Second Sino-Japanese War
- Period
- July 1937 – September 1945
- Sides
- Japan vs China
- Battles
- 40
The Second Sino-Japanese War was fought between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan and its puppet states between 1937 and 1945, following a period of conflict localized to Manchuria that started in 1931. It is often regarded as the beginning of World War II in Asia, as the wars became heavily intertwined after Japan attacked the United States. It was the largest Asian war in the 20th century.
Sources: Wikipedia — Second Sino-Japanese War · CC BY-SA 4.0
Battles 40
July 1937
Marco Polo Bridge incident
The Marco Polo Bridge incident, also known as the Lugou Bridge incident or the July 7 incident, was a three-day battle that began on 7 July 1937 in the district of Beijing between the 29th Army of the National Revolutionary Army of the Republic of China and the Imperial Japanese Army.
July 1937 – August 1937
Battle of Beiping–Tianjin
The Battle of Beiping–Tianjin, also known as the Battle of Beiping, Battle of Peiping, Battle of Beijing, Battle of Peiking, the Peiking–Tientsin Operation, and by the Japanese as the North China Incident was a series of battles of the Second Sino-Japanese War fought in the proximity of Beiping and Tianjin. It resulted in a Japanese victory.
August 1937 – November 1937
Battle of Shanghai
The Battle of Shanghai was a major battle fought between the Empire of Japan and the Republic of China in the Chinese city of Shanghai during the Second Sino-Japanese War. It lasted from August 13 to November 26, 1937, and was arguably the single largest and longest battle of the entire war, with it even regarded by some historians as the first battle of World War II. It resulted in the Japanese capture of Shanghai and heavy destruction to the city.
September 1937 – November 1937
Battle of Taiyuan
The Battle of Taiyuan was a major battle fought in 1937 between China and Japan named for Taiyuan, which lay in the 2nd Military Region. The battle concluded in a victory for Japan over the National Revolutionary Army (NRA), including part of Suiyuan, most of Shanxi and the NRA arsenal at Taiyuan, and effectively ended large-scale organized resistance in the North China area.
September 1937
Battle of Pingxingguan
The Battle of Pingxingguan was the initial significant confrontation in northwestern Shanxi after the commencement of the full-scale Second Sino-Japanese War at the Pingxing Pass. The conflict commenced in late September and endured for almost ten days. Initially, Chinese soldiers effectively ambushed and repelled Japanese troops in the Pingxingguan region. Subsequently, the Japanese force breached Ruyuekou and seized the county seat of Fanshi. This battle also saw cooperation between Nationalist and Communist troops. The Pingxingguan Ambush, commonly called the Great Victory of Pingxingguan, was a part of this battle fought on 25 September 1937, at the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War, between the Eighth Route Army of the Chinese Communist Party and the Imperial Japanese Army.
September 1937 – November 1937
Battle of Xinkou
The Battle of Xinkou was a decisive engagement of the Taiyuan Campaign, the second of the 22 major engagements between the National Revolutionary Army and Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War.
October 1937 – November 1937
Defense of Sihang Warehouse
The Defense of Sihang Warehouse took place from October 27 to October 31, 1937, and marked the beginning of the end of the three-month Battle of Shanghai in the opening phase of the Second Sino-Japanese War. Defenders of the warehouse held out against numerous waves of Japanese forces to cover Chinese forces retreating west during the Battle of Shanghai.
December 1937
Battle of Nanking
The Battle of Nanking was fought in early December 1937 during the Second Sino-Japanese War between the Chinese National Revolutionary Army and the Imperial Japanese Army for control of Nanjing, the capital of the Republic of China.
February 1938 – August 1943
Bombing of Chongqing
The bombing of Chongqing, from 18 February 1938 to 19 December 1944, was a series of massive terror bombing operations authorized by the Empire of Japan's Imperial General Headquarters and conducted by the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service (IJAAF) and Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service (IJNAF). Resistance was put up by the Chinese Air Force and the National Revolutionary Army's anti-aircraft artillery units in defense of the provisional wartime capital of Chongqing and other targets in Sichuan.
March 1938 – April 1938
Battle of Taierzhuang
The Battle of Taierzhuang took place during the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1938. It was fought between the armies of the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan at the peak of the Xuzhou Campaign. The battle was the war's first major Chinese victory. The battle was a setback for the Japanese military and its reputation as an invincible force. For Chinese forces, it was a tremendous morale boost.
March 1938 – May 1938
Battle of Xuzhou
The Battle of Xuzhou was a military campaign between the Empire of Japan and the Republic of China forces in early 1938 during the Second Sino-Japanese War. It lasted for more than three months, with both sides taking heavy casualties and claiming victories. It resulted in an eventual victory for the Japanese, but they failed to destroy the Chinese army, who managed to retreat and regroup to fight later at Wuhan.
May 1938
Amoy Operation
The Amoy Operation, also known as the Battle of Xiamen was part of a campaign by Japan during the Second Sino-Japanese War to blockade China to prevent it from communicating with the outside world and importing needed arms and materials. Control of Amoy Island would provide a base to make the blockade of Fujian province more effective.
June 1938 – October 1938
Battle of Wuhan
The Battle of Wuhan, popularly known to the Chinese as the Defense of Wuhan, and to the Japanese as the Capture of Wuhan, was the largest, longest, and bloodiest battle of the Second Sino-Japanese War.
October 1938
Battle of Wanjialing
The Battle of Wanjialing, known in Chinese text as the Victory of Wanjialing, refers to the National Revolutionary Army's successful engagement during the Wuhan theatre of the Second Sino-Japanese War against the Japanese 101st, 106th, 9th and 27th divisions around the Wanjialing region in 1938. The two and a half month battle resulted in heavy losses of the Japanese 101st and 106th Divisions.
October 1938 – December 1938
Canton Operation
The Canton Operation was part of a campaign by Japan during the Second Sino-Japanese War to blockade China to prevent it from communicating with the outside world and importing needed arms and materials. Control of Guangzhou (Canton) and the Pearl River Delta would provide a base to make the blockade of Guangdong province more effective by seizing southern China's major port and isolate the British port of British Hong Kong.
May 1939
Battle of Nanchang
The Battle of Nanchang was a military campaign fought in 1939 around Nanchang, Jiangxi between the Chinese National Revolutionary Army and the Japanese Imperial Japanese Army in the Second Sino-Japanese War. It was the first major conflict after the 1938 Battle of Wuhan.
May 1939
Battle of Suixian–Zaoyang
The Battle of Suixian–Zaoyang, also known as the Battle of Suizao, was one of the 22 major engagements between the National Revolutionary Army (NRA) and Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) during the Second Sino-Japanese War. The Japanese launched a major two-pronged offensive that captured many cities and towns. However, their failure to defend against a series of coordinated Chinese counter-attacks forced them to completely withdraw, resulting in territorial control returning to the original status quo.
September 1939 – October 1939
Battle of Changsha (1939)
The First Battle of Changsha was the first of four attempts by Japan to take the city of Changsha, Hunan, during the second Sino-Japanese War. Coming two weeks after Germany's invasion of Poland on September 1, it was the first major battle of the war to fall within the time frame of what is widely considered World War II.
November 1939 – November 1940
Battle of South Guangxi
The Battle of South Guangxi was one of the 22 major engagements between the National Revolutionary Army and Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War.
December 1939 – January 1940
Battle of Kunlun Pass
The Battle of Kunlun Pass was a series of conflicts between the Imperial Japanese Army and the Chinese forces surrounding Kunlun Pass, a key strategic position in Guangxi province. The Japanese forces planned to cut off Chinese supply lines linking to French Indochina, but the Chinese forces managed to fight off the attacks.
March 1940 – April 1940
Battle of Wuyuan
The Battle of Wuyuan was a Chinese counterattack defeating a Japanese offensive in the Wuyuan area as part of the 1939-40 Winter Offensive in Suiyuan during the Second Sino-Japanese War. The Japanese call it the "Second Battle of the Back Loop" (第2次後套作戦).
May 1940 – June 1940
Battle of Zaoyang–Yichang
The Battle of Zaoyang–Yichang, also known as the Battle of Zaoyi, was one of the 22 major engagements between the National Revolutionary Army and Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War.
August 1940 – December 1940
Hundred Regiments Offensive
The Hundred Regiments Offensive or the Hundred Regiments Campaign was a tactical campaign initiated by the Eighth Route Army, led by the Chinese Communist Party, against the Japanese invasion in North China from 20 August 1940, to 24 January 1941. The operation was named in recognition of the involvement of 105 regiments and represented the most extensive and protracted offensive by the Eighth Route Army in Japanese-occupied territory since the onset of the countrywide War of Resistance. The campaign aimed at undermining the Shijiazhuang–Taiyuan railway, a significant line under Japanese dominion, and spanned several crucial transportation corridors in North China, occurring in three distinct periods. The operation secured substantial strategic advantages, inflicted a severe setback on Japan's "prison cage policy." According to the CCP's official histories, it elevated national morale, and highlighted the crucial role of the Chinese Communist Party and its military as a cornerstone in the Second Sino-Japanese War.
January 1941 – March 1941
Battle of South Henan
The Battle of South Henan, was one of the 22 major engagements between the National Revolutionary Army (NRA) and Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War. This battle was the first time the NRA engaged the Japanese in southern Henan.
March 1941 – April 1941
Battle of Shanggao
The Battle of Shanggao, also called Operation Kinkō, was one of the 22 major engagements between the National Revolutionary Army and Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War.
May 1941
Battle of South Shanxi
The Battle of South Shanxi, also known as the Battle of Jinnan and Zhongtiao Mountains campaign by the Chinese and as the Chungyuan Operation by the Japanese, was one of the 22 major engagements between the National Revolutionary Army and the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945).
September 1941 – October 1941
Battle of Changsha (1941)
The (Second) Battle of Changsha was Japan's second attempt at taking the city of Changsha, China, the capital of Hunan Province, as part of the Second Sino-Japanese War.
January 1942
Battle of Changsha (1941–1942)
The Third Battle of Changsha was the first major offensive in China by Imperial Japanese forces following the Japanese attack on the Western Allies and the attack on Pearl Harbor, and Japan's third of four attempts to capture the Chinese city of Changsha. It was conducted with the purpose of severing Chinese lines of communication with British Hong Kong, and seizing control of Changsha's food production.
May 1942 – September 1942
Zhejiang-Jiangxi campaign
The Zhejiang-Jiangxi campaign or the Chekiang–Kiangsi campaign, also known as Operation Sei-go, was a campaign by the China Expeditionary Army of the Imperial Japanese Army under Shunroku Hata and Chinese 3rd War Area forces under Gu Zhutong in Chinese provinces of Zhejiang and Jiangxi from mid May to early September 1942.
June 1942
Battle of the Yunnan–Burma Road
Battle of Yunnan-Burma Road was the name of the Chinese intervention to aid their British allies in the 1942 Burma Campaign. Its forces were composed of the Fifth, Sixth and Sixty-sixth Army under the command of the Chinese Expeditionary Force in Burma, commanded by Lt. General Joseph Stilwell, Lt. General Luo Zhuoying was his executive officer.
May 1943 – June 1943
Battle of West Hubei
The Battle of West Hubei, was one of 22 major engagements between the National Revolutionary Army and the Imperial Japanese Armed Forces during the Second Sino-Japanese War. It was also one of four major battles that took place in Hubei.
October 1943 – March 1945
Battle of Northern Burma and Western Yunnan
Battle of Northern Burma and Western Yunnan was the name of the Chinese campaign with their allies in the 1943–45 Burma Campaign. The campaign ended in an Allied victory.
November 1943 – December 1943
Battle of Changde
The Battle of Changde was a major engagement in the Second Sino-Japanese War in and around the Chinese city of Changde (Changteh) in the province of Hunan.
April 1944 – May 1944
Operation Ichi-Go
Operation Ichi-Go was a campaign with several battles between the Imperial Japanese Army forces and the National Revolutionary Army of the Republic of China, fought from April to December 1944. It consisted of three battles in the Chinese provinces of Henan, Hunan and Guangxi.
May 1944 – August 1944
Battle of Changsha (1944)
The Battle of Changsha of 1944 was an invasion of the Chinese province of Hunan by Japanese troops near the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War. As such, it encompasses three separate conflicts: an invasion of the city of Changsha and two invasions of Hengyang.
June 1944 – September 1944
Battle of Mount Song
The Battle of Mount Song, also known as the Battle of Ramou (拉孟の戦い), in 1944 was part of a larger campaign in southwest China during the Second World War. Chinese Nationalist forces aimed to retake the Burma Road.
June 1944 – August 1944
Battle of Hengyang
The Battle of Hengyang 23 June – 8 August 1944 was fought between Chinese and Japanese forces in mainland China during World War II. Although the city fell, Japanese casualties far exceeded the total number of Chinese troops defending the city. It has been described as "the most savage battle ever fought in the smallest battlefield with the greatest casualties in the military history of the world". Japanese military historians equate it to the most arduous battle in the Russo-Japanese War, calling it a "Battle of Ryojun in South China". A major Chinese newspaper of the day compared it to the Battle of Stalingrad.
August 1944 – November 1944
Battle of Guilin–Liuzhou
The Battle of Guilin–Liuzhou, also known as the Battle of Guiliu, was one of the 22 major engagements between the National Revolutionary Army (NRA) and Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) during the Second Sino-Japanese War.
March 1945 – May 1945
Battle of West Henan–North Hubei
The Battle of West Henan–North Hubei was one of the 22 major engagements between the National Revolutionary Army and Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War. It was fought in March–May 1945 in northern Hubei and western Henan. While it was a tactical stalemate, the Japanese forces at Laohekou in Hubei seized control of the local airbase, denying Chinese forces any localized air support, after heavy fighting from 22 March to 8 April. Japan lost a failed counteroffensive in fighting against Chinese north of Xixia in Henan from 5 April to 10 May.
April 1945 – June 1945
Battle of West Hunan
The Battle of West Hunan, also known as the Battle of Xuefeng Mountains and the Zhijiang Campaign, was the Japanese invasion of west Hunan and the subsequent Allied counterattack that occurred between 6 April and 7 June 1945, during the last months of the Second Sino-Japanese War. Japanese strategic aims for this campaign were to seize Chinese airfields and secure railroads in West Hunan, and to achieve a decisive victory that their depleted land forces needed.
Earlier and later events nearby
- 1793Macartney Embassy meets the Qianlong Emperor
- 1919May Fourth Movement
- 1927–1949Chinese Civil War
- July 1937 – September 1945Second Sino-Japanese WarThis page
- 1949Proclamation of the People's Republic of China
- 1958–1962Great Leap Forward
- 1966–1976Cultural Revolution
Who ruled this land
States that held this place in the historical borders data (Cliopatria). Years are approximate, as fine as the data's snapshots (every few years to a century). Tap to open the map for that year.
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- 1600–1100 BCShang dynasty
- 1000–800 BCZhou dynasty
- 750–450 BCYan
- 400 BCZhao
- 350–300 BCZhongshan
- 250 BCWei
- 200 BC – AD 1Han dynasty
- AD 25Xin dynasty
- AD 50–200Han dynasty
- AD 225–250Cao Wei
- AD 275–325Jin dynasty
- AD 350Former Yan
- AD 375Former Qin
- AD 400Later Yan
- AD 425–525Northern Wei
- AD 550Eastern Wei
- AD 575Northern Qi
- AD 600Sui dynasty
- AD 625Yan (Gao Kaidao)
- AD 650–900Tang dynasty
- AD 925Jin
- AD 950–1120Liao dynasty
- 1140–1200Jin dynasty
- 1220–1280Mongol Empire
- 1300–1360Yuan dynasty
- 1380–1640Ming dynasty
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