"Question: Chinese Organisation in WWII" Topic

I've never seen TOEs (low – squad/section, platoon, company level) for the Chinese Nationalists or the PLA in WWII, where they variously fought the Japanese and each other. I would imagine the PLA ones would be pretty ad-hoc, with mostly riflemen, and some Soviet or captured machine-guns, mortars etc. Maybe the Nationalists would have some armour. Is there a source, preferably online, I could look at?

Cheers,
John

You have different armies in 1937 v 1944/45. What are you looking for?

Armor:

link

Small arms were everything under the sun -- German, Ryssian, Italian, English, Japanese, etc. The Chinese also made a lot of Mauser copies. They would have more US weapons and equipment as the war dragged on.

Paper strength in 1943 had an infantry company at 3 rifle platoon of 3 squads each. Each squad had an lmg team and a rifle team. The squad had a squad leader, an assistant squad leader and 12 privates. Weapons were 1 lmg and 10 rifles. The 1st squad of each platoon was supposed to have 2 rifle grenade launchers. The company's 4th platoon was a mortar platoon. It had 2 60mm mortars and 10 rifles. It looks like each mortar crew was a squad, so it was a 2 squad platoon. The division had an ant-tank company. My guess is 37mm AT guns and ATRs.

In 1945 the anti-tank companies had an HQ platoon and 4 gun platoon. The gun platoon consisted of 1 ofc and 24 enlisted armed with 4 smgs, 12 rifles, 1 bazooka, 1 anti-tank rifle, and 2 37mm ATGs.

The Growth and Organization of the Chinese Army (1895-1945) by George Nafziger. We'll worth the money. Osprey has a title or two as well, especially for the warlord period.

John,

Kangzhan: Guide to Chinese Ground Forces 1937-45 by Leland Ness and Bin Shih may also be helpful. The preview version here, link , does not have all the relevant pages that may be of interest. However, pages 81-83 may be a useful staring point, giving a breakdown of the National Army in 1928 down to platoon, squad and company level. The full paperback and digital versions are available here: link

Hope this helps,

Ezza

Great preview link.

Thanks very much. I'll follow up with these. 79th PA, I am interested in finding out more about the whole period at this point so everything you provided is new to me :~)

Cheers,
John

John,

Some other book suggestions:
China's Wars – Rousing the Dragon 1894-1949, Philip Jowett. Very well illustrated with a good portion of the book covering the Warlord Period and WWII. Well worth a look. link

Generalissimo – Chian Kai Shek and the China He Lost, Jonthan Fenby. Not just a biography but also a clear and well written overview of China and its turmoil during the first half of the 20th century. A real page turner and highly recommended.

Shanghai 1937 – Stalingrad on the Yangtze, Peter Harmsen. Covering Chinese attempts to prevent the Japanese from capturing Shanghai.

China's War with Japan, 1937-1945 – The Struggle for Survival, Rana Mitter. Puts China's war with Japan into the context of the wider global war.

Ezza

Thanks to all who responded to Erzherzog Johann question. I was looking for this information as well.