"Japanese on the Western Front?" Topic

I'm just finishing up Max Hastings "Catastrophe 1914: Europe Goes to War". A pretty good read. But I was interested to learn that in the winter of 1914-15, the French and British were trying to persuade the Japanese to send an army to the Western Front. In the end, they couldn't come up with a bribe big enough to interest the Japanese, but it's an interesting notion. Not that I think it would have changed the course of the war to any real extent, but it would make for some interesting scenarios.

What lessons had been learned from the siege of Port Arthur? Would the Japanese have just tossed their Army into the meat grinder or would they have brought something new to the table. Of course, it would all be over after the Japanese Commander in Chief decapitated his counterparts for their insulting behavior.

There were Japanese-Canadians who served in the Canadian Corps in WW1, a memorial to them stands in Vancouver's Stanley Park. During WW2 the "eternal" flame was extinguished and was not relite until the 1980's, if I remember right.

I just got an email from Osprey where they were advertising a book about the armies of China. They included a free downloadable e-book of photographs. One of the photographs was captioned by saying that they were Chinese troops that the Japanese were going to arrange to send to the Western front. Even more interesting, Japanese backed Chinese troops fighting in the trenches.

There are photos of Japanese destroyers in the Mediterranean in WW1.

The British tried again in early 1918, and Allenby suggested getting 3-4 divisions of Japanese into Palestine to fight the Ottomans. neither eventuated.

My understanding is that both the Japanese and the Chinese contribution to the Allied cause was based on both countries desires to gain wider international recognition.

In Japan's case, she thought that she deserved equal recognition to the European powers due to having the trapping of these powers; an industrialised and modernised society, an overseas empire, part of the Treaty Port system in China along with other European powers. Japan had also demonstrated her military prowess in the Russo-Japanese War, in which most European powers tended to favour Japan.

The Allies had approached the Japanese to provide troops to fight in Europe, but Japan demurred on these approaches. But Japan did though provide ships to provide escorts to Allied shipping in the Mediterranean. One could rationalise this decision in part that in order to get the recognition they craved from the Allies it would be cheaper in terms of Japanese lives to provide ships rather than divisions of troops. As a reward for Japanese participation in WWI, Britain recognised Japanese territorial gains in China and the Pacific.

For China, she did offer troops to fight on the Western Front, like Japan to gain wider international recognition. But the offer of troops was rejected by the Allies for several reasons, including racial factors. However, the Allies were more willing for thousands of Chinese labourers to be shipped to the Western Front to work in the rear areas as labourers.

This contribution did not see a corresponding increase in the recognition of China. Coupled to this was the way the Chinese criticised their own government for their weak response to the Versailles Treaty particularly as it allowed Japan to retain German territory in China surrendered after the siege of the German-held city of Tsingtao was captured in 1914.

The lack of recognition coupled with the humiliation of Versailles would lead to an upsurge in Chinese nationalism beginning with the 4 May 1919 protests in Peking, also known as the May Fourth Movement, that are seen by many as a key event in the emergence of the Chinese state on the world stage.

Ezza

The involvement of both China and Japan had significant consequences in later 20th Century history

China was an ally and its major contribution was the Chinese Labour Corps which resulted in 140,000 Chinese being sent to France which freed up a lot of troops.

Chinese Labour Corps
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At the Versailles Peace Conference using Wilson's Fourteen Points, China requested that the foreign powers leave China alone. Naturally this was refused and Japan acquired the former German concessions as a war prize This caused a great uproar in China particularly amongst the young Their protests collectively known as the May 4th Movement The May Fourth Movement is often cited as the birth of Chinese nationalism, and both the Kuomintang and Chinese Communist Party consider the Movement to be an important period in their own histories.
China did not sign the Versailles Treaty but negotiated a separate treaty with Germany in 1921
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At Versailles Japan was given the German territories in China as well as a mandate over the German Pacific territories Many of these were to become important Japanese bases in WW2 These included the Marshalls and the Marianas

Japan asked that the treaty include a clause specifying the principle of racial equality This was refused and when Japan felt it was cheated in subsequent naval treaties that limited Fleet sizes, Japan realized that they were still not to be treated as a an equal and were still not part of the club. This greatly contributed towards the growth in Japanese nationalism and a sense that they were on their own

Japanese naval vessels also ran protection on Australian troop ships en route to the Suez.

Robert

Chinese labour corps were responsible for the 'Chinese eye' painted on the front sides of 4 RTR tanks. They said, 'If tank not have eyes, how can tank see?'
This continues to this day despide 4 RTR being ammalgamated with , I think, 2RTR.

At least one Japanese officer became a pilot in "Les Cigognes," flying a SPAD VII IIRC…

Leland R. Erickson
Metal Express
metal-express.net