Member-only story
China’s Controversial Strategy to Stop The Japanese Advance in 1938
And how they killed hundreds of thousands in the process
In 1938, while most of the world’s attention was focused on Europe, the Imperial Japanese Army was advancing swiftly through northern China. While the government in Tokyo was hoping to fortify its current positions on the Chinese mainland, rogue generals on the ground continued to press forward into new regions. The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) was hoping to secure the hub city of Wuhan before attempting to corral and crush the Chinese nationalist forces remaining in the area. From Wuhan, the Japanese would have a clear path into the Sichuan Basin and the capital of Chengdu.
The Chinese were dismayed. They didn’t have enough force to stop the Japanese advance. If the Japanese made their way into the Sichuan Basin, there was a very real possibility that organized Chinese resistance would collapse. In order to stop the Japanese, the Chinese came up with an audacious and destructive plan. If the Chinese Army could not stop the Japanese advance, maybe the Yellow River could.
In a desperate ploy, the Chinese decided to destroy their system of carefully designed levees and dykes around the Yellow River and flood the whole region. The Yellow River is one of the largest and fiercest in the…
