Men-at-Arms 424: The Chinese Army 1937-49

by Philip Jowett, illustrated by Stephen Walsh

Published by Osprey Publishing Ltd, ISBN 1-84176-904-5, 48 pages.

I have a long-standing interest in military history and technology, which has translated into an enjoyable hobby. This new book from Osprey is one of the reasons that I enjoy the historic aspects of our hobby: the subject is interesting, unusual and relatively little-known here in the west.

For China and her people, World War II began years before it did in Europe (if one discounts the “dress-rehearsal”, otherwise known as the Spanish Civil War) and continued unabated for several years after the Japanese surrendered. Political factions, a decrepit Imperial system, War Lords and their followers, foreign powers and rural banditry rang in the 20th-Century. Things only got worse when Japan began to gobble-up that hapless land beginning in 1931. With the death of Sun Yat-sen in 1925, Chiang Kai-shek took political as well as military control of the Kuomingtang and its army. He began to consolidate his power, using the army to drive Mao and his Communists on the fabled “Long March” into the north (where they patiently built a popular base for their eventual victorious come-back in 1949), suppressing (or co-opting) the War Lords, and, eventually causing the Japanese to keep over one million troops in China (that were badly needed elsewhere) by the simple expedient of “not losing” (although there were some notable feats-of-arms in the few instances where the Chinese defeated Japanese troops in battle). With the entry of the US into the war in the Pacific, Chiang made an uneasy peace with the Communists while using the American’s treasury to build up his forces for the eventual climactic battles with his local adversaries, while doing “just enough” to satisfy his obligations to the Allies.

The author ably recounts these incidents in his very concise text (along with a detailed chronology), while also giving a wealth of detail on “Chinese Nationalist” units, uniforms, weapons and equipment. There is no coverage of Communist forces in this book, which is not a real problem as its inclusion would have diluted what the author has presented. I believe they may be covered in his previous Osprey MAA 306, “Chinese Civil War Armies”, but am not certain. The 39 B&W photos are really very interesting as they show an incredible variety of weapons and uniform combinations as well as some tanks and ordnance. The captions are very well-done as is the commentary for the color plates, where, again, the emphasis is on “different”.

The lively color plates themselves are very nicely done by Stephen Walsh. They depict men in locally manufactured uniforms with, for instance, German M35 steel helmets and Czech machine-guns or French “Adrian” steel helmets and locally-manufactured Mauser rifles. Others wear US M1 helmets, carry Springfield or Enfield rifles and wear British KD uniforms, while a tank crewman wears the US Rawlings helmet with US overalls and locally-produced sandals. Guerrillas and paramilitary troops are also depicted, again wearing a variety of local- and foreign-made uniforms, and carrying such disparate weapons as the US M3 SMG or Johnson semi-automatic rifle (the failed competitor of the M1 Garand). In short: tons of weird stuff!

A couple of small things bothered me, such as the contention that Chinese civilian deaths during the period described are accepted by historians as being in the range of 800,000. Considering the tribulations the population endured, I cannot help believe that this figure is un-realistically low (although I don’t lay this on the author’s doorstep). The supply of AFVs by Italy and Germany (the latter’s advisors trained ten Chinese divisions to a very high standard) are only alluded to within the text; just a bit more detail in this regard would have been appreciated, especially by visitors to this site. The index, although handy, does not include the name of Sun Yat-sen, although he is in the text. It’s a tiny oversight, but in writing this, it would have been of help to this lazy reviewer as he tried to find the name to check the spelling!

Figure modelers are always looking for something different, with many turning to Osprey’s venerable Men-at-Arms series for inspiration. This recent title certainly fills the bill, when it comes to the “unusual”.

Highly recommended.

Frank De Sisto

More details from Osprey Publishin g

Read an extract at Osprey Publishing