✦ History

Second Sino-Japanese War

July 7, 1937 – September 2, 1945

Result Chinese victory

War between the Republic of China and Japan, 1937 to 1945, sparked by the Marco Polo Bridge incident of 7 July 1937. The Japanese capture of Nanjing and a toll of around 20 million deaths, mostly Chinese civilians, made it the largest Asian war of the century. After 1941 it merged with World War II, ending with Japan's surrender on 2 September 1945.

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Battles and events 45

November 4, 1931 – 1941
Counterinsurgency in Manchuria Japanese-Manchukuo victory Manchukuo Kim Il-sung, Seishirō Itagaki, Yoshijirō Umezu
August 1937
Battle of Beiping–Tianjin Japanese victory Pei-p'ing
August 1937
Operation Chahar Japanese victory Chahar · Suiyuan Province Chiang Kai-shek, Seishirō Itagaki, Yen Hsi-shan
August 1937 – November 1937
Tianjin–Pukou Railway Operation Japanese victory Toshizō Nishio
August 13 – November 26, 1937
Battle of Shanghai Japanese victory Shanghai, China Chiang Kai-shek, Iwane Matsui, Chen Cheng
September 1 – November 9, 1937
Battle of Taiyuan Japanese victory Taiyuan Seishirō Itagaki, Zhu De, Yen Hsi-shan
September 13 – November 11, 1937
Battle of Xinkou Japanese victory Niangzi Pass Seishirō Itagaki, Zhu De, Yen Hsi-shan
September 24–25, 1937
Battle of Pingxingguan Japanese victory Pingxing Pass Seishirō Itagaki, Zhu De, Yen Hsi-shan
December 1–13, 1937
Battle of Nanking Japanese victory Nanjing Iwane Matsui, Asaka Yasuhiko, Tang Shengzhi
December 1, 1937 – May 19, 1938
Battle of Xuzhou Japanese victory Xuzhou Seishirō Itagaki, Li Zongren, Tang Enbo
December 12, 1937
USS Panay incident Japanese victory Yangtze River
December 13, 1937 – February 7, 1938
Nanjing Massacre Nanjing Iwane Matsui, Asaka Yasuhiko, Isamu Chō
February 18, 1938 – August 23, 1943
Bombing of Chongqing Chongqing
March 24 – April 7, 1938
Battle of Taierzhuang Chinese victory Tai'erzhuang District Seishirō Itagaki, Li Zongren, Tang Enbo
May 10–12, 1938
Amoy Operation Japanese victory Xiamen
June 1938
1938 Yellow River flood Central China
June 11 – October 27, 1938
Battle of Wuhan Japanese victory Battle of Wuhan Chiang Kai-shek, Chen Cheng, Li Zongren
October 1938 – December 1938
Canton Operation Japanese victory Guangdong
October 11, 1938
Battle of Wanjialing Chinese victory Xue Yue
February 1939
Hainan Island Operation Japanese victory Hainan Nobutake Kondō
May 9, 1939
Battle of Nanchang Japanese victory Nanchang Yasuji Okamura, Xue Yue
May 24, 1939
Battle of Suixian–Zaoyang Chinese victory Suizhou Li Zongren, Yasuji Okamura
September 17 – October 6, 1939
Battle of Changsha (1939) Chinese victory Changsha Chen Cheng, Yasuji Okamura, Xue Yue
November 1939 – March 1940
1939–1940 Winter Offensive Japanese victory China Li Zongren, Fu Zuoyi, Yasuji Okamura
November 15, 1939 – November 30, 1940
Battle of South Guangxi Japanese withdrawal from Nanning after the successful invasion of French Indochina Chang Fa-kwei, Bai Chongxi, Rikichi Andō
December 18, 1939 – January 11, 1940
Battle of Kunlun Pass Chinese victory Du Yuming, Bai Chongxi, Liao Yaoxiang
March 16 – April 3, 1940
Battle of Wuyuan Chinese victory Wuyuan County Fu Zuoyi
May 1 – June 24, 1940
Battle of Zaoyang–Yichang Japanese victory Li Zongren, Zhang Zizhong, Waichirō Sonobe
August 20 – December 5, 1940
Hundred Regiments Offensive Chinese victory North China Deng Xiaoping, Peng Dehuai, Zhu De
September 22–26, 1940
Japanese invasion of French Indochina Japanese victory French Indochina Jean Decoux, Takuma Nishimura
January 30 – March 1, 1941
Battle of South Henan Chinese victory Li Zongren, Waichirō Sonobe
March 14 – April 9, 1941
Battle of Shanggao Chinese victory Shanggao County
May 7–27, 1941
Battle of South Shanxi Japanese victory Wei Lihuang, Hayao Tada
September 6 – October 8, 1941
Battle of Changsha (1941) Changsha Xue Yue
1942
Proposed Japanese invasion of Sichuan Chinese victory Sichuan Hideki Tojo
January 15, 1942
Battle of Changsha (1941–1942) Chinese victory Changsha Xue Yue
March 1942 – June 1942
Battle of the Yunnan–Burma Road Axis victory Burma Road William Slim, 1st Viscount Slim, Joseph Stilwell, Claire Lee Chennault
May 15 – September 6, 1942
Zhejiang-Jiangxi campaign
May 12 – June 3, 1943
Battle of West Hubei Chinese victory Hubei Chen Cheng, Hu Lian
October 1943 – March 1945
Battle of Northern Burma and Western Yunnan Allied victory Yunnan Heitarō Kimura, Wei Lihuang, Masakazu Kawabe
November 2 – December 20, 1943
Battle of Changde Chinese victory Changde Xue Yue
April 17 – December 10, 1944
Operation Ichi-Go Japanese victory Operation Ichi-Go Chiang Kai-shek, Hirohito, He Yingqin
March 21 – May 11, 1945
Battle of West Henan–North Hubei Stalemate Hu Zongnan, Liu Zhi
April 1945 – August 4, 1945
Second Guangxi campaign Chinese victory Guangxi Tang Enbo, Chang Fa-kwei
April 6 – June 7, 1945
Battle of West Hunan Chinese victory Hunan He Yingqin, Tang Enbo, Yasuji Okamura

Key commanders

Allies 40

Mao Zedong Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party Chiang Kai-shek Generalissimo, Led the Nationalist government and armies He Yingqin Minister of War Zhou Enlai Peng Dehuai Deputy commander of the Eighth Route Army Zhu De Commander of the Eighth Route Army Chen Cheng General Li Zongren General, Won at Taierzhuang in 1938 Chen Yi belligerent leader Joseph Stilwell Chief of Staff to Chiang Kai-shek Bai Chongxi belligerent leader Tang Shengzhi belligerent leader Tang Enbo military commander Xue Yue military commander Hu Zongnan military commander Zhang Zizhong military commander Pang Bingxun military commander Chang Fa-kwei military commander Yen Hsi-shan military commander Fu Zuoyi military commander Wei Lihuang military commander Yang Aiyuan military commander Lin Biao military commander Gu Zhutong military commander Guan Linzheng military commander Deng Xiaoping military commander Liu Bocheng military commander He Long military commander Nie Rongzhen military commander Zuo Quan military commander Hu Lian military commander Zhang Lingfu military commander Liao Yaoxiang military commander Kim Il-sung military commander Ma Zhanshan military commander Feng Zhanhai military commander Du Yuming military commander William Slim, 1st Viscount Slim military commander Claire Lee Chennault military commander Liu Zhi military commander

Axis 34

Hirohito Emperor Doihara Kenji Akira Mutō Iwane Matsui military commander, Commanded at Shanghai and Nanjing Seishirō Itagaki Kingorō Hashimoto Yoshijirō Umezu military commander Wang Jingwei Head of the Reorganized National Government, Led the Japanese-backed collaborationist regime at Nanjing Hideki Tojo Fumimaro Konoe Prime Minister of Japan, Prime Minister when the war began in 1937 Yasuji Okamura Commander, China Expeditionary Army, Surrendered Japanese forces in China in 1945 Otozō Yamada belligerent leader Hisaichi Terauchi military commander Kan'in Kotohito military commander Hajime Sugiyama military commander Asaka Yasuhiko belligerent leader Heisuke Yanagawa military commander Shunroku Hata military commander Toshizō Nishio military commander Rensuke Isogai military commander Rikichi Andō military commander Seiichi Kuno military commander Waichirō Sonobe military commander Takuma Nishimura military commander Hayao Tada military commander Shizuichi Tanaka military commander Demchugdongrub military commander Shigeru Honjō military commander Jirō Minami military commander Nobuyoshi Mutō military commander Kenkichi Ueda military commander Heitarō Kimura military commander Masakazu Kawabe military commander Shōjirō Iida military commander

China 9

Chiang Kai-shek military commander Chen Cheng military commander Li Zongren military commander Xue Yue military commander Chang Fa-kwei military commander Bai Chongxi military commander Zhang Zizhong military commander Feng Yuxiang military commander Zhang Zhizhong military commander

Japan 13

Prince Naruhiko Higashikuni military commander Yasuji Okamura military commander Shunroku Hata military commander Kan'in Kotohito military commander Shizuichi Tanaka military commander Iwane Matsui military commander Heisuke Yanagawa military commander Kiyoshi Hasegawa military commander Waichirō Sonobe military commander Hayao Tada military commander Nobutake Kondō military commander Hideki Tojo military commander Toshizō Nishio military commander

Vichy France 1

Jean Decoux military commander

Japan and allies 3

Seishirō Itagaki military commander Hideki Tojo military commander Demchugdongrub military commander

Other 1

Isamu Chō perpetrator