Japanese-Italian War
The Japanese-Italian War was a war between the Kingdom of Italy and the Empire of Japan, which de facto started on 9 September 1943 with the Japanese attack on the Italian concessions in China, and de jure started on July 15, 1945. All aggressive acts between the two nations ended on 2 September 1945. The peace treaty was officially signed in 1951.
The conflict was the result of an escalation of deteriorating Japanese-Italian relations that started in 1940, and the Armistice of Cassibile. Both nations partly recognized that there was a some form of "state of war" declared on 9 September 1943.
Background
Japanese-Italian alliance
Amid the rise of Fascism in Italy after World War I, the failure of the 1935 Stresa Front, and the Second Italo-Ethiopian War, the Italians joined the Anti-Comintern Pact on 6 November 1937. The Kingdom of Italy and the Japanese government subsequently strengthened their ties. The Italians recognized the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo on 29 November 1937, and ties between the two nations were also strengthened after the Italian Economic Mission to Japan of 1938.In 1940, before the Tripartite Pact, pressure on the Italian concessions by the Republic of China was increasing due to the fearsi-shek Kai-shek's fear of a possible Japanese-Italian alliance. However, Italian consuls at the time dismissed that such an alliance could ever occur, and that Italy would ever join in the European War or support any side in the Second Sino-Japanese War. However, these statements were proven wrong as later that month, Benito Mussolini declared war on the Allied Powers. The alliance between the two nations was officially finalized on 27 September 1940, with the establishment of the Tripartite Pact. The war was harsh on all of the Italian concessions, especially after the Trans-Siberian Railway was officially no longer able to be used by Italy following Operation Barbarossa in June 1941. This meant the concessions were mostly isolated and depended on Japan's favourability to even keep on existing due to their limited amount of battalions stationed in them, including the Battaglione italiano in Cina, founded in 1925, which was not enough on its own.
Deterioration of Italo-Japanese relations
Despite being allies, the Japanese, starting from 1940, continued to pressure the Italians to cede their concessions to their puppet states. Italy would subsequently cede the Italian legation in the Shanghai International Settlement to the Wang Jingwei regime on 24 July 1943.
By August 1943, the situation had gotten more tense as the Japanese were not satisfied with the Italians leaving the concession in Shanghai, but also wanted them to leave those in Tianjin, Beijing, and all of the remaining minor concessions held by Italy. The tension was also accompanied by a noticeable press campaign by the Wang Jingwei government and in all of China, which highlighted the presence of Italy as the sole European colonizer who still held onto the concessions in China. Calls to leave the concessions also led various Italian diplomatic representatives to push the Fascist government to leave the colony, as they thought a Japanese intervention in the concession was imminent and that it would be a humiliation for the nation. However, the fascist regime refused to leave.
The battle of the Italian concessions in China (1943)
After the Armistice of Cassibile on 8 September 1943, Francesco Maria Taliani, the Italian ambassador who also partly diplomatically represented the colonies in China officially sided with the King and thus supported the armistice in an official manner. This soon after led to his arrest by the Japanese police and his internment in a Japanese internment camp alongside his wife, the Archduchess Margaretha of Austria, where they would stay up until the end of the war.Japan felt "betrayed" by the armistice of Cassibile and saw it as the "last straw" in Italy's impertinence against Japan. Japan thus on 9 September 1943, initiatives its first and only real offensive action against Italy, that is the conquest of the Italian concessions in China.
Despite the concessions being fully isolated from Italy and having lost any kind of diplomatic immunity, the personeel within the concessions decided to resist Japanese aggression. The legation in Beijing had 100 people within it available to defend it. In the meanwhile, the Italian concession of Tianjin had 600.
The Italians who were interned after the conflict were held captive in camps located in Japanese Korea, Manchuria and even Japan. After their release, some of them also faced internment in American internment camps on U.S. soil and in the Philippines before being released in 1946, once and for all. The remaining population in the ex-concessions were treated like prisoners, held in dehumanizing conditions and were even denied to see the light of the sun at times.
The Italian Beijing legation
On 9 September 1943, the 100 soldiers stationed in the Italian legation in Beijing fought whilst being armed only with small arms and light weaponry and being surrounded by all sides by 1000 Japanese troops. The Italian fighters resisted for over 24 hours before surrendering, having inflicted heavy losses on the Japanese troops and reporting no losses on their part. They allegedly surrendered as to avoid being outnumbered even further. They were led by Giovanni Mareschin, and most of them on 18 September 1943 adhered to the Italian Social Republic as to avoid internment.The Italian concession of Tianjin
The Italian concession of Tianjin was surrounded by 6000 Japanese soldiers and around 15 light tanks, 2 gunboats and an undefined number of light artillery and aerial support, all under the command of Japanese officer Hisakazu Tanaka.Frigate Captain Carlo dell’Acqua was in the lead of concession's defence alongside the 770 stationed troops. The concession was armed with: 50 Fiat 14/35, Breda Mod.30 machine guns, 4 75/27 cannons and 4 Lancia 1ZM armoured cars.
The Italians, despite being outnumbered decided to once again resist. The reasons on why they did not immediately surrender were multiple, including: The will to safeguard the local Italian and Chinese population from the Japanese, the will to safeguard Ferruccio Stefenelli and to protect Italy's possession. A battle of attrition was thus fought mostly inside the Ermanno Carlotto Barrack, the city council, the forum and in the surrounding areas for roughly a day. The Italians once again managed to hold off the Japanese pretty much like in Beijing, and most of the military personeel was ready to continue fighting the Japanese, having the resources to do so for at least a week; Despite this, however, Carlo dell'Acqua decided to surrender on 10 September 1943. This was due to the fact that Carlo believed no one would come to help their resistance and that he had heard news of incoming Japanese division which would soon be joining the one that was already assaulting the concession.
On 18 September 1943, the Italians captured in Tianjin, pretty much like the ones in Beijing and in other areas, after days of being held captive, were given the choice to either swear loyalty to the newly created Italian Social Republic or side with the Kingdom of the South and face reclusion in internment camps. 600 decided to stay loyal to the Kingdom of the South, whilst 170 of them swore loyalty to the Fascist regime.
Another 5 men were stationed in Tanggu before being arrested.
Italian concession of Shan Hai Kwan Fort
The Italian concession of Shan Hai Kwan fort, a pass in the Great Wall of China, was stationed by 10 petty officers and 53 sergeants and sailors. They were commanded by Lieutenant Alberto Stebel, second in command of the military in the concession in Tianjin, later assigned to Shanhai Pass due to the fact he was suffering from tuberculosis. They were later arrested.Italian navy stationed in China
On 9 September 1943, after the Japanese offensive, the Italian Supermarina at the Italian Naval High Command in the Far East ordered all units to sink all of their ships and vessels to prevent the Japanese from seizing them and using them in their own navy and declared that Japan had initiated a "state of war" against Italy. The orders were followed by the naval attaché at the Italian Legation, Captain Giorgio Galletti, both stationed in Shanghai. The vessels that were confirmed to be sunk were the following: The gunboats Lepanto led by Corvette Captain Giuseppe Morante, the gunboat Ermanno Carlotto, led by Lieutenant Roberto De Leonardis, the ocean liner SS Conte Verde, led by Corvette Captain Ugo Chinca. The personeel and the officials were later arrested, their properties were seized and they faced martial law, mock trials and imprisonment in internment camps. Only 29 of the San Marco units of the navy adhered to the Italian Social Republic and were pardoned. Despite not following the orders of the Italian Naval High Command in the Far East, the crew of the Cappellini submarine was sent to internment camps and their submarine was seized and on 10 September was given away to Nazi Germany under the brand new name "UIT-24" and assigned to the "12th U-boat Flotilla".Internment of the Italian personnel in Japan
Actions against Italian personeel were also conducted by the IJA on Japanese soil. The Italian Embassy in Tokyo was surrounded by the Japanese forces and later raided. Inside the embassy there were Admiral Carlo Balsamo, the Italian naval commander in the Far East, Captain Giuseppe Prelli, who was to conduct an inspection visit to the auxiliary cruiser Calitea II, and the Major Commissioner Gino Benanti. After the self-sinking of the Calitea II, Giuseppe Prelli and Gino Benanti were both imprisoned underground, faced a mock interrogation fully in Japanese, were forced to firm a Japanese contract and were sent to Ofuna internment camp on 14 September. The crew of the Calitea II were captured, continiously interrogated, tortured and sent to various internment camps. The rest of the personeel of the embassy was given a choice to either adhere to the Italian Social Republic or the Kingdom of the South on 19 September. Those who decided to stay loyal to the King of Italy were sent to the Tempa Ku internment camp in Nagoya.In Kobe a stationed cruiser self-sunk itself immediately after getting the news of the Cassibile Armistice on 8 September, without any recorded order to do so.
The survivors of the Italian vessel called Ada, and renamed by the Japanese as "Ataka Maru", which had been sunk on 22 August 1943, were found by Japanese authorities soon after the armistice. They were captured violently, tortured, questioned and once again sent to internment camps.
All the Italian residents in Japan that did not swear loyalty to the Italian Social Republic were also sent to internment camps on 19 September similarly to the members of the Italian embassy. A notable example was the family of the writer and femminist activist Dacia Maraini, which was put in a Japanese internment camp and suffered inhumane conditions.