ABSTRACT
After the fall of Nanking in mid-December 1937 and the initial Japanese successes in China, it became increasingly clear that a purely politico-military occupation of parts of China did not accord Japan the control she desired to have over that country. With the blessing of the Chinese General Government, now in the provisional capital Chungking, the struggle against the aggressor continued even after the main cities had fallen and the pitched battles had been fought. But guerrilla activities behind the lines were by no means Japan’s main anxiety; the economic battle which was yet to be won was of much greater significance. The latter would mark either Japan’s final victory in the occupied areas or else the success of the resistance and the defeat of Japan’s ‘New Order’ in East Asia. On this particular front China’s main task force consisted of the foreign, and especially the British, interests and possessions which remained firmly entrenched.
