1931-1932年爆發的九一八與一二八事變，證明中國軍力遠遠落後日本的嚴重性。為謀抗日準備，中國國民政府一方面致力安定內部，另方面藉中德易貨貿易，以展開德國對華的軍援，範圍包括軍隊整訓、軍火銷售、改善國防工業及國防工事等。儘管在盧溝橋事變前國軍戰力仍遠不如日軍，卻已讓日本有識之士警覺到侵華政策的錯誤，其後更成為牽制日軍主力，以利盟軍反攻的重要力量，光從這點來看，德國對華軍援實不容忽視。

The outbreak of the Manchuria 918 Incident and the Shanghai 128 Incident, in 1931 and 1932 respectively, demonstrated that China's military power was significantly inferior to Japan’s. Among domestic stability operations, in order to ready its armed forces against Japan, the Chinese Nationalist government worked on acquiring arms and military assistance from Germany through China-Germany barter trade agreements. Such military procurement included forces reorganization and training programs, arms sales, defense industry improvement, and defense infrastructure fortifications. Prior to the Marco Polo Bridge Incident in 1937, it showed that China’s military strength still remained far behind Japanese, however, the aforementioned German military assistance to China offered Japanese scholars awareness that Japanese invasion might be a mistake. It further proved that Chinese armed forces were able to delay Japanese invasion and become a critical power for Ally’s counter operations.