 A great city of Shanghai on a September day in 1937, a new kind of war. The first mass bombing from the air of a helpless civilian population. It's in Chinese men, women, children to die beneath the hail of Japanese bombers. To find the answer to this question, we must first understand something about China and Japan. And to understand China, three facts must never be forgotten. China is history. China is land. China is people. Chinese history goes back for more than 4,000 years. That's a long time. It was only 168 years ago that Washington crossed the Delaware. Only 452 years have passed since Columbus discovered America. It's 1,500 years since the world saw the fall of the ancient Roman Empire. 3,400 years have gone by since Moses received the 10 Commandments. 3,700 years have passed since the pyramids were built. But more than 4,000 years ago, the Chinese Empire was already in existence. And more important, so was the Chinese civilization, a civilization of art and learning and peace. Yes, China is history. And China is also land. More land than the entire continent of Europe, a third larger than the United States, and rich in raw materials. This vast area consists of China proper and four outer provinces. To the north is Manchuria, huge and desolate, but abounding in raw materials. Next to Manchuria are Mongolia and Xinjiang. Here lies the Gobi Desert, a vast plateau twice the size of Texas, inhabited by nomad tribes who lead their camel caravans back and forth over ancient trade routes. To the west is Tibet, the icy roof of the world, its borders encompassing the eastern end of the Himalayan mountains, the mystery land that few have entered. And from these vast mountains of the west rise the three great rivers. The northern most of these is the Hwang Ho, the Yellow River, far to the south flows the Sikyang, the Pearl River, which enters the sea past the great ports of Canton and Hong Kong. But the greatest river of all is the one that flows between the Yangtzee, winding for 3,000 miles through the heart of China, bringing fertility to the good earth and bearing upon its broad waters half the commerce of China. Yes, China is land. Next to Russia, the largest country in the world. But most important, China is people. 450 million of them, population of China were to walk past you for a breath that would never be an end to the procession. For new Chinese would be born and would grow up before the last man could pass by. Of every five persons on the face of the earth, one is a Chinese. And since one fifth of all the human beings in the world are Chinese, we should know what sort of people they are. Well, in all their 4,000 years of continuous history, they have never waged a war of conquest. They're that sort of people. They developed the art of printing for movable type. They invented the Mariner's compass, without which no ocean could be crossed. They were among the first astronomers. And their observations of the stars and planets made possible the accurate measuring and recording of time. They are that sort of people. And why do we call our dishes China? Because the Chinese invented the art of making porcelain. And as we all know, they invented gunpowder, not as a weapon of war, but to celebrate their holidays and religious festivals. And it was one of China's great philosophers who, 500 years before the birth of Christ, gave mankind these words. What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others. They are that sort of people, enriching the world in which we live. Yes, China is incredibly old, incredibly big, incredibly populous. Yet it was until recently a land with which few of us concerned ourselves. But now a great change has taken place. China is now our fighting ally. Or more accurately, we are China. But China has been fighting our enemy, Japan, for seven long years. Why is this? Why have the Chinese, who in all their 4,000 years of history have never waged an aggressive war, been forced to fight, to fight and die by the millions? Because China is land, four million square miles of it. And because China is people, 450 million of them. And because Japan had a plan to use them both. That plan was finally stated in the Tanaka Memorial, a blueprint for world conquest, formulated in 1927 by Baron Gishi Tanaka, the Japanese foreign minister. In order to conquer the world, we must first conquer China. Here was their mad dream. Phase one, the conquest of Manchuria for raw materials. Phase two, the absorption of China for manpower. Piece by piece, so as not to arouse the rest of the world. Phase three, a triumphant sweep to the south to seize the riches of the Indies. Phase four, the eastward move to crush the United States. One fact was obvious. China was to be the giant back on which Japan would ride to world conquest. Just as Russia was to be enslaved for German use. But how was it possible for Japan, only one 20th the size of China, and with only one sixth its population, to think of conquering China, much less the world? There were two main reasons for this. In the first place, modern China, in spite of its age-old history, was like the broken pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Each piece controlled by a different ruler, each with his own private army. In modern terms, China was a country, but not yet a nation. While Japan was a united, well-knit, highly regimented military dictatorship. Second reason lies in the uses each country made of our Western civilization. Let's see what China took. You will notice that this is a very old piece of film. Actually, it is more than 30 years old, and it shows a very great man by the name of Sun Yat-sen. In 1911, this man fathered a people's revolution, which brought to an end China's ancient imperial government and began its new era as a modern republic. Winning for himself in Chinese history a secure a place as George Washington has in ours. And he and his followers chose for the cornerstone of their new republic, Chinese words that echoed those of another believer in democracy. Government of the people, by the people, for the people. And to make these principles become reality, they built more schools and colleges. They established scholarships so that their young men and women could go forth to the universities of America and Europe and bring back to their own country other Western ideas. And this new generation returned to China with new techniques of industry. Architecture, science, medicine. They built more hospitals to free their people from the blight of disease. They introduced compulsory education. They laid down as essential two of the four freedoms for which we fight today, freedom of expression and freedom of religion. In 1925, Sun Yat-sen died. But his disciples, led by Chiang Kai-shek, carried on his monumental work, their aim, the unification and modernization of China. Chinese industry was old fashioned and inefficient. Transportation was slow and inadequate. But now railroads began to link the great seaports and river harbors with the inland cities. A network of highways began to stretch beyond the railroad lines into the deep interior. After leaving them untouched for centuries, China was beginning to use her vast store of raw materials. Soon the tools and machines of the new factories were delivering the goods and products for China's new economy. For the Chinese believed in using the best of Western civilization for the progress of their country. And while they were building this new nation, just a day and a half by steamer across the Yellow Sea lay Japan. God Emperor and his fanatic warlords were using this same Western civilization for one purpose and only one, to create one of the world's most powerful war machines. Their aim, the absorption of China and the fulfillment of the Tanaka Memorial. Here, Japan had deliberately copied military weapons and industrial techniques discovered in other countries. For years, Japan, under the pretext of lacking raw materials for industry, had been buying in every corner of the world materials not only to build this war machine, but materials which could be stored to feed it in the war of conquest they were planning. For years, while other nations were trying to outlaw war by reducing armaments, Japan was feverishly and secretly building a modern army, a modern navy, a modern air force to strike its infamous blow at the civilized world. And we all now know about the islands in the Pacific that Japan fortified in violation of all international treaties. These were the reasons why it was possible for Japan, only 120th the size of China, and only 1 6th the population of China to think of conquering China as the first step to world conquest. And as you have seen, in 1931, they embarked on phase one, the occupation of Manchuria, a small bonfire that the Japanese lit in Manchuria was to grow and spread with uncontrollable fury until the entire world was aflame. And if the Tanaka plan was completed, and exactly as planned, the Japs had been confident that this first and sudden land grab could be accomplished without their becoming involved in a major war. And they were right. The unification of China was still too remote for the Chinese of the South to care what happened to their kinsmen in the North. Using the step-by-step technique, a few months later, the Japs took a crack at Shanghai. These resistance was so great, they hastily called that deal off, waited another year, and then struck in the North again, carving the province of Yehole out of China proper. This too, they got away with. World criticized, the Chinese protested, but still, the Japs got what they wanted, another piece of China, and without a war on their hands. And to rule over Manchuria and Yehole, the Japs then set up a puppet government under their stooge, Henry Puyi, the Chinese quisling prince. But the leaders of New China remembered that in other centuries, other barbarians had invaded their country. The evidence still stood in the Great Wall, built by their ancestors more than 2,000 years earlier, and stretching for 1,400 miles across mountain and desert to protect themselves from the barbarians of the North. Of the Great Wall, it has been said that it is the only work of man which would be visible from the moon. But the Chinese knew that modern barbarians can't be stopped by a wall, however strong or high. They can't even be stopped by people, unless the people are united. And by 1937, the unification of China was making such progress the Japs got worried. The one weapon they could not permit China was unity. They would strike again before China could become a nation. This time, it would be a big bite. Five more Northern provinces out of the heart of China. At the United States Embassy in China as military attaché for a number of years was Colonel William Mayer. Let him tell you what happened. The first thing the Japs did was to prepare their usual fake alibi. This time, it wasn't a damaged railway track as it had been in Manchuria in 1931. A Jap soldier had disappeared. Obviously, he'd been kidnapped by the insolent Chinese. Once more, Japan's honor had been insulted. Once more, the insult must be avenged. So, on the night of July 7th, 1937, at the Marco Polo Bridge near Peking, the Jap war machine struck. Within the space of the few weeks, the invaders were in control of Tinson and Bapin. It looked as if the Japs were going to have another walkover. Now the Japs sat back to digest and organize this new conquest. The peace-loving Japanese didn't want a war if they could get their land grabs without one. But this time, they were in for a rude surprise. This time, instead of protesting or negotiating, the Chinese struck back. And not in the north, but at Shanghai, where the Japs least expected, but we must know something about the city of Shanghai itself. Situated near the mouth of the Yangtze River, it is the biggest city in China. As the largest seaport in the Far East, it dominated the commerce and foreign trade of China. And through its great docks and chandles passed most of the wealth of the Orient. In Shanghai, truly the East met the West. In this city of three and a half million Chinese was another city, the Foreign Settlement. Made up of the French concession and the well-known international settlement. There, the various powers, including Great Britain, the United States, and Japan, had stationed detachments of troops, Japanese, British, French, and our own United States Marines to assist the police of the Shanghai Municipal Council in the preservation of peace and order and to protect the boundaries of the international settlement. These detachments were limited in size, but the Japs secretly and in violation of all treaty agreements had increased their garrisons so that when fighting started on the border of their concession in August of 1937, they thought they were fully prepared for any eventuality. So the Chinese counterattack almost drove the Japs into the Wangpu River. Backed up by the heavy guns of their warships, however, the Japs managed to hold out until reinforcements arrived. Japs landings were then made in the vicinity of the Wuxiang forts and in Luhou and Lotian on the Yangtze River north of Shanghai. The Chinese drew back to positions five or 10 miles inland where they could secure some protection from the heavy Japs naval gunfire. At the same time, the invaders succeeded in making a surprise landing some 20 miles to the south of Shanghai. Put two divisions short and pushed rapidly north to outflank the city. The Chinese position was thus made untenable and a withdrawal was ordered to the west and to the south toward Nanking and Hangchao. But only about half of the Chinese army that had fought at Shanghai was left to withdraw. Meanwhile, enraged at the very idea of anyone resisting the Imperial Japanese might, the Japs took their vengeance upon the civilian population of the city. A city without guns or planes to defend itself and deliberately slaughtered thousands from the air. Refuge inside the international settle where Japan was afraid to bomb the property and people of the foreign powers. Just yet, the beach you found safety inside, there were thousands fluttled beyond the gates, standing helpless and undefended against the Jap attacks. There was no escape for these surging and panic-stricken people. They scurry through the narrow streets, pushing and packing themselves into the center of the city to be trapped and buried alive in the collapse of bombed and burning buildings. Japanese introduced the world to a new kind of war, mass murder. Of deliberate pain was over, the Japs occupied the entire peninsula east of Shanghai. Reorganizing rapidly, they then launched a coordinated drive on Nanking. One column pushed along the railroad while another swung further to the south. This column then split and continued its drive, hoping to cut off any possible retreat of the Chinese armies defending Nanking. It was here in the Yangtzee that the blood-crazed Japs attacked an American gunboat, the USS Panay, despite its distinctive markings. It bombed and sunk with the loss of American lives, the first American warship to go to the bottom in this war. But officially, at least, this was a mistake and the Japanese government apologized. Meantime, at Nanking, Chinese armies valiantly defended their city, which was the capital of the Chinese Republic. The city fell to the invaders. The Japs again outdid themselves in barbarism. The helpless populace was trapped by the city walls. They could not flee. The soldiers went berserk. They raped and tortured. Bloodiest massacres of recorded history. They murdered 40,000 men, women, and torn bodies was worse than death. These scenes were photographed by an American missionary and smuggled out of China after the rape of Nanking. This nightmare of cruelty was all the more horrible because it was deliberately planned by the Japanese High Command to tear the heart out of the Chinese people once and forever. That which Sun Yat-sen had dreamed of, that which Chiang Kai-shek had toiled for, that which is stronger than stone walls had at last been born in China, the will to resist. The Japanese had accomplished what 4,000 years had failed to bring into being a united China, an aroused China. The Chinese knew that the will to resist was not by itself enough. They knew that China must develop the power to resist also. And this was the reason why the Japanese were so desperate to fight the Japanese. The Japanese were so desperate to fight the Japanese. They were so desperate to fight the Japanese. And this cannot be created in an instant. So they too made a plan. And it was this. They would slowly yield territory piece by piece while they developed the power and built the weapons to rid the land of its invaders. The industrial strength of China must be moved to the west beyond the mountains, beyond the railroad lines, beyond the lines of communication. They are safe from enemy attacks. They might produce the rifles and guns that China so tragically needed. Thus China would trade space for time. Space for time. Blow up the roads. Forge the earth. Leave nothing for the invaders. And the people rose and moved. Riding, walking, crawling. Spontaneously driven by an epic impulse. Rows and made their way west. Moving westward on a trek that stretched through 2,000 miles of roadless wilderness. Thus the world witnessed one of the most amazing spectacles in human history. The greatest mass migration ever recorded. Whatever could be of use and could be moved, the Chinese took with them on a Homeric journey. Their libraries. Their schools. Their hospitals. All dismantled and carted away. The machinery from over a thousand factories weighing over 300 million pounds was moved away in trucks and ox carts and on their backs. 2,000 miles away. 2,000 miles west. Wherever they could, they gathered along the few remaining railroads waiting, hoping for some chance to ride part of the way toward their westward goal. And when they had packed the last train with the last ounce of humanity and machinery, the tracks themselves were taken up. Rail by rail. Tie by tie. To be transported westward. To leave nothing for the enemy. Pointing westward was heavy laden. Every sandpan, every bar was pressed into service. Weighted down to the water's edge with the precious tools for new China. Not even the rivers that narrowed the mountain gorges. Westward with their loads of machinery more precious than gold. It was measured by the mile. By feet. By inches. The trail they broke was moistened every step of the way by their sweat. Where there were no trains, no boats, no ox carts, there were still willing hands and willing feet and straining backs. 30 million people moving westward. Westward from the invader. Westward from slavery and death. Westward to freedom. Cities sprang in the fresh and modern life. Chief of them all was the new capital of free China. Chongqing. It's high above the Yangtze River that Chinese had re-established their government. They knew, however, that the people of the city would not be safe from Jap aerates. The memories of Shanghai were fresh in their minds. And in the sandstone cliff on which the city is built, thousands of workmen rushed the construction of enormous caves with shelters for the people and for the pitifully few machines. More important than life. To the Japs, Chongqing became the heart of the Chinese nation they were determined to conquer. Destroyed Chongqing and they would break the spirit of new China. Still alive? The city by land. They would send their bombers to blast it from the face of the earth. These Japanese armadas, slow and obsolete Chinese planes, made a suicidal attempt to defend Chongqing. Japanese planes near Japanese bombs could destroy the life of the city. But not only the people, but the factories had gone underground. Where the vital machines could operate by day and by night. Safe from bombs and shrapnel. These had anticipated their enemy. In spite of bombs and fire and destruction, this time the Chinese stood fast in the symbol of their indestructible spirit. Bold arms sounded throughout new China. From the vast interior, China's millions answered the call to form a people's army. With a new faith in their hearts, men and women left their homes and farms to fight for something bigger now than each man's home and each man's farm in each man's life. They were fighting for new China. Soldiers awkward and unskilled like all new soldiers. But they toughened and trained. They knew they must strike and strike hard. They learned to kill. China also came forward, training to care for the sick and the wounded. Girls joined their husbands, brothers and sweethearts in uniform. China came volunteers from other lands. Men who pledged themselves to fight against tyranny and oppression no matter where. Americans like the legendary Colonel Shandong and his flying Tigers who, with their few American planes, were knocking down enemy planes at the fantastic ratio of 20 nips to one of their own. The Japs had hoped to ride to World Conquest on the back of the giant Chinese workhorse. Phase two of the Tanaka Plan called for breaking the horse to their will. But the great patient horse refused to be broken. The enraged Japs saw their whole plan of conquest bogging down. So they set out to drain the giant's strength by cutting the arteries through which flowed China's lifeblood of supplies. They penetrated along the rivers. Railroads destroyed by the Chinese were rebuilt with slave labor. As the Japanese moved inland they made sure control of key rail lines and important communications. And China's supply lines from the outside world were cut off by Jap warships blockading the coast. The Japanese strategy was the isolation of China. Port after port was occupied. This meant China was being cut off from supplies she couldn't manufacture for herself. Supplies she was getting from her western friends without oil, gas, guns and planes. China was doomed. With the whole of the Chinese coast in the hands of the Japs there would only be two routes over which to bring the vitally necessary materials. From Indochina a narrow gauge railway ran inland from the sea to Kunming connecting with a truck road that went to Chongqing. But its capacity was limited. And then there was the old trail of the camel caravans from Russia across the Gobi Desert which could bring in even less. Not only did these routes provide too little for China's needs but they were too near Jap territory to be safe. There was only one other possibility. In Burma was a railroad that ran from the port of Rangoon to Lashill. Separating it from the truck road at Kunming were hundreds of miles of high mountains and deep river gorges. If this stretch of... If this stretch of tortuous mountain trails could be replaced by a modern highway where now only pack trains could pick their plodding way China would have a practical supply route to Burma and the sea. Several internationally known firms of engineers were called in to do the job. They said the work might be completed in six or seven years if China could supply them with the most modern machinery. But China didn't have the modern machinery nor did she have the six or seven years. So she began building the road with her bare hands. Thousands, by tens of thousands, by hundreds of thousands. They toiled at the back-breaking task of carving this desperately needed supply line out of the reluctant mountains. Six or seven years but in less than 12 months a monument to the new spirit, to the new China. As soon as it was completed the road went into immediate service Thousands, the truck shuttled back and forth between its terminals climbing to nearly 10,000 feet around hairpin curves along the edges of sheer precipices where passing trucks had barely one foot of clearance. The blood plasma of new supplies flowed steadily over China's lifeline to the sea protected by Colonel Shanault's incredible flying tigers. But Chinese sacrifice cannot be measured only in miracles of construction. It must be counted too in the tragedy of destruction. For while still the Burma Road was being built the invading Jap armies had fanned out and straddled fully two-thirds of the railroad lines of the country. In the summer of 1938 they set out to capture the remaining one-third starting with the vital railroad junction at Chang Chao. Chang Chao is situated on the banks of the Yellow River China's sorrow. Originally the river flowed from Chang Chao southeast to the Yellow Sea but nearly a century ago a great flood abruptly changed its course swinging it far to the north. For generation upon generation as the spring floods rushed down to the sea thousands of Chinese worked on the dykes to hold the river in its new course protecting their homes and their crops how as the Japs advanced on Chang Chao the Chinese blew up the southern dyke of the Yellow River thus loosing a flood between themselves and the Japs. Once more the river flowed in its old course forming a barrier which to this day has prevented the Jap from entrenching himself in this area. Once more with no thought of the human sacrifice of the material cost the Chinese traded space for time and the Chinese had still other tricks to pull from their patched and faded sleeves. You will notice that this map of Jap conquests doesn't look like the military maps you have seen in the previous films. By all military standards it should have looked like this which is the way the Japs wanted it to look. But the Japanese were learning that the occupation of Chinese cities and control of Chinese rivers and railroads still was far from meaning the subjugation of China. But the Chinese had formed themselves into guerrilla bands trained to harass the Jap forces. These guerrillas were mostly farmers who had stayed behind on the land when the great migration to the west took place. Peaceful farmers one day deadly fighters the next. They made an unpredictable and uncontrollable enemy. The Japs held the lines of communications but in the pockets thus formed these unconquerable guerrillas constantly sniped at the Jap invaders. When the Japs tried to annihilate them they disappeared only to reappear in another pocket. Even surprise they ambushed enemy patrols. The Japanese were fighting more than the Chinese people they were fighting the Chinese land the great distances the rivers the floods the swamps and marshes these two were enemies that defied the Jap war machine. The giant back Japan intended to ride to world conquest was proving to be a bucking bronco. Phase two of the Tanaka plan had bogged down in what the Japs still referred to as the China incident. This left them in a fateful quandary. Phase two of the Tanaka plan was still incomplete but phase three and phase four could no longer be delayed in Russia the overwhelming German offensive was taxing Russia's military capacity to the limit removing any Japanese fear of Russian interference. Britain after the sledgehammer blows of Dunkirk and the Battle of Britain was left groggy and militarily almost exhausted. Her navy scattered across the seas guarding her lifeline of supplies but here in America we were finally awakening to our danger and taking steps to protect ourselves. We had appropriated funds for the construction of a two ocean navy and our army was rapidly expanding. If the ultimate objectives of the Tanaka plan were to be achieved now was the moment to strike now when Russia was otherwise occupied now before Britain could recuperate now before we could gather too much strength so the Japs made a fateful decision they would embark on phase three and phase four the conquest of the Indies in the United States without waiting to complete phase two the conquest of China thus to paralyze American power in the Pacific without warning as they have always struck they struck again China's position should now be greatly improved For in her war with Japan China now had fighting allies ourselves, the British, the Dutch but it didn't work that way for China for in those tragic early months of 1942 when we sustained defeat after defeat at the hands of our common enemy endured the worst setback of all out of our defeats China lost the Burma Road China's courage never faltered her determination never weakened and in the history of those long and tragic months of black defeat in 1942 one bright page stands forth the page written by our Chinese allies here is the city of Changsha the Japs wanted it for two reasons it was in the center of the Chinese rice bowl and it was also an important railway junction twice before they had tried to take it and twice before they had been thrown back massing a large striking force near Youchou on Christmas Eve 1941 the Japs started southward toward Changsha in three columns at three points during the drive south the Chinese forces put up token resistance but instead of withdrawing toward Changsha they withdrew east into the mountainous flank by New Year's Eve the Japs had surrounded the city they quickly pierced the outer defenses and attacked the inner defenses from four directions in spite of fierce resistance the Japs were certain that the fall of Changsha was only a matter of hours what they didn't know was that they had walked into a well-bated trap for the Chinese forces which had withdrawn into the hills now swept down on the Japs supply lines and cut them to ribbons the Japs forces attacking the city soon ran out of food and ammunition and began a withdrawal whereupon the Chinese launched a counter-offensive and pushed the Japanese back where they had come from the column was forced to run the gauntlet continuous attack by the pursuing Chinese forces now was a magnificent victory for the people of China the people who wouldn't surrender the people determined to fight for their freedom their good earth the people who can't be beaten and as 1944 dawns there is another and greater story being written the allusions to the South Pacific we are on the offense in the jungles of New Guinea in the Gilbert and Marshall Islands on the shores of New Britain on the broad Pacific waters Japan faces the daily expanding power of the nations she attacked the Chinese forces are gathering strength under Lord Mountbatten for the liberation of China for China's war is our war and now her millions belong not only to United China but also to the United Nations leader of our American forces is General Stillwell who has the unique honor of being the chief of staff of all the Chinese expeditionary armies division after division of thick Chinese troops are being flown in our planes from China to India where they are armed and equipped with American weapons trained and hardened to spearhead the coming drive against Japan through enemy hell territory in northern Burma the new Lido road is being pushed over mountains through jungle and swamp from India to China to connect with the old Burma road in the jungle on either side American and Chinese patrols protect the road and strike at the jacks supplies and ammunition brought in by plane parachute fields in India an air transport command plane takes off every six minutes loaded with artillery jeeps ammunition men and supplies for the armies of China over this Burma skyway over this hump of mountains 16,000 feet high more tonnage is being flown into China than was ever trucked in over the old Burma road and in the skies over China Japan faces new opposition young Chinese many of them trained on the fields of Arizona New Mexico, California fly and fight beside their American comrades the fighters and bombers of the Chinese Air Force and those of General Shanault's 14th Air Force today fly far and wide over China the concentrations smashing their sea lanes along the China coast the same people that moved a nation 2,000 miles that built the Burma road are building airfields out of stones mud and patient tireless hands though still cut off by land and sea from the rest of the world Chinese armies and Chinese guerrillas still stand firm against the Jap war machine the poorest and the youngest of the world's great nations together with the British Commonwealth fight side by side in the struggle that is as old as China herself the struggle of freedom against slavery civilization against barbarism good against evil upon their victory depends the future of mankind we in China like you want a better world not for ourselves alone but for all mankind and we must have it