- 1938 Yellow River flood
The 1938
Yellow River flood was a flood created by theNationalist Government in central China during the early stage of theSecond Sino-Japanese War in an attempt to halt the rapid advance of the Japanese forces.Origin
Following the onset of the
Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937, theImperial Japanese Army marched rapidly into the heart of Chinese territory. By June 1938, the Japanese had control of the entireNorth China . OnJune 6 , they capturedKaifeng , the capital ofHenan , and threatened to take overZhengzhou . Zhengzhou was the junction of the arterial Pinghan and Longhai Railways, and it would directly endanger the major cities ofWuhan andXi'an if the Japanese takeover succeeded.To stop further Japanese advance into western and southern part China and to gain some time for the preparation of the decisive
Battle of Wuhan ,Chiang Kai-shek and his advisors decided to open up the dike of theYellow River near Zhengzhou to halt Japanese advance with flood water. [Telegram fromChiang Kai-shek toCheng Chien , 1938] The exact location to destroy the dike was originally planned to be Zhaokou, but due to difficulties it was finalized to be atHuayuankou ."See also: Campaign of
Northern and Eastern Honan 1938 ."The flood
The floodwaters began pouring out from Huayuankou in the early morning on
June 9 ,1938 . As a result, the course of the Yellow River was diverted southwards for nine years afterward, inundating 54,000km² (21,000 square miles) of land inHenan ,Anhui , andJiangsu provinces. All in all, the flood waters took 500,000 to 900,000 lives.Controversy
To achieve full surprise on the invading Japanese force, the
Chinese Nationalist government decided not to inform the mass public before destroying the dyke. The flood submerged millions of homes, and since they were not informed beforehand, the majority of people did not have time to flee. [zh icon http://www.cnread.net/cnread1/jszl/y/yiming/000/001.htm]It is still debated whether it was necessary to destroy the dike in Huayuankou to cause the flood. Militarily, it is claimed that the strategy could be considered partly successful, as by 1940, the Japanese were essentially in a stalemate with the Chinese forces, because the flood had created "problems for the mobility of the Japanese Army". [ja icon Invasion of China: History, page 440.]
Aftermath
The dikes were rebuilt in 1946 and 1947 and Yellow River returned to its pre-1938 course.
Notes
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