Editing Manchukuo (section)

== Military ==
{{see also|Manchukuo Imperial Army|Manchukuo Imperial Air Force|Manchukuo Imperial Navy}}
[[File:Manchukuo Imperial Army.JPG|thumb|Cavalry of the Manchukuo Imperial Army]]

The Manchukuo Imperial Army was the ground component of Manchukuo's armed forces and consisted of as many as 170,000{{sfn|Glantz|2003|p=60}} to 220,000{{sfn|Jowett|2004|pp=35–38}} troops at its peak in 1945 by some estimates, having formally been established by the Army and Navy Act of 15 April 1932.{{sfn|Jowett|2004|pp=7–9}} The majority of the soldiers were Manchurian-born Han Chinese, with smaller groups of Koreans, Mongols, and White Russian emigres, who were all trained and led by Japanese instructors and advisors. Despite the numerous attempts by the Japanese to improve the combat capability of the Imperial Army and instill a Manchukuoan patriotic spirit among its troops, most of its units were regarded as unreliable by Japanese officers. Their main role was to fight [[Kuomintang|Nationalist]] and [[Chinese Communist Party|Communist]] insurgents who continued to resist the Japanese occupation of northeastern China,{{sfn|Jowett|2004|pp=22–23}} and occasionally the Manchukuo Imperial Army took part in operations against the Chinese [[National Revolutionary Army]] and the Soviet [[Red Army]] (in support of the [[Imperial Japanese Army]]). Initially its members were former soldiers of Marshal [[Chang Hsueh-liang|Zhang Xueliang]]'s warlord army who had surrendered to Japan during the [[Japanese invasion of Manchuria]].{{sfn|Jowett|2004|pp=7–9}} But since the Young Marshal's former troops were not sufficiently loyal to the new regime and performed poorly against partisans, the new government of Manchukuo took efforts to recruit—and later draft—new soldiers.{{sfn|Jowett|2004|pp=27–28}} In 1934 a law was passed stating that only those that had been trained by the government of Manchukuo could serve as officers.{{sfn|Jowett|2004|pp=7–9}} The Military Supplies Requisition Law of 13 May 1937 allowed Japanese and Manchukuo authorities to draft forced laborers.{{sfn|Howland|2008|p=84}} The actual calling up of conscripts for the army did not begin until 1940, at which point all youths received a physical and 10% were to be selected for service.{{sfn|Jowett|2004|pp=27–28}} Between 1938 and 1940, several military academies were established to provide a new officer corps for the Imperial Army, including a specific school for ethnic Mongols{{sfn|Jowett|2004|pp=11–13}} and one for White Russians.{{sfn|Smirnov|2015|pp=559–561}}

[[File:Manchukuo army artillery training.png|thumb|left|A [[Type 41 75 mm mountain gun]] during an Imperial Army exercise]]

After fighting against insurgents during the early to mid-1930s, the Manchukuo Imperial Army played mainly a supporting role during the [[Actions in Inner Mongolia (1933–1936)|actions in Inner Mongolia]] against Chinese forces, with news reports stating that some Manchukuoan units performed fairly well. Later it fought against the Soviet Red Army during the [[Soviet–Japanese border conflicts]]. A skirmish between Manchukuoan and [[Mongolian People's Army|Mongolian]] cavalry in May 1939 escalated as both sides brought in reinforcements and began the [[Battles of Khalkhin Gol|Battle of Khalkhin Gol]]. Although they did not perform well in the battle overall, the Japanese considered their actions useful enough to warrant expansion of the Manchukuo Army.{{sfn|Jowett|2004|pp=25–27}} Throughout the 1940s the only action it saw was against Communist guerrilla fighters and other insurgents, although the Japanese chose to rely only on the more elite units while the majority were used for garrison and security duty.{{sfn|Jowett|2004|pp=36–38}} Although Japan took the effort of equipping the Manchukuoan forces with some artillery (in addition to the wide variety it had inherited from Zhang Xueliang's army) along with some elderly [[tankette]]s and [[Armored car (military)|armored cars]],{{sfn|Jowett|2004|pp= 15–17}} the cavalry was the Imperial Army's most effective and developed branch. This was the force that confronted the 76 battle-hardened Red Army divisions transferred from the [[Eastern Front (World War II)|European front]] in August 1945 for the [[Soviet invasion of Manchuria]]. The cavalry branch saw the most combat against the Red Army, but they and their depleted Japanese [[Kwantung Army]] allies were quickly swept aside by the Soviet offensive. While some units remained loyal to their Japanese allies and put up a resistance, many mutinied against their Japanese advisors while others simply melted away into the countryside. Many of these Manchukuo Army troops would later join the Communists since the Chinese Nationalists executed former collaborators with Japan, becoming an important source of manpower and equipment for the Communists in the region.{{sfn|Jowett|2004|pp=36–38}}

[[File:Manchukuo Imperial Air Force pilots Japan 1942.jpg|thumb|right|Manchukuo Imperial Air Force pilots in Japan, [[Nakajima Ki-27]] fighter aircraft in background, 1942]]
[[File:Naval Ship of Manchukuo.JPG|thumb|Manchukuo Imperial Navy ship]]
The other two branches, the [[Manchukuo Imperial Air Force]] and the [[Manchukuo Imperial Navy]], were small and underdeveloped, largely existing as token forces to give legitimacy to the Manchukuo regime. An Air Force was established in February 1937 with 30 men selected from the Manchukuo Imperial Army who were trained at the Japanese Kwantung Army aircraft arsenal in Harbin (initially the Kwantung Army did not trust the Manchukuoans enough to train a native air force for them). The Imperial Air Force's predecessor was the [[Manchuria Aviation Company|Manchukuo Air Transport Company]], a paramilitary airline formed in 1931, which undertook transport and reconnaissance missions for the Japanese military. The first air unit was based in Xinjing and equipped with just one [[Nieuport-Delage NiD 29]] and was later expanded with [[Nakajima Army Type 91 fighter]]s and [[Kawasaki Army Type 88 Reconnaissance Aircraft|Kawasaki Type 88]] light bombers. Two more air units were established, but they suffered a setback when one hundred pilots took their aircraft and defected to insurgents after murdering their Japanese instructors. Nonetheless, three fighter squadrons were formed in 1942 from the first batch of cadets, being equipped with [[Nakajima Ki-27]] fighters in addition to [[Tachikawa Ki-9]]s and [[Tachikawa Ki-55]] trainers, along with some [[Mitsubishi Ki-57]] transports. In 1945, because of American bombing raids, they were issued with [[Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa|Nakajima Ki-43]] fighters to have a better chance of intercepting [[Boeing B-29 Superfortress|B-29 Superfortresses]]. Some pilots saw action against the American bombers and at least one Ki-27 pilot downed a B-29 by ramming it with his plane in a [[kamikaze]] attack. The air force practically ceased to exist by the Soviet invasion but there were isolated instances of Manchukuoan planes attacking Soviet forces.{{sfn|Jowett|2004|pp=90–92}}

The Imperial Navy of Manchukuo existed mainly as a small river flotilla and consisted mainly of small gunboats and patrol boats, both captured Chinese ships and some Japanese additions. The elderly [[Japanese destroyer Kashi (1916)|Japanese destroyer ''Kashi'']] was lent to the Manchukuoan fleet from 1937 to 1942 as the ''Hai Wei'' before returning to the [[Imperial Japanese Navy]]. These ships were mostly crewed by Japanese sailors.{{citation needed|date=November 2019}}

Several specialized units which functioned outside of the main command structure of the military also existed. The [[Manchukuo Imperial Guards|Manchukuo Imperial Guard]] was formed out of soldiers of ethnic [[Manchu people|Manchu]] descent, charged with the protection of the [[Puyi|Kangde Emperor]] and senior officials, as well as to function as an [[Guard of honour|honor guard]]. Despite this it took part in combat and was considered to be an effective unit. Throughout the 1930s a "Mongolian Independence Army" was established out of about 6,000 ethnic Mongolian recruits and fought its own war against bandits with some success. It was expanded in 1938 but merged with the regular Imperial Army in 1940, although Mongol units continued to perform well. A [[Gando Special Force|special Korean detachment]] was founded in 1937 on the personal initiative of {{ill|Lee Beom-ik|ko|이범익 (1883년)}}, a collaborationist Korean governor of [[Jiandao|Gando Province]]. The unit was small but distinguished itself in combat against Communist guerrillas and was noted by the Japanese for its martial spirit, becoming one of the few puppet units to earn the respect of its Japanese superiors.{{sfn|Jowett|2004|pp=31–35}}