日中戦争下の華北交通の設立と戦時輸送の展開

抄録

With the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, the Japanese continental railroad system was expanded from Korea and Manchuria into northern China. The management of the railroad became the prerequisite condition that enabled the maintenance of a large occupied territory, the execution of military strategy, and the supply of Chinese strategic goods required for the Japanese wartime economy. Management resources were supplied from the South Manchuria Railway, Inc., and a new transportation entity called the North China Railway Co. (NCR) was established in Northern China. While this entity was formed as a result of Northern China separation maneuvers, the Japanese side compulsorily enforced the nationwide unity of railroad management. Wartime transportation was not limited to the local area of Northern China, but was also strongly interlinked with policy deployment in Manchuria and colonial Korea. Consequently, a huge transportation demand was also generated locally both internal and external to the region. Nevertheless, since strengthening of the transport capacity by huge investment was impossible because of lack of resources, the NCR tried to enhance transport capacity by increasing the number and frequency of trains in operation. By this means a labor-intensive railroad management system was realized with a concomitant increase in traffic and improvement in productivity. However, after the outbreak of the Pacific War, in order to compensate for the decline of marine transportation tonnage, alternative land transportation was deemed necessary to make possible the supply of important materials from Northern China to Japan. Although the necessity for unified management of a continental railroad system was increasingly clear, the shortage of transport capacity was too vast, and conventional operation became impossible. Consequently the NCR had no choice but to impose rigorous transportation controls over local traffic. The NCR however was doomed to failure. Aggravated by resource restrictions, U.S. air strikes, increasingly intense activity by anti-Japanese guerrillas and continued severe cold, the NCR reached the limits of its management capability and faced a transportation crisis.