What the fuck was happening here?

Nothing terribly out of the ordinary for land under occupation honestly, compared to the north those parts of China got off easy.

>>3038260
Why wasnt it used for further expansion to China?

>>3038248
Chinks dying by the millions, but that's just Tuesday for the middle kingdom

>>3038248
Seizure of major cities without bothering to blob out over the country side.

>>3038266
That was the initial plan, but the Japanese troops got distracted elsewhere and found easier spots to push from. They did occupy those regions throughout the war, and they served as decent supply stops for operations in SEA in the meantime.

>>3038291
Did Chinese tried to attack it?

>>3038248
Naval landings to seize major ports, likely to support a further push to the south.

Chinese can no longer trade by sea without those ports, and it also shortens Japan's logistics chain. Instead of going by boat to Korea/Manchuria, and then on an ~1000 mile train trip to the front, supplies can just go by boat almost the entire trip, and the trip is shorter.

The Japanese focused their efforts in the North because of railroads, raw materials, and the threat of Russia. GuangZhou Xiamen and Fuzhou were just good ports to land in. Also most of the KMT was garbage and basically not a threat cuz of systemic corruption. The real enemy were the commys who held guerrilla warfare in the North since the commy's started their push from Manchuria. The subsequent frontlines would push westward from the North