Operation Beleaguer was the codename for the United States Marine Corps’ occupation of northeastern China’s Hebei and Shandong provinces from 1945 until 1949. The Marines were tasked with overseeing the repatriation of more than 600,000 Japanese and Koreans that remained in China at the end of World War II. During the four-year occupation, American forces engaged in several skirmishes with the People's Liberation Army while successfully evacuating thousands of foreign nationals. The United States Government attempted to mediate a peace treaty between the opposing Nationalist and Communist factions but was unsuccessful. The Marines departed Northern China in June 1949 a few months before the communists won victory in the Chinese Civil War and took control of mainland China.
Background
During World War II, China was a battlefield with three opposing armies: The Nationalist Government's National Revolutionary Army (NRA); the Communist People's Liberation Army (PLA); and the Imperial Japanese Army (IJN), which occupied much of eastern and central China. When Japan surrendered in 1945, over 630,000 Japanese and Korean military personnel and civilians were still in the occupied areas and needed to be disarmed and repatriated. But the Nationalist government based in Chongqing lacked the manpower, resources, or means of transport to disarm the entire IJN at once. They feared that PLA soldiers and guerrillas, who often operated behind Japanese lines, would be able to reach and disarm large numbers of IJN units before the NRA arrived. Chiang Kai-shek and the Western Allies ordered that IJN units remain at their posts and not surrender their arms to the Communists. President Harry Truman sent over 50,000 United States Marines of the III Amphibious Corps (IIIAC) and the 7th Fleet to northern China with orders to accept the surrender of the Japanese and their Korean former subjects, repatriate them, and help the Nationalists reassert their control over areas previously held by the Japanese. The Marines were not to take sides in the fighting, and were only allowed to engage in combat if fired upon first. Major General Keller E. Rockey, IIIAC, was placed in command of the operation, and Lieutenant General Albert C. Wedemeyer was in command of the China Theater.
IIIAC was preparing for the invasion of Japan when the war ended on September 2, 1945. Within the next forty-eight hours, IIIAC received new orders to ship out to China.
Operations
Hebei Province
The Hebei Province occupation force was the first to get underway. Loading of the troopships began on September 11 and was completed on September 19. Sailing from their base on Guam, the Americans anchored off the bay of China's Hai River on September 30. Disembarkation began soon after, and the Americans were greeted by swarms of sampans, whose crews were eager for trade, and crowds of jubilant Chinese on the shore. Brigadier General Louis R. Jones, Assistant Division Commander of the 1st Division, landed at the Tanggu docks to meet with local Chinese port officials, make arrangements for the surrender of the Japanese garrison, and to prepare for the dispersal of the Marines across the province. Everything went according to plan: Jones later said that the "Chinese military and civilian authorities were cooperative in the extreme," and that he and his men had no trouble whatsoever in dealing with the Japanese garrison.
The Americans who went to occupy Tianjin were also greeted by crowds of Chinese who were anxious to be liberated from the Japanese. According to author Henry I. Shaw, Jr., the "streets were packed with Chinese of all classes and European expatriates. Trucks and marching troops literally had to force their way through the happy, flag-waving throngs to reach their assigned billets in the former International Concessions. To many of the men, it seemed that their welcome must have outshone and outshouted 'any welcome given to troops any time, any place, and anywhere during World War II.'"