WikipediaExtracts:Second Sino-Japanese War

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KMT</u>:'''\n| {{flagdeco|Republic of China (1912–1949)}} Chiang Kai-shek\n| {{flagdeco|Republic of China (1912–1949)|army}} He Yingqin\n| {{flagdeco|Republic of China (1912–1949)|army}} Chen Cheng\n|{{flagdeco|Republic of China (1912–1949)|army}} Bai Chongxi\n| {{flagdeco|Republic of China (1912–1949)|army}} Cheng Qian\n| {{flagdeco|Republic of China (1912–1949)|army}} Xu Yongchang\n| '''<u>CPC</u>:'''\n| {{flagicon image|Flag of the Chinese Communist Party (Pre-1996).svg}} Mao Zedong\n| {{flagicon image|Flag of the Chinese Communist Party (Pre-1996).svg}} Zhu De\n| {{flagicon image|Flag of the Chinese Communist Party (Pre-1996).svg}} Ye Ting\n| {{flagicon image|Flag of the Chinese Communist Party (Pre-1996).svg}} Chen Yi\n| '''<u>S.E.A.C.</u>:'''\n| {{flagicon|United Kingdom}} Lord Mountbatten\n| {{Flagicon|United States|1912}} Joseph Stilwell\n| {{flagdeco|Republic of China (1912–1949)|army}} Sun Li-jen\n| {{flagdeco|Republic of China (1912–1949)|army}} Liao Yaoxiang\n}}"},"commander2":{"wt":"{{ubl\n| '''<u>Imperial General HQ</u>:'''\n| {{flagdeco|Empire of Japan}} Hirohito\n| {{flagdeco|Empire of Japan|army}} Kan'in Kotohito\n| {{flagdeco|Empire of Japan|army}} Hajime Sugiyama\n| {{flagdeco|Empire of Japan|army}} Hideki Tojo\n| {{flagdeco|Empire of Japan|army}} Yoshijirō Umezu\n| '''<u>North China Area Army</u>'''{{efn|One of two army formations that ultimately merged to form the China Expeditionary Army}}:\n| {{flagdeco|Empire of Japan|army}} Hisaichi Terauchi\n| {{flagdeco|Empire of Japan|army}} Hayao Tada\n| {{nowrap|'''<u>Central China Area Army</u>'''{{efn|One of two army formations that ultimately merged to form the China Expeditionary Army}}}}:\n| {{flagdeco|Empire of Japan|army}} Iwane Matsui\n| {{flagdeco|Empire of Japan|army}} Otozō Yamada\n| {{nowrap|'''<u>China Expeditionary Army</u>'''}}:\n| {{flagdeco|Empire of Japan|army}} Shunroku Hata\n| {{flagdeco|Empire of Japan|army}} Toshizō Nishio\n| {{flagdeco|Empire of Japan|army}} Yasuji Okamura\n}}"},"units3":{"wt":"''See combatants''"},"strength1":{"wt":"16 million+ total<ref name=\"何應欽\">{{cite book |date=2015 |last=Yingqin |first=He |script-title=zh:八年抗戰之經過 |publisher=Zhonghe Publishing}}</ref>{{rp|436}}{{udl |wrap=\n; Nationalists\n: 1.7 million (1937)\n: 2.6 million (1939){{sfn|Hsiung|1992|p=171}}\n: 5.7 million (1945)<ref name=\"Horner2003\">{{cite book |first=David Murray |last=Horner |title=The Second World War: The Pacific |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DShPzguQ64UC&pg=PA14 |access-date=6 March 2011 |date=24 July 2003 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-0-415-96845-4 |pages=14–15}}</ref>\n; Communists\n: 640,000 (1937)<ref name=\"China's Bitter Victory\">{{cite book |last=Hsiung |first=James C. |title=China's Bitter Victory |year=1992 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-56324-246-5 |page=79}}</ref>\n: 166,700 (1938)<ref name=\"八路军·表册\">{{cite book |publisher=中国人民解放军历史资料丛书编审委员会 |script-title=zh:八路军·表册 |year=1994 |isbn=978-7-506-52290-8 |page=3 |language=zh}}</ref>\n: 488,744 (1940)<ref>丁星, 《新四军初期的四个支队—新四军组织沿革简介(2)》【J】, 铁军, 2007年第2期, 38–40页</ref>\n: 1.2 million (1945){{sfn|Hsiung|1992}}\n}}"},"strength2":{"wt":"4.1 million total{{sfn|Hsu|p=535}}{{udl |wrap=\n; Japan\n: 600,000 (1937)<ref>{{cite book |last1=Black |first1=Jeremy |title=Avoiding Armageddon: From the Great Wall to the Fall of France, 1918–40 |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-4411-2387-9 |page=171 |publisher=A&C Black}}</ref>\n: 1,015,000 (1939)<ref name=\"RKKA General Staff\">RKKA General Staff, 1939 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160425061436/http://www.alexanderyakovlev.org/fond/issues-doc/1001032 |date=25 April 2016 }}. Retrieved 17 April 2016</ref>\n: 1,124,900 (1945)<ref>Ministry of Health and Welfare, 1964 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160311073745/http://ajrp.awm.gov.au/ajrp/AJRP2.nsf/530e35f7e2ae7707ca2571e3001a112d/e7daa03b9084ad56ca257209000a85f7?OpenDocument |date=11 March 2016 }} Retrieved 11 March 2016</ref> (excluding Manchuria and Burma campaign)\n; Puppet states\n: 900,000–1,006,086 (1945){{sfn|Jowett|page=72}}<ref name=統計>{{cite book |last=Liu |first=Tinghua |author-mask=Liu Tinghua (刘庭华) |script-title=zh:中国抗日战争与第二次世界大战系年要录·统计荟萃 1931–1945 |year=1995 |publisher=Haichao chubanshe |isbn=7-80054-595-4 |pages=312−314 |language=zh}}</ref>\n}}"},"casualties1":{"wt":"{{udl |wrap=\n; Official Nationalist data\n: 1,319,958 killed\n: 1,761,335 wounded\n: 130,116 missing\n: 3,211,409 total casualties{{sfn|Hsu}}<ref name=Clodfelter>Clodfelter, Micheal \"Warfare and Armed Conflicts: A Statistical Reference\", Vol. 2, pp. 956. Includes civilians who died due to famine and other environmental disasters caused by the war. Only includes the 'regular' Chinese army; does NOT include guerrillas and does not include Chinese casualties in Manchuria or Burma.</ref>\n; Western Estimate\n: 2,000,000+ killed{{sfn|Mitter|2013|p=381}}{{efn|Rummel estimates Chinese losses at 3 to 4 million dead and missing with another 500,000 captured, with a combined total of over 10,000,000 military casualties}}\n; Communist data\n: 160,603–161,067 killed\n: 285,669–290,467 wounded\n: 87,208 missing\n: 45,989 POWs\n: 446,736{{efn|From September 1937 until March 1945 (including losses of the South China Anti-Japanese Column from 1943 until March 1945). Does not include the number of missing and POWs.}} to 584,267 total casualties<ref>Meng Guoxiang & Zhang Qinyuan, 1995. \"关于抗日战争中我国军民伤亡数字问题\".</ref><ref>{{cite book |date=1995 |title=中国抗战损失与战后索赔始末 |trans-title=Losses in China's War of Resistance and the Whole Story of Post-war Reparation Claims |last1=Guoxiang |first1=Meng |last2=Dewen |first2=Yu |publisher=Anhui People's Publishing House |page=99}}</ref>{{sfn|Rummel|1991|loc=Table 5A}}\n; Total\n: 3.85 million casualties<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hastings |first=Max |title=All Hell Let Loose: The World at War 1939-1945 |date=2011 |publisher=Vintage |pages=669–670}}</ref>\n: 1 million+ captured{{sfn|Rummel|1991|loc=Table 6A}}\n: 266,800–1,000,000 POWs dead{{sfn|Rummel|1991|loc=Table 6A}}\n}}"},"casualties2":{"wt":"{{udl |wrap=\n; Japanese medical data\n: 455,700<ref>Chidorigafuchi National Cemetery {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180916100524/http://www.zephyr.dti.ne.jp/~kj8899/chidorigafuchi.jpg |date=16 September 2018}} Retrieved 10 March 2016</ref>–700,000 military dead<ref name=\"Yomiuri Shimbun\">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uKodAQAAMAAJ |script-title=ja:戦争: 中国侵略 |trans-title=War: Invasion of China |publisher=Yomiuri Shimbun |language=ja |page=186 |year=1983 |access-date=16 January 2017}}</ref>{{efn|This number does not include Japanese killed by Chinese forces in the Burma campaign and does not include Japanese killed in Manchuria.}}{{efn|name=1937B}}\n: 900,000 wounded{{sfn|Paine|2012|p=214}}\n: 22,293+ captured{{efn|Excluding more than 1 million who were disarmed following the surrender of Japan}}\n: 1.5~ million total casualties{{efn|name=1937B}}\n; Puppet state forces\n: 288,140–574,560 dead\n: 742,000 wounded\n: Middle estimate: 960,000 dead and wounded{{sfn|Rummel|1991|loc=Table 5A}}\n; Total\n: 2.4–3.0 million casualties{{efn|name=1937B|After July 1937; excluding Manchuria and Burma}}{{efn|Including casualties of Japanese puppet forces.}}\n}}"},"casualties3":{"wt":"12,000,000+ civilian deaths{{sfn|Mitter|2013|p=381}}<br />14,000,000{{sfn|Mitter|2013|p=381}}<ref>Ho Ping-ti, Studies on the Population of China, 1368–1953, Harvard University Press, 1953. p. 252</ref>–22,000,000<ref name=Clodfelter />  total deaths 35,000,000 total Chinese casualties (Chinese claim)<ref>{{cite web\n |title=What is the battle over China's wartime history?\n |author=Ben Blanchard; Joe Cash\n |date=5 September 2025\n |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/china/what-is-battle-over-chinas-wartime-history-2025-09-05/\n |publisher=Reuters\n |access-date=9 September 2026\n}}</ref><ref>{{cite web\n |title=Anger festers 60 years after Sino-Japanese war\n |author=SCMP Reporter\n |date=18 July 2005\n |url=https://www.scmp.com/article/508678/anger-festers-60-years-after-sino-japanese-war\n |publisher=South China Morning Post\n |access-date=9 September 2026\n}}</ref><ref>{{cite web\n |title=Aftereffects of World War II: China\n |url=https://www.britannica.com/video/aftereffects-World-War-II-China/-254733\n |publisher=Encyclopaedia Britannica\n |access-date=9 September 2026\n}}</ref>"},"notes":{"wt":"{{notelist}}"},"campaignbox":{"wt":"{{Campaignbox Second Sino-Japanese War}}\n{{Campaignbox Burma}}\n{{Campaignbox South-East Asian Theatre}}\n{{Campaignbox South-East Asia}}\n{{Campaignbox World War II}}\n{{Japanese colonial campaigns}}"}},"i":0}}]}' id="mwBg">

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.

On 18 September 1931, the Japanese staged the Mukden incident, a false flag event fabricated to justify their invasion of Manchuria and establishment of the puppet state of Manchukuo. This is sometimes marked as the beginning of the war. From 1931 to 1937, China and Japan engaged in skirmishes, including in Shanghai and in Northern China. Nationalist and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) forces, respectively led by Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong, had fought each other in the Chinese Civil War since 1927. In late 1933, Chiang Kai-shek encircled the Chinese Communists in an attempt to finally destroy them, forcing the Communists into the Long March, resulting in the Communists losing around 90% of their men. As a Japanese invasion became imminent, Chiang eventually formed a United Front with the Communists in 1936, a process that was hastened by the Xi'an Incident.

The war is considered to have begun on 7 July 1937 after the Marco Polo Bridge incident near Beijing, which escalated into full-scale Japanese invasion of the rest of China. Following the protracted Battle of Shanghai, the Japanese captured the capital of Nanjing in 1937 and perpetrated the Nanjing Massacre. After failing to stop the Japanese capture of Wuhan in 1938, China's de facto capital at the time, the Nationalist government relocated to Chongqing in the Chinese interior. After the Sino-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact, Soviet aid bolstered the National Revolutionary Army and Air Force. By 1939, after Chinese victories at Changsha and with Japan's lines of communication stretched deep into the interior, the war reached a stalemate. The Japanese were unable to defeat CCP forces in Shaanxi, who waged a campaign of sabotage and guerrilla warfare. In November 1939, Nationalist forces launched a large scale winter offensive, and in August 1940, CCP forces launched the Hundred Regiments Offensive in central China. In retaliation, Japanese forces implemented massive scorched earth policies in North and Central China, killing millions of civilians.

In April 1941, Soviet aid was halted with the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact. In December 1941, Japan launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor and declared war on the United States and the United Kingdom. The US increased its aid to China under the Lend-Lease Act, becoming its main financial and military supporter. The British Empire supported the Chinese forces against Japan by sending supplies through the Burma Road, linking British colonies in India and Burma to China. Chinese forces also fought with British Empire forces against the Japanese in the Burma campaign to restore Allied usage after the Japanese occupied most of the Burma Road. With Burma cut off, the United States Army Air Forces airlifted material over the Himalayas. In 1944, Japan launched Operation Ichi-Go, the invasion of Henan and Changsha. In 1945, the Chinese Expeditionary Force resumed its advance in Burma and completed the Ledo Road linking India to China. China launched large counteroffensives in South China, repulsed a failed Japanese invasion of West Hunan, and recaptured Japanese occupied regions of Guangxi.

Japan formally surrendered on 2 September 1945, following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Soviet declaration of war and subsequent invasion of Manchuria, Inner Mongolia and Korea. The war resulted in the deaths of around 20 million people, mostly Chinese civilians. Japan carried out the largest attacks in the history of biological warfare, causing at least 200,000 deaths, and used chemical weapons including lethal blister agents. China was recognized as one of the Big Four Allied powers in World War II and one of the "Four Policemen", which formed the foundation of the United Nations. It regained Taiwan and became one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.

The Japanese surrender ceremony that ended World War II in China, occurred in Nanjing on 9 September 1945. The forces of the Imperial Japanese Army agreed with the Allies terms to cease all armed conflict in the Pacific. During the 15-minute ceremony, General Yasuji Okamura, Commander-in-Chief of the Chinese Expeditionary Force of the Imperial Japanese Army, signed the surrender document which was written in both Japanese and Chinese. The unconditional surrender was overseen and accepted by Kuomintang General He Yingqin, the Chinese representative of Allies of World War II and the commander-in-chief of the Republic of China National Revolutionary Army and British Major-General Eric Hayes.

The Chinese Civil War resumed in 1946, ending with a communist victory and the Proclamation of the People's Republic of China in 1949, while the government of the Republic of China relocated to Taiwan.

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WikipediaExtracts:Second Sino-Japanese War

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