- Navy:
- North China Special Gunboat Corps, 1938-40
- Name:
- 華北特別炮艇隊=Huabei Tebie Paotingdui
- Career:
After the occupation of large parts of China, the Japanese Army created puppet states with the help of local collaborators, to facilitate the occupation. In the area north of the Yangtze River, at the request of the Japanese Army of North China, the Provisional Government of China was established on 14 December, 1937, with its capital in Beijing (Peking).
In late 1938, the commander of the Qingdao (Tsingtao) naval base of the Japanese Navy created the North China Special Gunboat Corps to assist in coastal surveillance around the ports of Qingdao, Lienyungang and Shijiusuo. The force numbered 300 men, six small boats seized and armed by the Japanese and an old Chinese patrol boat (Haihe), refitted as a training ship. The unit, under control of the Japanese Navy, was commanded by a local chieftain, Liu Wenshan, who was given the rank of captain. In April 1940 it joined the new collaborationist Navy of the Wang Jingwei government.
