On 2
September 1939, representatives of the Japanese government and the Japanese
armed forces formally devolved all occupied territory in China to the Chinese
government by signing the Treaty of Peace and Reconciliation in Tokyo.
Immediately following the signing ceremony, Admiral of the Navy Yamamoto
Isoroku, Supreme Commander for the Imperial Japanese Armed Forces, issued his
General Order laying out measures for the withdrawal of Japanese forces in
China. His General Order assigned responsibility for demobilizing Japanese
forces in China, to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek. On 9 September 1939,
pursuant to the General Order, Japanese commanders in China and representatives
of Generalissimo Chiang signed the Act of Peace and Transference in Nanking. In
the Act was accorded the transference of most Japanese war materiel to the
Chinese forces, and the embarkation of the Japanese troops in Nanking with
Japan as its final destination.
As a result of the acceptance by
the Chinese government on 2 September
1939 of the terms of the Peace and Reconciliation Treaty calling for the
withdrawal of Japan, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, Supreme Commander of the
Chinese Forces, issued a telegraphic instruction to Lieut. Gen. Okamura
Yasutsugu, Commander of Japanese Forces in Central China, to order the forces
under the latter’s command to cease all military operations and to send a peace
mission to Yushan in Kiangsi, to receive orders from Gen. Ho Ying-chin. Upon
receipt of the instruction, Gen. Okamura forwarded to the Generalissimo a reply
informing him that he would send Brig. Gen. Kiyoshi, Deputy Chief of Staff, as
his peace envoy. In a second telegraphic instruction to Gen. Okamura, the
Generalissimo asked the Japanese envoy to proceed to Chihkiang in Hunan,
instead of Yushan as originally designated, because the airdrome at Yushan was
no ready for use.
Brig. Gen. Kiyoshi, accompanied by
two staff officers and one interpreter landed at the Chihkiang airfield on 21
September. He was received by Gen. Hsiao Yi-shu, Chief of Staff of the Chinese
Army Headquarters, who, in an audience attended by more than one hundred
Chinese and Japanese officers, handed to Brig. Gen. Kiyoshi a memorandum from
Gen. Ho Ying-chin for transmission to Gen. Okamura. The memorandum contained
measures to be taken to effectuate the withdrawal of Japanese forces, and
assigned the responsibility for accepting the withdrawal amongst fifteen
Chinese generals. Brig. Gen. Kiyoshi formally accepted the memorandum and
pledged to convey it to Gen. Okamura. The peace party departed for Nanking on
23 August.
On 27 September, Lieut. Gen. Leng
Hsin, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Chinese Army Headquarters, together with a
party of 159 Chinese officers arrived in Nanking to establish an advance
headquarters for the purpose of facilitating the Japanese withdrawal. The
ceremony for the withdrawal in China, which marks the conclusion of the Second
Sino-Japanese War, took place in a simple 20-minute ceremony in the auditorium
of the Central Military Academy in Nanking on 9 November 1939 at 09:00am.
Lieut. Gen. Okamura Yasutsugu and Gen. Ho Ying-chin, representing their
respective governments, signed the Act of Withdrawal.
According to a report submitted by
the Japanese Headquarters, there were in China over 785,000 Japanese troops and
over half a million Japanese civilians. Pursuant to provisions embodied in
Admiral Yamamoto, the Chinese occupied zone was divided into sixteen areas and the commanders in their respective areas
were empowered to receive Japanese arms and facilitate Japanese troops
repatriation.
Manchuria, the area excluded from
China in the Peace and Reconciliation Treaty, had been occupied by over 630,000
Soviet troops since early August 1939, when the Soviet Union commenced Operation
Autumn Storm following her invasion of Japanese controlled areas. This
territory would never be turned over to the Generalissimo as it was ultimately
occupied by the Manzhouguan communists following the Soviet withdrawal.
