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Battle of Zaoyang–Yichang
Part of Second Sino-Japanese War
Japanese troops in the battle of Zaoyang-Yichang
Date (1940-05-01) (1940-06-18)May 1 – June 18, 1940 (1 month, 2 weeks and 3 days) Location Vicinities of Zaoyang and Yichang, Hubei32°07′31″N 112°45′04″E / 32.1252°N 112.7510°E / 32.1252; 112.7510 Result Japanese victory
Belligerents
Republic of China	Empire of Japan
Commanders and leaders
Li Zongren Zhang Zizhong †	Waichiro Sonobe
Strength
18,970 officers and 381,258 soldiers	IJA 11th Army 200+ tanks 100+ aircraft 1st China Expeditionary Fleet
Casualties and losses
Japanese records: 63,127 killed 4,797 captured 81 artillery pieces captured 727 automatic weapons captured 12,557 rifles captured Chinese records: 768 officers and 36,215 soldiers killed 2,066 officers and 48,443 soldiers wounded 645 officers and 22,473 soldiers missing	Chinese claim: 25,941 killed and 53 captured Japanese record: 1,403 killed and 4,639 wounded According to the medical department of the China Expeditionary Army, the army in April, May, and June of 1940 suffered 6,611 killed and 45,011 wounded. Excluding the 2,527 killed and 6,031 wounded suffered by the North China Front Army in these three months, most of the remaining losses should be in the battle of Zaoyang-Yichang against the Fifth War Zone, the Summer Offensive launched by the Ninth War Zone to support the Fifth War Zone, and the Liangkou Operation / Second Battle of Northern Guangdong launched by the Japanese army against the Seventh War Zone to support the operation
The losses of the 41st army in the statistical table compiled by the Fifth War Zone are much less than in the statistical table compiled by the 22nd group army

The Battle of Zaoyang–Yichang, also known as the Battle of Zaoyi (Chinese: 棗宜會戰), was one of the 22 major engagements between the National Revolutionary Army and Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

Background

The Japanese were seeking a quicker solution to achieve a Chinese surrender. The Japanese contemplated moving directly down the Yangtze to the relocated Chinese capital, Chongqing. To do so, they would need to capture a critical town in western Hubei province, Yichang.

The Japanese attack did not commit many troops or material, which enabled the main Chinese commander, Li Zongren, who had frustrated the Japanese before, to repel the Japanese.

Battle

On 1 May 1940, three divisions of the IJA 11th Army under command of General Waichiro Sonobe began a drive towards Zaoyang. They pushed towards the 5th warzone's strongholds in the Tongbaishan and Dahongshan mountains, attempting to encircle and destroy the Chinese 31st Army Group under General Tang Enbo in a pincer movement. The Chinese strategy aimed to let the Japanese forces run low on supplies, and then counterattack, as had been successfully employed at the Battle of Changsha. When the Japanese managed to outmaneuver Tang's forces, General Zhang Zizhong marched to his aid with the Chinese 33rd Army Group. The Japanese forces rallied and pushed back the Chinese, and General Zhang Zizhong was cut down in a burst of machine gun fire when he refused to retreat from the front lines. He was the most senior Chinese commander to be killed in combat during the war.

The Japanese used chemical weapons against Chinese forces who lacked chemical weapons in order to compensate for when they were numerically inferior, whenever Chinese were defeating the Japanese in hand to hand combat. The Japanese did not dare to use gas against the Americans because the Americans had their own chemical weapons stockpile and the Japanese feared retaliation.

The Japanese launched gas attacks against Chinese when the Chinese were defeating and overwhelming the Japanese in hand to hand combat, like at the battle of Yichang in 1941, where Japanese ground forces in the city were routed by Chinese soldiers but the Japanese deployed mustard gas to win the battle.

Aftermath

According to Japanese records, the Japanese casualties were 2,700 troops killed and 7,800 wounded. Chinese records show that 11,000 Japanese troops were killed. While the Chinese 5th War Area arguably made tactically sound decisions in its battle plans, it was ultimately overwhelmed by the sheer firepower of the Japanese combined arms offensive, relying primarily on small arms to face the onslaught of Japanese air, naval, artillery, and armoured striking power. As the Chinese commanders had surmised, the Japanese forces were overextended, and were not in a position to pursue their victory. However, the Imperial Japanese Navy pushed strongly for the occupation of Yichang, located at the edge of Sichuan Province and connecting the 5th and 9th war zones. The Navy felt that it was critically needed as a forward base for air attacks against Chongqing. After considerable argument, the Japanese Army agreed to occupy Yichang. This dealt a considerable blow to the morale and fighting capacity of the Chinese as no large-scale offensive was mounted after this operation.

See also

• Order of Battle: Battle of Zaoyang-Yichang

References

1. ^ "棗宜會戰". aa.archives.gov.tw. Retrieved 7 January 2025.
2. ^ Nitchū Sensō no gunjiteki tenkai. 慶應義塾大学出版会. 2006. p. 166.
3. ^ "第五戰區作戰經過概要". aa.archives.gov.tw. Retrieved 7 January 2025.
4. "抗战中，哪一年牺牲的中国军人最多？". 2020. Retrieved 7 January 2025.
5. ^ Frank, Richard (2020). Tower of Skulls: A History of the Asia-Pacific War, Volume I: July 1937 – May 1942. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-1324002109.
6. Grunden, W.E. (2017). "No Retaliation in Kind: Japanese Chemical Warfare Policy in World War II". In Friedrich, B.; Hoffmann, D.; Renn, J.; Schmaltz, F.; Wolf, M. (eds.). One Hundred Years of Chemical Warfare: Research, Deployment, Consequences. Springer. pp. 259–271. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-51664-6_14. ISBN 978-3-319-51664-6. S2CID 158528688.
7. "(PDF) No Retaliation in Kind: Japanese Chemical Warfare Policy in World War II". Retrieved 21 January 2024.
8. Hammond, James W. (1999). Poison Gas: The Myths Versus Reality. Praeger Security International (illustrated ed.). Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 50. ISBN 0313310386. ISSN 0883-6884. that raid was the Japanese decision to extend her defense perimeter to include the Solomon Islands . ... In three days of hand - to - hand fighting from blockhouse to blockhouse , Tarawa was " USMC entirely " ( a paraphrase of the ...
9. United States. War Department. Military Intelligence Division (1944). Enemy Tactics in Chemical Warfare. War Department. p. 81-83. The order set up within an infantry regiment a temporary gas unit , consisting of eight squads , whose duty was to carry ... or on occasion thrown by hand , the Japanese also have toxic smoke ( vomiting gas ) candles which are self ...
10. Military Intelligence Division (1944). Index to Intelligence Publications. War Department. p. 81-83. The gas squads were to be attached to forward companies or place under their direct command , and the importance of ... and tear gas candles , designed to be placed on the ground and burned , or on occasion thrown by hand , the Japanese ...
11. United States. War Department. General Staff (1944). Special Series, Issue 24. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 81-83. The order set up within an infantry regiment a temporary gas unit , consisting of eight squads , whose duty was to carry ... or on occasion thrown by hand , the Japanese also have toxic smoke ( vomiting gas ) candles which are self ...
12. Hooper, Franklin Henry, ed. (1942). Britannica Book of the Year. ContributorWalter Yust. Encyclopaedia Britannica, Incorporated. p. 172. After a fierce four – day hand – to – hand combat the Chinese recaptured Ichang . When the Japanese used gas to attack Ichang , according to Chungking , the Chinese forces withdrew on Oct. 13. The Chinese and Japanese military situation ...
13. Walter Yust, ed. (1943). Britannica Book of the Year Omnibus [1942]. Encyclopædia Britannica. p. 353. OCLC 9824466. After a fierce four – day hand – to – hand combat the and naval fire occupied six different points stretched over a dis- Chinese recaptured Ichang . When the Japanese used gas to tance of 250 mi . along the Kwangtung coast , and at the ...
14. Central China area operation record 1937–1945 (PDF) (Report). Japanese Monograph. Vol. 179. Tokyo, Japan: Headquarters, USAFFE and eighth U.S. Army, Office of the chief of military history department of the army. 21 December 1955. pp. 215–218. Retrieved 8 February 2018.

Sources

• Hsu Long-hsuen and Chang Ming-kai, History of The Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) 2nd Ed., 1971. Translated by Wen Ha-hsiung, Chung Wu Publishing; 33, 140th Lane, Tung-hwa Street, Taipei, Taiwan Republic of China. Page 334-339, Map 20, 21
• van de Ven, Hans. War and Nationalism in China: 1925–1945,

External links

• "Occupation of Shashi", Nippon News, No. 3. in the official website of NHK.
• "Occupation of Yichang", Nippon News, No. 4. in the official website of NHK.

• Conflicts in 1940
• Battles of the Second Sino-Japanese War
• 1940 in China
• 1940 in Japan
• Conflicts in Hubei
• May 1940 events
• June 1940 events