1. The Soviet Union

In the early days of the Anti-Japanese War, the Soviet Union was the main supporter of China's Anti-Japanese War. Why is the Soviet Union the main supporter of China in the early days of the Anti-Japanese War? Because one of the purposes of Japan launching the "September 18" incident to occupy Northeast China was to obtain a strategic base for attacking the Soviet Union. It launched two large-scale attacks on the Hassan Lake and Halakhin River areas of the Soviet Union. Although both were defeated by the Soviet army, But the Japanese military's ambitions remain.

The Soviet leaders were not fools, and they understood the ideas of little Japan. Not only did it condemn Japan's aggressive behavior internationally, it also signed a non-aggression treaty with China and provided a large amount of material assistance for China's war of resistance.

Let’s look at the data.

Beginning in mid-October 1937, the Soviet Union gradually shipped to China urgently needed aircraft, artillery, machine guns, aviation and armor equipment, guns and ammunition and other military supplies.

In March and July 1938, the Soviet Union gave the Chinese government two loans of US$50 million each, totaling US$100 million. In June 1939, another loan of US$150 million was obtained. Soviet loans totaled $250 million. From 1937 to 1942, the Soviet Union actually provided China with a total of US$173 million in loans to purchase arms, ranking first in the amount of aid provided to China by any country during the same period. China used these loans to repay the Soviet Union's aid to China in weapons, ammunition and other military supplies, which solved China's foreign exchange difficulties in urgently needing arms.

According to statistics, from September 1937 to the outbreak of the Soviet-German War in June 1941, the Soviet Union provided China with 904 aircraft (including 318 light and heavy bombers), 82 tanks, 1,526 cars, and tractors. 24 vehicles, 1,190 cannons, 9,720 light and heavy machine guns, 50,000 rifles, 167 million rifle bullets, more than 17 million machine gun bullets, 31,100 bombs, more than 1.87 million artillery shells, 221 aircraft engines, and other military supplies .

Through the above data, we can see that the Soviet Union was not only the only country in the world that actively assisted China with arms at that time, but the price of aircraft and other arms and supplies aided China was much lower than the international market price.

In addition, the Soviet Union also sent a large number of military advisers and technical experts to China. By 1941, there were more than 140 military advisers and thousands of experts in various fields sent to the Chinese government and army. The Soviet generals who successively served as military advisers to the Chinese government include Dragivin, Cherepanov, Khachanov and Chuikov. They helped contact the Soviet Union for military material assistance to China, assisted in formulating combat plans, and even participated in the command of important battles.

In addition to military advisers and technical experts, the Soviet Union also directly dispatched air force volunteer teams to China to participate in the Anti-Japanese War. By 1940, there were more than 700 Soviet volunteer pilots fighting in China. They participated in air battles to defend Nanjing, Wuhan, Nanchang, Chongqing, Chengdu, Lanzhou and other cities. They also bombed Japanese airports, stations, ports, warehouses, ships and other military targets many times, and participated in more than 20 major battles.

In 1938 alone, more than 100 Japanese aircraft were shot down and more than 70 Japanese ships were sunk. More than 200 Soviet volunteer pilots, including Bomber Group Captain Kurishenko and Fighter Group Captain Rakhmanov, gave their precious lives.

2. The United States

The United States, Britain, France and other countries were very smart and implemented a policy of appeasement towards Japan for a long period after the September 18th Incident. They watched China and Japan beat. However, as Japan's all-out war of aggression against China continued to expand, the colonial interests of the United States, Britain, and France in China and the Far East were seriously damaged, so they agreed to provide military assistance to China.

The United States gradually strengthened its aid to China after China's war of resistance entered the stage of strategic stalemate.

In December 1938, after repeated negotiations between China and the United States, the U.S. government announced for the first time that it would provide China with a loan of US$25 million, which China would use to purchase American supplies and repay it in tung oil. In February 1939, the "Sino-US Tung Oil Loan Contract" was officially signed, which was called the "Tung Oil Loan" at the time. This loan marked the beginning of the United States' aid to China's war of resistance.

In April and October 1940, the United States provided the Chinese government with a $20 million Yunnan tin loan and a $25 million tungsten sand loan. In November, Roosevelt announced his intention to provide a loan of US$100 million to China.

In February 1941, the Metal Loan Contract between China and the United States was officially signed. China used metal minerals as collateral to borrow US$50 million from the United States. In March, the U.S. Congress passed the Lend-Lease Act to provide military assistance to countries opposing fascist aggression, and began to provide arms supplies to China in the form of lease-lease. In April, Roosevelt signed an order approving U.S. veterans to join the U.S. Volunteer Air Force to China (the "Flying Tigers") established by Chennault to help the Chinese Air Force fight the Japanese army. In April and May, Roosevelt twice approved the provision of military equipment, weapons and ammunition worth more than 90 million US dollars to China. In July, Roosevelt also approved the provision of equipment and personnel to the Chinese Air Force.

After the outbreak of the Pacific War, the United States increased its aid to China. In March 1942, China and the United States formally signed the "China-US $500 Million Loan Agreement." In June, China and the United States signed the "Sino-US Lend-Lease Agreement."

According to incomplete statistics, the total amount of Lend-Lease assistance provided by the United States to China during the war reached 845.7 million U.S. dollars, of which except for 20 million U.S. dollars, the rest was given as free gifts. The United States has successively shipped weapons, aircraft, tanks, vehicles, ships and various military equipment worth approximately US$520 million to China to support China's Anti-Japanese War.

3. The United Kingdom

The United Kingdom provided China with its first stabilization fund loan of 5 million pounds in March 1939, and provided it to China in March and August respectively. Car purchase credit loan of 223,000 pounds and 2.859 million pounds, totaling 3.082 million pounds.

In April 1941, the United Kingdom provided China with a second stabilization fund loan of 5 million pounds. In February 1942, Britain announced that it would provide China with a loan of 50 million pounds.

However, serious differences occurred between the two countries on the issue of loan fulfillment and conditions. It was not until May 1944 that China and Britain signed the Sino-British Financial Assistance Agreement worth 50 million pounds. In this loan, China only spent 8.1 million pounds to purchase supplies and other services in the pound area, and 3 million pounds of it was paid at the end of 1945, and the remaining 5.1 million pounds was paid in July 1948. Pay. Therefore, during the entire late period of the Anti-Japanese War, China actually received no loan assistance from the United Kingdom.

4. France

France signed a Nan (Ning) Town (Nanguan) Railway Loan Contract with China in April 1938, with the amount reaching 150 million francs and 145,000 pounds. , and in March of the following year it borrowed an additional 30 million francs. In December 1939, China and France reached an agreement to borrow 480 million francs for the Kunming Railway from Syria. Due to the impact of the war, the performance of these two loan contracts was later suspended. In addition, France also holds a positive attitude towards the military assistance and cooperation sought by the Chinese government. However, the proposed military assistance and cooperation plan was suspended due to France's defeat and surrender in 1940.

The international community’s support for China has given great encouragement to China, which has long been independent in the East and persisted in the war of resistance against Japan, and enhanced the confidence and courage of the Chinese people to defeat Japanese fascism; at the same time, China has persisted in the protracted war of resistance, Under extremely difficult conditions, it provided a large number of agricultural and animal husbandry products, mineral products and other materials urgently needed during the war to the Soviet Union, the United States, the United Kingdom, France and other countries, and actively supported and helped the anti-fascist struggles of the people of various countries.

It is worth mentioning that during the difficult years when they were ravaged by the Japanese invaders, the Chinese people also sincerely helped other victims of fascist persecution in the world.

At that time, Shanghai accepted about 30,000 Jewish refugees, including Mike Blumenthal, who later served as Secretary of the Treasury in the Carter administration of the United States. The then Chinese Consul General in Vienna, He Fengshan, took great risks to issue "life-saving" visas to at least thousands of Jewish refugees, allowing them to escape the clutches of fascism. He was called the "Chinese Schindler."