The Battle for China: Essays on the Military History of the Sino-Japanese War of 1937-1945 Review

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The Battle for China: Essays on the Military History of the Sino-Japanese War of 1937-1945 ReviewLiving in Hong Kong and given the ongoing tensions between China and Japan over the Diaoyutai / Senkaku islands, one has the sense that Sino-Japanese war has never disappeared from the collective memory. Indeed many movies continue to reference the period and one cannot turn on Chinese cable TV without seeing a couple of TV series dealing with that period.
However to the average person (including me) the actual details of the war remain vague, and while major events such as the Marco Polo Bridge, the fall of Nanjing, the Xian incident, the fall of Shanghai and Hong Kong, American support and the Flying Tigers are well known one doesn't get a broader sense of the conduct of the war and its wider implications.
Thus I am extremely grateful that this one volume work has been published and it has certainly lived up (and exceeded) my expectations.
The detailed chronology of the Japanese War 1937-1945 and the opening essay "An Overview of Major Military Campaigns during the Sino-Japanese War 1937-1945" which provides a blow by blow analysis of the war are well written and was exactly what I was looking for.
These were followed by many specialist topics such as the morale of the Japanese soldier, KMT and Communist guerrilla warfare, the Burma theater and individual campaigns that should excite the military buffs.
These were also well complemented and summarized by the concluding essays.
"The Strategic Correlation between the Sino-Japanese War and Pacific Wars"
"The Sino-Japanese War in History"
"The Sino Japanese War in the context of world history."
The description of the conflict as largely that of an agrarian society against an industrialized one was illuminating as were comparisons to Napoleon's war in the Spanish Peninsular in the 19th Century. Further topics such as the study of the benefits and limitations of strategic airpower and Mao's innovations in warfare by crafting a "people's army" are explored in greater depth than previous studies and there is a strong bibliography which can be used as a launchpad into further reading.
The balanced nature of the analysis of the various essays from Japanese and Chinese historians was also a strong recommendation for the further symposia of this type, especially in academic areas where there are emotionally charged issues.I hope this book, in a small way, can be used to help generate better understandings of the past and lessen political tension in the future.
However this book is marred by a minor flaw.
There are only 14 maps in the whole 600+ pages and the maps are all located in the front and are not in chronological order. They generally lack detail and some are difficult to read with the shading too light to easily distinguish areas and the keys are not comprehensive enough leaving some symbols unexplained. I can see that someone without a good understanding of Chinese geography would be quite confused by these maps.
But I would still give the book five stars. Essential to understanding that period in history!

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