Editing Tianjin (section)

===Second Sino-Japanese War===
On July 30, 1937, during the [[Second Sino-Japanese War]], Tianjin fell to Japan, but was not entirely occupied, as the Japanese generally respected [[Concessions in Tianjin|foreign concessions]] until 1941, when [[Concessions in Tianjin|American and British concessions]] were occupied. In the summer of 1939, the [[Tientsin Incident]] damaged Anglo-Japanese relations. On June 14, 1939, the [[Imperial Japanese Army]] surrounded and blockaded a British concession due to the refusal of British authorities to transfer six Chinese people, who had assassinated a Japanese collaborator and taken refuge in the British concession, to be under Japan's authority. For a time, the events of 1939 appeared likely to cause an Anglo-Japanese war, especially when reports of the Japanese Army mistreating British subjects wishing to leave or enter the concession appeared in British newspapers. The situation ended when British Prime Minister [[Neville Chamberlain]] was advised by the [[Royal Navy]] and the Foreign Office that the only way to force the Japanese to lift the blockade was to send the main British battle fleet to Far Eastern waters, and that given the situation in Europe, it would be inappropriate to send the British fleet out of European waters, thus leading the British to finally turn over the six Chinese people, who were then executed by the Japanese. During the Japanese occupation, Tianjin was ruled by the [[Provisional Government of the Republic of China (1937–1940)|North China Executive Committee]], a [[puppet state]] based in Beijing.

On August 9, 1940, all of the British troops in Tianjin were ordered to withdraw. On November 14, 1941, the American [[United States Marine Corps|Marine]] unit stationed in Tianjin was ordered to leave, but before it left, the Japanese [[Attack on Pearl Harbor|attacked the United States]]. The American Marine detachment surrendered to the Japanese on December 8, 1941. Only the Italian and French concessions (the local French officials were loyal to [[Vichy France|Vichy]]) were allowed by the Japanese to remain. When Italy signed an [[Armistice of Cassibile|armistice]] with the Allies in September 1943, Japanese troops took the Italian concession, following a battle with its garrison, and the [[Italian Social Republic]] formally ceded the concession to [[Wang Jingwei]]'s Japan-controlled [[Reorganized National Government of China|puppet state]]. Japanese occupation of the city lasted until August 15, 1945, with the surrender of Japan marking the end of World War II.