On September 18, 1931, the Japanese blew up an iron bridge in Wicker Ditch of the South Manchuria Railway and slandered it as the work of our Chinese army. Taking advantage of this opportunity, the Japanese immediately launched an attack on the northeast garrison, and under Chiang Kai-shek's policy of non-resistance, it took only three months to invade and occupy the entire northeast.
On July 7, 1937, Japan took advantage of the Lugou Bridge Incident to start an all-out war of aggression against China. For eight years after that, on the land of our country, the Japanese invaders burned and plundered without committing any evil deeds.
Stills from the film and television drama of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression
Even today, every Chinese person still dares not forget the heavy damage that the Chinese nation originally suffered. However, if you carefully observe the history of that era, you will find that the Japanese invaded China for 14 years, so why did they give up once they attacked India? In fact, the reason is very simple.
Stills of the weapons and equipment of the Japanese army invading China in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression
Attack India
In fact, in the Japanese plan, there was no intention of attacking India. After all, for the Japanese, the Indian side does not have much strategic point of sufficient value, and instead of spending time and energy on India, it is better to increase investment in the Pacific Theater and the East Asian Theater. In order to alleviate the pressure on the Germans, the Japanese had to provoke a war in India to help the Germans attract a certain amount of firepower.
Japan fought against India
The Japanese general in charge of attacking India at the time was named Mutaguchi, and out of overconfidence in Japan's military strength, Mutaguchi was not prepared for a protracted war. In his opinion, the main force of the British was not in India at all, and defeating the other side was just around the corner. What he did not expect was that due to the resistance of the British army and the support of the American rear, the Japanese were defeated in the Battle of Imphal.
Mutaguchi Ren Old Light
I had no choice but to give up
If it had been placed on the battlefield in China, when a certain battle had been lost, if there were no other reasons, the Japanese would have continued to attack. But why did the Japanese choose to give up so easily in the face of India? Was it because he was scared by the British? The answer is not.
First of all, as mentioned earlier, the Japanese had no intention of attacking India. After all, when attacking India, it will inevitably lengthen the front line of the Japanese side again, and it is already very difficult to maintain the Chinese battlefield and the Pacific theater by relying on the strength of an island country, and to open up the Indian battlefield again is purely self-destruction.
Japanese forces during World War II
The second is that the Japanese were scared by the British? Observations of the Pacific Theater reveal that Japan was in a state of utter desperation after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Under such circumstances, how could Japan, which even the Americans did not pay attention to, be afraid of Britain, which was still entangled with the Germans in Europe. It can be seen that the Japanese gave up attacking India, most of which were helpless.
Finally, even if India were captured, the Japanese would not have any ability to stabilize India. It is important to know that India and China, as the largest countries in East asia and South Asia, have the ability to fully absorb the Japanese military. Under such circumstances, it is obviously unrealistic for Japan to continue to disperse its forces.
Sneak attack on Pearl Harbor
The plight of the Japanese
In fact, let alone continue to attack. At that time, the Japanese were actually completely overdrawing the country and continuing to barely maintain the war. When war began in the Pacific, Japan urgently dispatched a large number of military forces to the Pacific Theater. After that, it was difficult for the Japanese to launch a crushing offensive on the Chinese battlefield. Especially in the face of China's incomparably strong strategic depth, the Japanese found themselves preaching the slogan of "three months to conquer China", how ridiculous it is.
Many people are thinking that because of the American atomic bomb, the Japanese finally chose to surrender. But even without the dropping of the atomic bomb, under the step-by-step resistance of the Chinese people, the final fate of the Japanese was already doomed.
The Japanese invasion of China