Hello!
I'm looking to read up on the Sino-Japanese war particularly from a military policy perspective, if possible. A focus on how the nationalists and communists responded to the invasion and the policies, plans, procedures, training, etc. they instituted in order to counter it would be exactly what I'm looking for. If there's no work that covers both parties in one I would have a preference for the nationalist response. If the work also examined the Japanese perspective and their planning that certainly wouldn't be unwelcome either.
I'm not solely interested in the military side of things, so any work with significant political/social insights would again not be unwelcome, so long as it covers the evolving military response. I have a particular interest in the first year of the conflict and any defensive planning taken during that period, any Soviet-style industry transfers, as well as how lend-lease and other allied support impacted the war once Japan went to war with the Allies.
I know this is asking quite a lot for one book, so recommending multiple works is fine! Unfortunately my only fluent language is English, and I know that narrows it down, but thanks to all who might offer some suggestions!
Hans van de Ven's China at War is relatively recent and probably the best militaristically-inclined approach to the Second Sino-Japanese War, and also has a somewhat compressed but still decent denouement covering the Chinese Civil War and the Korean War. My only real quibble with it is with van de Ven's interpretation of the role of guerrilla warfare in Clausewitz and in turn its interpretation by Mao, insofar as I think Clausewitz's thinking was more similar to Mao's than he makes out, and that in turn Mao's approach to Clausewitz was thus not hugely innovative.