Japanese North China Area Army

North China Area Army was created 26 August 1937 after the Marco Polo Bridge Incident from China Garrison Army and elements of Kwantung Army. China Garrison Army dated back to the treaty ending the Boxer Rebellion on September 1901, which authorized the major powers to station troops between Peking and Tientsin. The army was reinforced in September 1935 to counter rising anti-Japanese sentiment in north China, and its independence from Kwantung Army was emphasized in order to keep the independently-minded officers of Kwantung Army from meddling in China. Unfortunately, like Kwantung Army, North China Area Army soon became a law unto itself, to the extent that it nearly provoked a war with the British over the Tientsin Concession at the same time that Kwantung Army was sparring with the Russians at Nomonhan.

In December 1941, the North China Area Army controlled Japanese Army units in north China, where there were no active operations against the Kuomintang. However, antiguerrilla operations against Mao's Chinese Communists were ongoing. The North China Area Army also controlled the puppet Mongol Army.

Order of battle, 7 December 1941:

References

Drea (2009)
Morton (1953)

Peattie et al. (2011)

Rottman (2005)

Watt (1989)

http://www.freeport-tech.com/WWII (accessed 2002; now defunct)

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