Guernica, Shanghai, and Ethiopia Reece and Patrick Guernica Spanish Civil war ● 1936-1939, Spain is in a civil war between leftist republicans and right leaning nationalists ● Francisco Franco is the nationalist leader and an informal ally of the Pact of Steel (German-Italian alliance) ● Dozens of countries sign embargo against Franco including France, Britain, and even Germany (Germany completely ignores embargo) ● Essentially a struggle between democracy and fascism similar to the Soviet Revolution ● Fascist Italy and Germany support the nationalist party ● During the course of the war Hitler provides military support ● Hitler’s main reason for support was to test new military equipment such as tanks, airplanes, etc. ● Hitler is aware support for the Nationalist party may anger France and Britain ● Hitler would not be ready for the outbreak of a second World War until late 1940 so he limits the aid provided to Franco ● Franco agreed to fuel the German and Italian war-machines with raw materials in exchange for military support. Guernica ● Guernica was a village of 5,000 civilians located in the north central region of Spain ● Every Monday, the people of Guernica and neighboring regions would have a “market day” ● Market day consisted of farmers meeting in the town square to sell their crops from the week of labor ● Guernica was one of the few cities not directly involved in the civil war ● Guernica did not have any resources to defend against an aerial attack ● In 1935, German General Erich Ludendorff published Die Totale Krieg (The Total War) ● In this text, he stated that during wartimes there are no civilians, everyone is involved in the war ● Italian General Giulio Douhet further suggested an enemy's morale could be crushed by air-delivered terror. ● Hitler was very interested in these new ideas and decided to try them on their new test range: Spain ● Nationalists pushed refugees towards Guernica with attacks from the north ● Hitler gathered 52 aircraft including bombers and fighter planes and created the Condor Legion, famous for including the Red Baron ● The official orders were to destroy the roads leading away from Guernica to halt any retreats from Republic forces ● After two hours of bombing, ¾ of the city had been completely destroyed with the remaining quarter sustaining heavy damage. ● Fighter planes strafed over the streets and gunned down any civilians attempting to flee ● The official target was left untouched. Weapons Used ● During a single 60-second pass over the town, from north to south, the SM.79s dropped thirty-six 50 kg (110 lb) light explosive bombs ● Two Heinkel He 111s, one Dornier Do 17, eighteen Ju 52 Behelfsbomber, and three Italian SM.79s (Corpo Truppe Volontarie) were assigned for the mission. These were armed with 250 kg (550 lb) medium high-explosive bombs, 50 kg (110 lb) light explosive bombs and 1 kg (2.2 lb) incendiary. The ordnance load for the 24 bombers was 22 tonnes (22 long tons; 24 short tons) in total. ● Clearly armed to demolish an entire city Shanghai The Second Sino-Japanese War ● July 7, 1937-September 9, 1945 ● Main Aggressors: ○ Japan ○ Nationalist China ○ Communist China ● Japanese Strategy ○ Japan launched the war in an attempt to overtake central asia and set up puppet governments ○ With these governments, Japan would receive a secure source of materials ○ Unable to seize central Asia, Japan needed embargoed resources owned by Britain, The Netherlands, and the USA ○ This new strategy led to the bombing of pearl harbor ● Chinese Nationalist Strategy (Kuomintang) ○ Focused on building a modernized army and defense strategies ○ Constantly fighting insurgencies with the communists and warlords ○ Once the attack started, it was clear that China was under-armed and under-trained ○ Main Goals: ■ Resist Japanese Aggression ■ To unite China under one flag ■ To emerge the war as a world power ● Chinese Communist Strategy ○ Avoid large scale battle ○ Used Guerilla Warfare and political savvy ○ Aimed to avoid conflict with Japan so that when the the attack was over, they would be more powerful that the Nationalists ○ Its main goal was expansion ● Battle started on the Marco Polo Bridge when a scuffle turned into a shootout ○ A Japanese Private was captured, and when Japanese military asked to extract him out of WanPing, the Chinese refused ● Both sides began mobilizing, and before long it was an all out war ● The war resulted from the Japanese Imperialistic policies ● Japan began taking vast parts of china and many major cities ● Became so widespread their forces were extremely thin ● Eventually surrendered after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki ● All territories gained by Japan went back to China The Battle of Shanghai ● Background ○ Shanghai was the biggest city in China with 3.5 million citizens ○ In the city there is the International settlement ○ The Japanese increased their garrison size without the Chinese’s knowledge ○ The battle lasted from August 13, 1937 to November 26, 1937 ○ First of 22 major battles between the NRA and IJA ○ Chinese were outnumbered and outgunned ○ The Japanese were not expecting a fight from the Chinese army in Shanghai ○ The Chinese were able to hold off the Japanese for three months before retreating Aims and Strategies ● Japan ● China ○ Deployed in Shanghai to avoid ○ Wanted to force the Japanese to change confrontations with other foreign their advance from north to south, to from powers east to west ○ Japan wished to conclude the war as ○ This would allow for the Chinese troops to soon as possible regroup and retreat to the south west ○ Trading “Space for Time” ○ Believed that the chinese army would ○ Because the Chinese Army was not be too tired from the civil war allowed in Shanghai, they trained the ○ Confident that they would be able to police garrison in military exercises take the city in three days ○ Use its numerical advantage to overpower ○ Japan came in from Luiho and Lotein, and push the Japanese to the sea north of shanghai and also from 20 ○ Not able to destroy Japanese bunkers, so miles down shore on the yangtze in tried to encircle them instead and throw in order to flank the chinese hand grenades ○ China hoped that the attack on shanghai would trigger international intervention Weapons and Technology ● Japan ● China ○ 300,000 men, 500 aircraft, 300 tanks, 130 ○ 700,000 men, 180 aircraft, 40 tanks, naval ships, 59,500 casualties 250,000 casualties ○ Japan was able to hold of the sheer ○ Used second hand planes purchased from numbers of the chinese with their naval other countries to drop bombs on gunships until reinforcements arrived Japanese flagships ○ Deployed tanks in the city to stop chinese ○ Accidentally bombed the Civilian refugee advancements to their bunkers center and killed 3000 civilians ○ Utilised flamethrowers and heavy machine ○ Chinese greatest defence was the ROCAF guns to wipe out the chinese in the streets which shoot down 85 planes and sunk 51 ○ Made use of amphibious vehicles to ships while losing 91 of its own planes transport infantry to the battle and cut off ○ Was able to stand their ground for three the chinese months without adequate training, artillery, or armor Effects ● China’s decision to launch a full defense at shanghai cost them 60% of their elite units ● China lost almost all of their heavy vehicles and aircraft during the battle ● They held the Japanese long enough for the Chinese Government to move its vital industries ● Succeeded in altering the Japanese plan of attack ● The decision to not withdraw directly caused the army to not be able to defend nanjing ● There were heavy civilian casualties, many at the hands of the chinese and Shanghai was lost and severely damaged Ethiopia The Second Italo-Ethiopian War ● Italy in massive financial crisis, Mussolini knows that war can solve a lot of unemployment issues. ● Italy already owns land in northern africa, such as Somalia and Eritrea, bordering both sides of of Ethiopia. ● Ethiopian leader wrongly assumes the league of nations will protect him ● League of nations refuses to supply Ethiopia with weapons so Ethiopians use sticks, swords and 19th century muskets Prelude ● Italy violates Italo-Ethiopian treaty of 1928 by building a fort in Ethiopian territory, at the WelWel oasis. ● Small battle that Italy demands apology for but doesn’t receive ● De Bono and Graziani are sent to Italian Somaliland with 100,000 troops ● Emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie orders every able man to fight and every able woman to cook and wash for him. Any who do not fight will be hanged. ● On the eve of the war, Selassie’s army consisted of 500,000 soldiers, 25% of which had any military training ● Over 100,000 soldiers fought with spears and bows ● The Ethiopian army was limited to few artillery cannons and only 300 trucks ● Most Ethiopian rifles were from the 19th century ● Their air force consisted of 13 planes and only 4 pilots Battles ● Italy invades Northern Ethiopia ● Italy captures Negele Boran Oct 3 1935 Jan 20 1936 ● Italian army captures Adigrat Oct ● Inconclusive first battle of Tembien ends Christmas 5 1935 offensive Jan 20-24 ● Italian army captures Adowa Oct ● Battle of Amba Aradam 6 1935 (Heavy Ethiopian casualties) ● Italian army captures Axum Oct February 19 1936 15 1935 ● Second battle of Tembien ● Italian army captures Mekele Nov February 27-29 1936 8 1935 ● Battle of Shire February 29- March 4 1936 Battles cont. ● Ethiopians lose battle of Maychew March 31 1936 ● Battle of Ogaden April 14 1936 ● Battle of Gogetti, final battle February 19