Questions about Battle of Wuhan
Short answers, pulled from the story.
What was the Battle of Wuhan and why was it significant?
The Battle of Wuhan was the largest, longest, and bloodiest battle of the entire Second Sino-Japanese War, fought across Anhui, Henan, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, and Hubei provinces over four and a half months. More than one million National Revolutionary Army troops defended the city, which served as the de facto wartime capital of the Republic of China, against the Imperial Japanese Army. The battle's end marked the beginning of a strategic stalemate that prolonged the war until the attack on Pearl Harbor.
How many casualties occurred during the Battle of Wuhan?
China suffered as many as one million casualties, military and civilian, during the Battle of Wuhan. Japan also suffered its heaviest losses of the war during this campaign, including the near-total destruction of four divisions at the Battle of Wanjialing, where only around 1,500 men escaped the Chinese encirclement.
What role did chemical weapons play in the Battle of Wuhan?
Japan used poison gas extensively throughout the Battle of Wuhan, with Emperor Showa authorizing its use via imperial orders transmitted 375 times between August and October 1938 by Prince Kan'in Kotohito. In total, as many as 13,410 Chinese troops suffered from gas exposure, including 4,342 who died. At the fortress of Tianjiazhen, poison gas was the decisive factor in a Japanese victory that could not be achieved by conventional assault.
What was the Victory of Wanjialing during the Battle of Wuhan?
The Victory of Wanjialing was a Chinese encirclement of four Japanese divisions in early October 1938, west of De'an. Chinese commander Xue Yue used the 4th, 66th, and 74th Armies to surround the Japanese 106th Division; relief forces including the 9th, 27th, and 101st Divisions were also drawn in and suffered heavy losses. Of the four divisions involved, only around 1,500 men escaped the encirclement. Japan concealed the scale of the defeat during the war to maintain public morale.
Why did China lose the Battle of Wuhan despite outnumbering Japanese forces?
China deployed over one million troops against approximately 350,000 Japanese, but faced coordination failures, command breakdowns, and Japanese use of poison gas. The fall of Madang illustrated the problem: the overseeing general left his officers for a ceremony, leaving only five battalions to defend the fortress, and reinforcements were routed along a slow path by the same general's orders. The fall of Guangzhou on the 21st of October cut Wuhan's foreign supply lines, removing the strategic rationale for continued defense.
What was the 1938 Yellow River flood and how did it affect the Battle of Wuhan?
The 1938 Yellow River flood was caused by Chinese forces deliberately opening the dikes at Huayuankou, near Zhengzhou, on the 9th of June 1938. The goal was to delay the Japanese advance on Wuhan by forcing them to abandon their planned attack along the Huai River. The flood achieved that military objective but killed between 500,000 and 900,000 Chinese civilians in flooded cities across northern China.