The Reorganized National Government of the Republic of China, also known as the Wang Jingwei Regime or the Nanjing Government, was a Japanese puppet state in China which existed from 1940 to 1945. The government was led by the leftist Kuomintang leader Wang Jingwei, who was opposed to Chiang Kai-shek's autocratic style of ruling. It claimed authority over all of China, but its control was limited to the areas under Japanese occupation. The government was based in Nanjing and collaborated with the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War, and the government was disbanded after the 15 August 1945 surrender of Japan at the end of World War II.
Military[]
The armed forces of the Reorganized Government lacked a unified structure and received generally low-quality equipment. However, they were quite sizable, including nearly one million troops by the mid 1940s. The ground forces were mostly infantry-based, with only a single tank unit based in Nanjing as part of the capital defense army, were estimated to have consisted of 500,000-900,000 men. The reliability and combat skill of Nanjing regime units varied greatly, with some being considered excellent by the Japanese, while others gave weapons to the partisans and refused to defend their positions. The Central Military Academy in Nanjing and the Naval Academy in Shanghai produced respectable units, including three Guards divisions (10,000 men) and sailors that distinguished themselves during the subsequent civil war. In addition, the Special Taxation Police (3,000 men) was also considered to be reliable unit. Wang Jingwei was said to be have been able to rely on 10-15% of the forces under his command.
The regime also possessed a small navy and an air force. The navy included some small vessels and two Chinese light cruisers captured by Japan, the Ping Hai and the Ning Hai. Much of their vessels were later taken by Japan as the war turned against them. The Nanjing Government also set up a Naval Academy in Shanghai. The Nanjing air force did not see any combat and consisted of only a few former Chinese aircraft along with some donated Japanese planes. There were two occasions of defections of Nationalist pilots to the Nanjing Government.
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