Introducing the Chinese Infantry

When Japan invaded China in July of '37 the Chinese military was not ready for it. The Chinese army of the Second World War was primarily an infantry force without motorized and armored units. In the years leading up to the war China benefited from military advice from Germany.  This program had produced 8 divisions fully trained and equipped with German and European weapons, and another 12 divisions trained, but armed with inferior Chinese weapons. This was in addition to the regular Chinese divisions. These other divisions were a combination of the Nationalist Army and the Communist army which had agreed to a truce in 1937 to face the common enemy. The German-trained units, a precious resource, were quickly used up during the first year of the war, particularly during the defense of Shanghai in which 250,000 troops were killed. Another large battle during this early phase of the war was the one for Wuhan, which involved 1.1 million Chinese soldiers and cost them another 225,000 killed. Throughout the war there were 22 major battles involving more than 100,000 men on each side. And then there were also a large number of civilian deaths, as was the case during the aftermath of the fall of Nanking in which 300,000 civilians were killed. After '38 Germany withdrew its support in order to form its alliance with Japan. Shortly before that, the Soviet Union began to support China, and did so up to '41 when they signed a non-aggression pact with Japan. From mid '41 onwards the US and then the other allied nations began supporting China. When the Burma road was closed by the Japanese in '42 and with the naval ports occupied by Japan, the supplies getting into China were not adequate to mount major offensives. The Chinese also found it convenient to adopt a defensive posture and wait for the allied nations to defeat Japan in the Pacific campaign. And they were also busy fighting each other again, after the truce between the Nationalists and the Communists collapsed in early '41. However the Japanese had also been bleeding profusely -about 450,000- over the course of the war, which prevented them from launching major offensives to bring an end to the war in China. The conflict in China cost the Chinese military about 1.5 million deaths in battle, the same from disease and another 750,000 missing soldiers. A great majority of them came from the Nationalist side, which left them in a weak position when the struggle against the Communists resumed in earnest. Lastly an additional 900,000 men served in a collaborationist army under the Japanese, but they were rarely used in battle as their performance was poor, and mainly served to control the local population. As far as Chinese plastic troops, we do not really have many available options, but luckily there are a couple... I think.

Charben Chinese Infantry

I couple of months ago I purchased these guys advertised as Chinese Infantry. Shortly after I bought them I saw them on the book 'Collecting Foreign Made Toy Soldiers' by O'Brien labeled as Japanese Infantry. I have not been able to establish what they really are, but since I already have many more Japanese figures I've chosen to accept them for now as Chinese Infantry. The figures are not the greatest but for a set made in the 60's/70s they are acceptable. The most interesting figure is probably the flamethrower guy, however painting a good looking flame is always tricky, so I am a bit concerned about how he might look when I get to paint him.  

Cherilea Chinese Infantry

These Cherilea figures are 60mm tall, most likely recent recasts of the originals. I've seen them advertised as WWII as well as Korean War soldiers. Even if they were the latter, they are close enough in time that it does not make much of a difference. I like the fact that they'll provide a mortar, a bazooka, a couple of MGs, and a flamethrower to the otherwise lightly armed Charben guys. The flamethrower guy is interesting because his fuel tank is round, like a slice of a cylinder. The detail is not the best, but considering that there are not many sets to pick from what are we going to do about it?

Cherilea Chinese Infantry - Vintage

Here are some original Chinese Infantry figures. It gives you an idea regarding the original paint color scheme and the plastic that they were cast on. They definitely look nicer than the more recent recasts without any color on them. A good incentive to paint those recasts at some point. Plus I can then paint them in their actual uniform colors. 

21st Century Toys Chinese Infantry

Now, these are some nice figures. Among the best that 21C Toys produced. They are nationalist soldiers wearing British helmets with a light blue uniform. I guess this means the other Chinese troops will be painted to match these guys. Again, great job by 21C Toys. The sculpting, level of detail, paint work is all there. No wonder that they have become quite a bit pricy since they went out of business.

OWN Chinese Infantry - Part I

These figures are actually fairly nice. They represent the early divisions which were equipped with German equipment and were overall better trained and more effective. The sculpting is fairly good both in terms of the poses and the level of detail. There are only two things that I did not like that much. First was the price. At $2.25 a piece they are above the average for new production plastic figures. The second was that they come in multiple sections and you have to spend a good amount of time putting them together and finding the right glue for the job. 

OWN Chinese Infantry - Part II

The advantage however of how they were manufactured is that you can avoid the solid blocks of plastic that other figures would otherwise have in between their arms when holding a weapon across the chest. So I suppose that also justifies a bit the higher price. They actually come in two sets. The firs set contains the 8 poses above, and you get 16 figures. 

OWN Chinese Infantry - Part III

This are the poses in the second set. You also get 16 figures, which means that you end up with 4 poses of each, whether you need that many or not. So setting aside the packaging, I still think that the OWN figures do add a badly needed variety to the Chinese Infantry units. And BTW, looking at their uniforms, made me realize that I can use some AIP WWI Germans to reinforce them as the helmet shape and the use of puttees give them a strong resemblance. In terms of having a uniform Chinese Army, the only problem is that these troops with the German helmet wore a khaki uniform, so they would not match the 21C guys. 

OWN Chinese Infantry - Part IV

Another thing which was a bit of a pain was how much flashing and extra bits of plastic came attached to the figures. Even before you got to the part about gluing them together you had to spend a good chunk of time just trimming off all these extra bits of plastic left over from the injection process.

OWN Chinese Infantry - Part V

Here are a couple more shots of how they come preassembly. 

OWN Chinese Infantry - Part VI 

 OWN Chinese Infantry - Part VII

Here is add-on set. It contains three nice artillery crewmen plus four of the infantry poses already released in the previous set - actually it contains 6/8 of each for a total of 14 figures in the set. In reality, I would have preferred to be able to buy just the artillery guys. Again, the figures require assembly, but with the right glue, that's not much problem and the result is well worth the effort. Here I have displayed them with a German PAK 36, which the early Chinese army might have had, given the close relationship that they had with Germany at the onset of WW2.

DGN Chinese Infantry

This was a huge disappointment. I really felt cheated when I received these figures. All they are is a neon green version of the DGN Soviet figures. What made them believe that they would pass as Chinese? Not worth of reviewing at any closer level of detail. 

Classic Toy Soldiers Korean War Chinese - Part I

I got these guys thinking that I will use them as WWII Soviet Winter troops. The level of detail is so good that their faces actually betray them as Chinese. I might still be able to use them as Soviets, if we assume that they came from the Central Asian Soviet Republics. The uniforms and weapons all would pass as Soviet gear. In terms of the sculpting and poses, I am quite happy with this set. All poses are combat poses, which is the way I like them. 

Classic Toy Soldiers Korean War Chinese - Part II

The man on the right is actually my favorite pose. You don't often see figures reloading their weapons, and he is doing it on the run. Another interesting detail of these figures is that the base is covered in snow and you actually see the footprints of the men on it. A nice touch of realism, which actually highlights the fact that I should have taken these pictures with a different background :-)

 The only thing that some might criticize is that the sets come with 16 figures, but you don't get two of each pose. Three of them come in 3s and 3 of them as singles. Having 2 of each is useful if you plan on painting one set of poses and leaving the other 8 unpainted. On the other hand, if you want to use all 16 together, then, having one officer makes more sense than having two. All in all a nice and unique set from CTS, so I might not even mind buying a second one, perhaps to use as true Chinese.

Atlantic Mao Chinese Revolution - Part I

This is another of those hard to find sets. And as you can see, I did not manage to get the complete set. Luckily, I did get the main figure, Mao, who stands in the middle of the picture. The rest of the set are a mix of fighters and common folk. The man on the right is missing his boat. 

Atlantic Mao Chinese Revolution - Part II

These are two of the fighting poses. There's also a man with a sub mg, another one aiming/firing his rifle, and another standing guard with the rifle at his shoulder.

Atlantic Mao Chinese Revolution - Part III

This is supposed to have a man pulling the rickshaw. And I suppose the woman riding is meant to represent the upper class oppressing the working class. There are a total of 11 poses. The other guy who is missing is some type of civilian or political officer. 

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Click here to see a description of the Japanese figures.