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.
Axis
Allies
Other
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
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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
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
Strength and losses
- Strength
- 4,100,000
Japan Killed c. 250,000
- Strength
- 16,000,000
- Killed
- c. 1,000,000
- Civilian deaths
- 12,000,000
Units
China Expeditionary Army
North China Area Army
Japanese 23rd Army
First Army (Japan)
12th Division (Japan)
Imperial Japanese Army
Central China Area Army
Sixth Army (Japan)
109th Division (Imperial Japanese Army)
13th Division (Imperial Japanese Army)
14th Division (Imperial Japanese Army)
15th Division (Imperial Japanese Army)
16th Division (Imperial Japanese Army)
17th Division (Imperial Japanese Army)
18th Division (Imperial Japanese Army)
Also under Japanese 25th Army
1st Tank Division (Imperial Japanese Army)
20th Division (Imperial Japanese Army)
21st Division (Imperial Japanese Army)
22nd Division (Imperial Japanese Army)
24th Division (Imperial Japanese Army)
25th Division (Imperial Japanese Army)
32nd Division (Imperial Japanese Army)
34th Division (Imperial Japanese Army)
35th Division (Imperial Japanese Army)
36th Division (Imperial Japanese Army)
6th Division (Imperial Japanese Army)
71st Division (Imperial Japanese Army)
8th Division (Imperial Japanese Army)
Independent Mixed Brigades
Inner Mongolian Army
Kwantung Army
Manchukuo Imperial Army
Second Army (Japan)
Special Naval Landing Forces
101st Division (Imperial Japanese Army)
108th Division (Imperial Japanese Army)
10th Division (Japan)
11th Division (Japan)
2nd Tank Division (Imperial Japanese Army)
33rd Division (Imperial Japanese Army)
37th Division (Imperial Japanese Army)
3rd Tank Division (Imperial Japanese Army)
40th Division (Imperial Japanese Army)
41st Division (Imperial Japanese Army)
51st Division (Imperial Japanese Army)
59th Division (Imperial Japanese Army)
60th Division (Imperial Japanese Army)
61st Division (Imperial Japanese Army)
65th Division (Imperial Japanese Army)
7th Division (Japan)
9th Division (Japan)
Mixed Brigades (Imperial Japanese Army)
102nd Infantry Regiment (Imperial Japanese Army)
Imperial Japanese Navy
Kanoya Air Group
Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service
Genzan Air Group
5th Fleet (Imperial Japanese Navy)
Combined Fleet
Imperial Japanese Army Air Service
Battles and events 45
Key events
-
Battle of Shanghai August 13 – November 26, 1937 · Japanese victory
- Defense of Sihang Warehouse October 26 – November 1, 1937 · Withdrawal of Chinese forces to the Shanghai International Settlement on 31 October 1937
- Battle of Taiyuan September 1 – November 9, 1937 · Japanese victory
- Battle of Pingxingguan September 24–25, 1937 · Japanese victory
-
Battle of Nanking December 1–13, 1937 · Japanese victory
- Battle of Xuzhou December 1, 1937 – May 19, 1938 · Japanese victory
- Nanjing Massacre December 13, 1937 – February 7, 1938
- Battle of Taierzhuang March 24 – April 7, 1938 · Chinese victory
- Battle of Wuhan June 11 – October 27, 1938 · Japanese victory
- Battle of Changsha (1939) September 17 – October 6, 1939 · Chinese victory
- Hundred Regiments Offensive August 20 – December 5, 1940 · Chinese victory
- Japanese invasion of French Indochina September 22–26, 1940 · Japanese victory
-
Operation Ichi-Go April 17 – December 10, 1944 · Japanese victory
- Battle of Guilin–Liuzhou August 16 – November 24, 1944 · Japanese victory
1931
- Counterinsurgency in Manchuria November 4, 1931 – 1941 · Japanese-Manchukuo victory
1937
- Battle of Beiping–Tianjin August 1937 · Japanese victory
- Operation Chahar August 1937 · Japanese victory
- Tianjin–Pukou Railway Operation August 1937 – November 1937 · Japanese victory
-
Battle of Shanghai August 13 – November 26, 1937 · Japanese victory
- Defense of Sihang Warehouse October 26 – November 1, 1937 · Withdrawal of Chinese forces to the Shanghai International Settlement on 31 October 1937
- Battle of Taiyuan September 1 – November 9, 1937 · Japanese victory
- Battle of Xinkou September 13 – November 11, 1937 · Japanese victory
- Battle of Pingxingguan September 24–25, 1937 · Japanese victory
-
Battle of Nanking December 1–13, 1937 · Japanese victory
- Battle of Xuzhou December 1, 1937 – May 19, 1938 · Japanese victory
- USS Panay incident December 12, 1937 · Japanese victory
- Nanjing Massacre December 13, 1937 – February 7, 1938
1938
- Bombing of Chongqing February 18, 1938 – August 23, 1943
- Battle of Taierzhuang March 24 – April 7, 1938 · Chinese victory
- Amoy Operation May 10–12, 1938 · Japanese victory
- 1938 Yellow River flood June 1938
- Battle of Wuhan June 11 – October 27, 1938 · Japanese victory
- Canton Operation October 1938 – December 1938 · Japanese victory
- Battle of Wanjialing October 11, 1938 · Chinese victory
1939
- Hainan Island Operation February 1939 · Japanese victory
- Battle of Nanchang May 9, 1939 · Japanese victory
- Battle of Suixian–Zaoyang May 24, 1939 · Chinese victory
- Battle of Changsha (1939) September 17 – October 6, 1939 · Chinese victory
- 1939–1940 Winter Offensive November 1939 – March 1940 · Japanese victory
- Battle of South Guangxi November 15, 1939 – November 30, 1940 · Japanese withdrawal from Nanning after the successful invasion of French Indochina
- Battle of Kunlun Pass December 18, 1939 – January 11, 1940 · Chinese victory
1940
- Battle of Wuyuan March 16 – April 3, 1940 · Chinese victory
- Battle of Zaoyang–Yichang May 1 – June 24, 1940 · Japanese victory
- Hundred Regiments Offensive August 20 – December 5, 1940 · Chinese victory
- Japanese invasion of French Indochina September 22–26, 1940 · Japanese victory
1941
- Battle of South Henan January 30 – March 1, 1941 · Chinese victory
- Battle of Shanggao March 14 – April 9, 1941 · Chinese victory
- Battle of South Shanxi May 7–27, 1941 · Japanese victory
- Battle of Changsha (1941) September 6 – October 8, 1941
1942
- Proposed Japanese invasion of Sichuan 1942 · Chinese victory
- Battle of Changsha (1941–1942) January 15, 1942 · Chinese victory
-
Battle of the Yunnan–Burma Road March 1942 – June 1942 · Axis victory
- Battle of Toungoo March 30, 1942 · Japanese victory
- Battle of Yenangyaung April 19, 1942 · Japanese victory
- Zhejiang-Jiangxi campaign May 15 – September 6, 1942
1943
- Battle of West Hubei May 12 – June 3, 1943 · Chinese victory
-
Battle of Northern Burma and Western Yunnan October 1943 – March 1945 · Allied victory
- Battle of Mount Song June 4 – September 7, 1944 · Allied victory
- Battle of Changde November 2 – December 20, 1943 · Chinese victory
1944
-
Operation Ichi-Go April 17 – December 10, 1944 · Japanese victory
- Battle of Guilin–Liuzhou August 16 – November 24, 1944 · Japanese victory
1945
- Battle of West Henan–North Hubei March 21 – May 11, 1945 · Stalemate
- Second Guangxi campaign April 1945 – August 4, 1945 · Chinese victory
- Battle of West Hunan April 6 – June 7, 1945 · Chinese victory
Before and after
- Followed from
- Japanese invasion of Manchuria September 18, 1931 – February 27, 1932
Defense of Harbin February 4, 1932
Suiyuan campaign November 1936
Marco Polo Bridge Incident July 7–9, 1937
Related events
1895
1899
1903
1907
1911
1915
1919
1923
1927
1931
1935
1939
1943
1947
Second Sino-Japanese War
Also involved 62
- Deng Xiaoping
- Kim Il-sung
- Heitarō Kimura
- Yen Hsi-shan
- Park Chung-hee
- Lord Mountbatten
- Lin Biao
- Liu Bocheng
- Du Yuming
- Kantarō Suzuki
- Prince Naruhiko Higashikuni
- Kakuei Tanaka
- Xue Yue
- Claire Lee Chennault
- He Long
- Ye Jianying
- Xu Shiyou
- Isamu Chō
- Masakazu Kawabe
- Renya Mutaguchi
- Nobutake Kondō
- Heisuke Yanagawa
- Choe Yong-gon
- Tomoyuki Yamashita
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- Masaharu Homma
- Takaji Wachi
- Kōtoku Satō
- Sōsaku Suzuki
- Song Shilun
- Masami Kobayashi
- Toshizō Nishio
- Rikichi Andō
- Seiichi Kuno
- Yasuhito, Prince Chichibu
- Nobuhito, Prince Takamatsu
- Takahito, Prince Mikasa
- Prince Tsuneyoshi Takeda
- Prince Nagahisa Kitashirakawa
- Morihiro Higashikuni
- Deng Hua
- Ma Zhanshan
- Feng Zhanhai
- Luo Ronghuan
- Tomitarō Horii
- Mitsuru Ushijima
- Han Xianchu
- Kanji Ishiwara
- Jirō Minami
- Hayao Tada
- Zheng Dongguo
- Vasily Chuikov
- Kiyonao Ichiki
- Zhang Haipeng
- Roman Ivanovich Panin
- Xi Zhongxun
- Alexander Ivanovich Cherepanov
- Hatazō Adachi
- Kang Kon
- Shōjirō Iida
- Demchugdongrub
- Zhang Aiping
- Shizuichi Tanaka