Did the second united front between the Nationalists and the Communists solidly meld the two sides together, or was that merely an illusion?  We find out in this episode.  

 By 1939, the United States was loaning money to the Nationalist government.  There was no appetite by the western nations to pursue appeasement with Japan as they had toward Germany. In 1940, Japan became part of the Axis Powers.  China joined in with the western Allied Powers.  The Sino-Japanese War merged with the greater conflict of World War II.