The Demilitarized Zone Peace Preservation Corps was a

police force The police are a constituted body of people empowered by a state with the aim of enforcing the law and protecting the public order as well as the public itself. This commonly includes ensuring the safety, health, and possessions of citizen ...

created by the 1933

Tanggu Truce The Tanggu Truce, sometimes called the , was a ceasefire that was signed between military forces of the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan in Tanggu, Tianjin, on May 31, 1933. It ended the Japanese invasion of Manchuria, which had begun i ...

between China and Japan in the aftermath of the

Japanese invasion of Manchuria The Empire of Japan's Kwantung Army invaded the Manchuria region of the Republic of China on 18 September 1931, immediately following the Mukden incident, a false flag event staged by Japanese military personnel as a pretext to invade. At the ...

. Its role was to patrol and maintain order in the

demilitarized zone A demilitarized zone (DMZ or DZ) is an area in which treaties or agreements between states, military powers or contending groups forbid military installations, activities, or personnel. A DZ often lies along an established frontier or boundary ...

extending from south of the

Great Wall The Great Wall of China (, literally "ten thousand Li (unit), ''li'' long wall") is a series of fortifications in China. They were built across the historical northern borders of ancient Chinese states and Imperial China as protection agains ...

, to a line north east of the Bai River in

Hebei Hebei is a Provinces of China, province in North China. It is China's List of Chinese administrative divisions by population, sixth-most populous province, with a population of over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. It bor ...

province in

northern China Northern China () and Southern China () are two approximate regions that display certain differences in terms of their geography, demographics, economy, and culture. Extent The Qinling, Qinling–Daba Mountains serve as the transition zone ...

. At the end of 1935, with the proclamation of the Autonomous Government of Eastern Hebei, the Peace Preservation Corps was disbanded, and its forces were absorbed into the new East Hebei Army.

Background and history

Per the terms of the Tanggu Truce, the

Imperial Japanese Army The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA; , ''Dai-Nippon Teikoku Rikugun'', "Army of the Greater Japanese Empire") was the principal ground force of the Empire of Japan from 1871 to 1945. It played a central role in Japan’s rapid modernization during th ...

withdrew to the line of the

, and regular units of the

National Revolutionary Army The National Revolutionary Army (NRA; zh, labels=no, t=國民革命軍) served as the military arm of the Kuomintang, Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang, or KMT) from 1924 until 1947. From 1928, it functioned as the regular army, de facto ...

of the

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT) is a major political party in the Republic of China (Taiwan). It was the one party state, sole ruling party of the country Republic of China (1912-1949), during its rule from 1927 to 1949 in Mainland China until Retreat ...

government of the

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

was withdrawn to south of the new demilitarized zone. Within the zone itself, which partially encompassed the major cities of

Tianjin Tianjin is a direct-administered municipality in North China, northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the National Central City, nine national central cities, with a total population of 13,866,009 inhabitants at the time of the ...

and

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

public order Public order may refer to * Public security: the prevention of and protection from events that could endanger the safety and security of the public from significant danger or property damage * Public order policing: police maintenance of order ...

was to be maintained by a lightly armed “Peace Preservation Corps”. Per the terms of the Tanggu Truce, any disputes that could not be resolved by the Peace Preservation Corps would be settled by agreement through direct discussions between the Japanese and Chinese governments. A secret clause of the Tanggu Truce excluded any of the

Anti-Japanese Volunteer Armies After the Japanese invasion of Manchuria, and until 1933, large volunteer armies waged war against Japanese and Manchukuo forces over much of Northeast China. Due to Chiang Kai-shek's policy of non-resistance, the Japanese were soon able to ...

from the Peace Preservation Corps. This effectively meant that the Japanese Army was able to dominate the Peace Preservation Corp with demobilized troops from the collaborationist proxy Chinese armies which had participated in the

Battle of Rehe The Battle of Rehe (, sometimes called the Battle of Jehol) was the second part of Operation Nekka, a campaign by which the Empire of Japan successfully captured the Inner Mongolian province of Rehe from the Chinese warlord Zhang Xueliang and a ...

and the subsequent attack on the Great Wall and the intrusion into Hebei. Some 1,000 men were recruited into the Corps from the former troops of

warlord Warlords are individuals who exercise military, Economy, economic, and Politics, political control over a region, often one State collapse, without a strong central or national government, typically through informal control over Militia, local ...

Shi Yousan and a further 2,000 men from the forces of Li Jizhun.Jowett,Rays of the Rising Sun, pg. 39-40 At the end of 1935, with the proclamation of the Autonomous Government of Eastern Hebei, the Peace Preservation Corps was disbanded, and its forces were absorbed into the new East Hebei Army.

Notes

Sources

* Jowett, Phillip S., Rays of The Rising Sun, Armed Forces of Japan's Asian Allies 1931–45, Volume I: China & Manchuria, 2004. Helion & Co. Ltd., 26 Willow Rd., Solihull, West Midlands, England.
International Military Tribunal for the Far East, Chapter 5: Japanese Aggression Against China
*{{cite book , last = Fenby , first = Jonathan , year = 2003 , title = Chiang Kai-shek: China's Generalissimo and the Nation He Lost , publisher = Carroll & Graf Publishers , isbn = 0-7867-1318-6 , url-access = registration , url = https://archive.org/details/chiangkaishekchi00fenb Prelude to the Second Sino-Japanese War Peacekeeping operations Demilitarized zones Collaboration with Imperial Japan