Battle of Wuhan

Not to be confused with Battle of Wuchang or Wuchang Uprising.

Battle of Wuhan
Part of the Second Sino-Japanese War

Chinese machine gun position at Wanjialing
Date11 June – 27 October 1938 (4 months, 2 weeks, and 2 days)
Location
Wuhan and surrounding provinces (Anhui, Henan, Jiangxi, Hubei)
Result Japanese victory
Territorial
changes		 Capture of Wuhan by Japanese forces after Chinese withdrawal
Belligerents
Republic of China (1912–1949) China Empire of Japan Japan
Commanders and leaders
Strength
  • Initially:
    • 30 divisions (approx. 256,000)[1]
  • Later:
Casualties and losses
254,628[10] - 500,000 killed and wounded[11]
Japanese claim:
31,486–35,500 killed and wounded[12][13]
105,945+ cases of illness[14]
Chinese claim:
Contemporary: 256,000 killed and wounded[15]
Academic: 200,000+[16]
Zhang:
200,000+ [17] killed and wounded
100 aircraft[17]
Dozens of vehicles destroyed[17]
435+ naval vessels destroyed and damaged[8]
Battle of Wuhan
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese武漢會戰
Simplified Chinese武汉会战
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinWǔhàn Huìzhàn
Defense of Wuhan
Traditional Chinese武漢保衛戰
Simplified Chinese武汉保卫战
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinWǔhàn Baǒwèizhàn
Japanese name
Kanji武漢攻略戦
Transcriptions
RomanizationBukan koryakūsen

The Battle of Wuhan (traditional Chinese: 武漢會戰; simplified Chinese: 武汉会战; Japanese: 武漢作戦 (ぶかんさくせん)), popularly known to the Chinese as the Defence of Wuhan (traditional Chinese: 武漢保衛戰; simplified Chinese: 武汉保卫战), and to the Japanese as the Capture of Wuhan, was a large-scale battle of the Second Sino-Japanese War. Engagements took place across vast areas of Anhui, Henan, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, and Hubei provinces over a period of four and a half months. It was the single largest, longest, and bloodiest battle of the entire Second Sino-Japanese War.[18][19][20] More than one million National Revolutionary Army troops from the Fifth and Ninth War Zone were put under the direct command of Chiang Kai-shek, defending Wuhan from the Central China Area Army of the Imperial Japanese Army led by Shunroku Hata. Chinese forces were also supported by the Soviet Volunteer Group, a group of volunteer pilots from Soviet Air Forces.[21]

Although the battle ended with the eventual capture of Wuhan by the Japanese forces, it resulted in heavy casualties, with China suffering as many as one million casualties, military and civilian.[22] With Japan suffering its heaviest losses of the war, it decided to divert its attention to the north, which would prolong the war until the attack on Pearl Harbor.[23] The end of the battle signaled the beginning of a strategic stalemate in the war,[24] shifting from large pitched battles to localised struggles.[25]

  1. ^ a b 胡德坤. (2008). 武汉会战时期的日本对华政策研究. 武汉大学学报 (人文科学版)
  2. ^ Mackinnon, Tragedy of Wuhan, p. 932
  3. ^ a b "The Shattering of Japan's Imperial dream in China" Retrieved 26 June 2018
  4. ^ "Japan-China War", weblio.jp retrieved 29 June 2018
  5. ^ 16 divisions of 25,200 men each 张振国. (2005). 抗战时期武汉会战等战役纪实. 湖北文史, (1), 24-59.
  6. ^ JM-70 p. 31, Retrieved 26 July 2018
  7. ^ a b Paine 2017, p. 125–126.
  8. ^ a b 敖文蔚. (1999). 武汉抗战时期蒋介石的战略战术思想. 近代史研究, 6, 128–156. citing 《10月份长江敌舰受伤统计》，《经济动员》1938年第11期。
  9. ^ "CombinedFleet: the Yangtze". Retrieved 29 June 2018
  10. ^ 爱澜，《武汉会战》台北市：知兵堂出版，2012年10月，p328
  11. ^ Mackinnon p. 42
  12. ^ "How many people did the Japanese army lose at Wuhan?" (in Chinese) citing 《战史丛书·中国事变陆军作战史》 Retrieved 30 July 2018
  13. ^ 胡德坤. (2008). 武汉会战时期的日本对华政策研究. 武汉大学学报 (人文科学版), 61(2). citing 秦郁彦:《日中战争史》 , 东京:原书房 1979 年版， p. 295.
  14. ^ Japanese figures indicate the 11th Army alone suffered 104,559 cases of illness, plus 1,386 cases of infectious disease "How many people did the Japanese army lose at Wuhan?" (in Chinese) citing 《战史丛书·中国事变陆军作战史》 Retrieved 30 July 2018
  15. ^ "How many people did the Japanese army lose at Wuhan?" (in Chinese) Retrieved 30 July 2018
  16. ^ Long-hsuen, Hsu; Ming-kai, Chang (1971). History of the Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945). Chung Wu Publishing Co. p. 245.
  17. ^ a b c 张振国. (2005). 抗战时期武汉会战等战役纪实. 湖北文史
  18. ^ MacKinnon, Stephen (1996). "The Tragedy of Wuhan, 1938". Modern Asian Studies. 30 (4): 931–943. doi:10.1017/S0026749X0001684X. ISSN 0026-749X. JSTOR 312954.
  19. ^ Moore, Aaron William (2009). "Wuhan, 1938: War, Refugees, and the Making of Modern China. Stephen R. Mackinnon". The China Quarterly. 198: 489–490. doi:10.1017/S0305741009000617. ISSN 1468-2648.
  20. ^ Xiaode, Jiang (2015). Defense of Jianghan: 1938 A Complete Record of the Battle of Wuhan (in Chinese) (1st ed.). The Great Wall Press. ISBN 978-7548301035.
  21. ^ MacKinnon 2008, p. 102.
  22. ^ Dorn, Frank (1974). The Sino-Japanese War, 1937-41: From Marco Polo Bridge to Pearl Harbor. New York: Macmillan Publishing. p. 221. ISBN 0-02-532200-1.
  23. ^ MacKinnon 2008, p. 2.
  24. ^ Sunny Han Han (2017). Literature Journals in the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression in China (1931–1938). Springer. p. 187. ISBN 978-9811064487.
  25. ^ Parks M. Coble (2015). China's War Reporters. Harvard University Press. p. 52. ISBN 978-0674967670.