment of his unit to power the American war machine and quickly end the Pacific War.

China's Second World War

As the timeline makes clear, China had been engaged in a long and bloody war with Japan for most of the preceding decade, and by some measures had been at war with Japan since 1931, when Japan invaded Manchuria and established the puppet state of Manchukuo. After lightning advances in the first stage of the war, Japan failed to force the surrender of Chinese forces led by Chiang Kai-Shek. With assistance from outside countries, including the U.S., and a mass mobilization drive, Chiang was able to stave off Japanese moves towards Chongqing, his wartime capital deep in the Chinese interior.

The Pearl Harbor attacks were a blessing for Chiang, transforming tepid and limited American support into a proper alliance. However, the increased aid from the U.S. and other Allies came with increased scrutiny of Chiang's quasi-authoritarian government and disorganized military led by self-interested warlords. Chiang clashed bitterly with Joseph Stilwell, a Mandarin-speaking U.S. Army officer with prewar experience in China, and other American officers and advisors. He also was deeply concerned about the Communist forces entrenched in northwestern China, with whom he maintained a tenuous and partial 'united front' ceasefire.

For their part, the Japanese proved capable of launching offensives and gaining some territory, even making deep gains in Operation Ichi-go in 1944, but had minimal control outside of cities and constantly struggled against attacks and sabotage by guerilla forces. Attacks on Allied airfields and supply lines were often successful, but airfields and supply lines could be reestablished further behind Chinese lines, including through engineering feats such as the Ledo Road. The Japanese had difficulty establishing a collaborationist government with widely accepted legitimacy, even after gaining the high-level defection of Wang Jingwei, a leading Chinese politician and Chiang rival. As the Allies secured air and naval superiority in the Pacific and pressed in on the Japanese home islands, Japanese forces in China increasingly became isolated. Thus, although Japan occupied large portions of China, especially the populous and relatively wealthy east coast, there was no realistic end of the conflict without somehow forcing a Chinese surrender, an increasingly unlikely prospect.

All told, the Second Sino-Japanese War was one of the most destructive theaters of the war, though it has often been overlooked by Western historians. China was second only to the Soviet Union in the number of civilian and military casualties sustained (somewhere on the order of 20 million) and was the victim of repeated atrocious war crimes committed by Japanese troops. As with the Soviets' Great Patriotic War, China's 'War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression' became a central tenant of the country's self-identity, especially in the past forty years as China has jettisoned its socialist revolution.

Publication History and Census

Part of the Newsmap series, this map was developed and distributed by the Army Information Branch in July 1945. Prepared to discuss events of the week from July 3 to 10, it was published on July 23 as an overseas edition of this Newsmap. Due to inconsistent cataloging, including the issue of multiple editions (including the overseas edition), an accurate census is difficult to firmly establish, but searching both within and outside of the OCLC we note this map among the collections of Texas A and M University, the University of North Texas, the University of Hawaii-Manoa, and the University of Notre Dame. An OCLC listing (60886742) exists for a map that appears to be identical except for the date in the title (July 16 instead of July 23) and size (the present example being smaller), which, if included, would increase the number of institutions holding the map to ten.