Battle of Changsha (1939)

• 1. Introduction

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  The First Battle of Changsha opened on the 17th of September 1939. It came roughly two weeks after Germany's invasion of Poland had begun what the world would call World War II. That timing made it one of the first significant engagements of the global conflict. Japan had committed multiple divisions to the assault, aiming them at Changsha, the provincial capital of Hunan. The war between Japan and China had dragged on for two years without a decisive result, and Japan was determined to change that. What made the battle's eventual outcome so surprising was not just that China held on. The Chinese military had deliberately engineered the circumstances that would force Japan to withdraw.

• 2. Japan's Desperate Calculus

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  Professor Fu Sinian, writing in July 1939, observed something striking. The Chinese army had grown stronger as the conflict continued, while the Japanese had grown weaker. That reversal pointed to a problem Japan urgently needed to solve. At Nomonhan, Japanese forces had suffered a painful defeat at the hands of Soviet troops. Then Germany, Japan's ally, signed a non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union, the very power Japan had been fighting. Morale within the Imperial Army was suffering. A major offensive against China offered the prospect of a dramatic victory to restore it. Germany's invasion of Poland on the 1st of September 1939 added another layer of motivation. If China's will to resist could be broken quickly, the path would open for Wang Jingwei's puppet government in Central China. As early as the 15th of August, the Japanese 11th Army had drawn up the operational blueprint. The campaign would stretch 250 kilometres, from the Xiang River to the Gan River, south of the Yangtze. General Toshizo Nishio of the Japanese Expeditionary Forces to China would direct it alongside Lieutenant-General Seishiro Itagaki. The 101st and 106th Divisions were positioned on the western bank of the Gan River in northern Jiangxi. The 6th, 3rd, 13th, and 33rd Divisions would press southward from Hubei. Together, this force was to converge on Changsha from multiple directions, numbering around 100,000 men. What they did not yet know was that the Chinese had been preparing for exactly this convergence.

• 3. The Trap Is Set

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  General Chen Cheng's orders to his commanders were precise and counterintuitive. His objective, stated explicitly, was "to lure the enemy into the vicinity of Changsha for a decisive battle." Chinese forces would not try to hold every river crossing or fortified village. They would trade space for time, pulling the Japanese deeper into terrain where supply lines would stretch toward breaking. To deny the advancing force any resources, the Chinese applied scorched earth policies across northern Hunan. Local civilians were moved into the hills. Chinese defenders settled on flexible, guerrilla-style tactics built around ambushes and harassing maneuvers. The aim was to erode Japanese manpower without triggering a decisive early engagement. The broader Chinese plan called for counter-attacking the Japanese column advancing through northern Jiangxi, then encircling the main line as it drove southward. The trap was built before the enemy had even crossed the first river.

• 4. Poison Along the Xinqiang

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  On the night of the 14th of September 1939, Lieutenant General Ryotaro Nakai's 106th Division drove westward from north of Fengxin in Jiangxi. Its target was Wan Baobang's 184th Division of the Chinese 60th Corps. After fierce fighting, the Chinese abandoned Gao'an. Japanese forces then pivoted northwest, assaulting the towns of Shangfu, Ganfang, and Xiushui. Simultaneously, Lieutenant General Jutaro Amakasu's 33rd Division attacked Guan Linzheng's 15th Army Group from the south.

  Lieutenant General Masatoshi Saito's 101st Division joined the 106th in driving westward toward Changsha. Lieutenant General Shinichi Fujita's 3rd Division and Lieutenant General Shiro Inaba's 6th Division pressed southward from Hubei. General Shizuichi Tanaka's 13th Division joined them in pushing into northern Hunan. The Japanese advance reached too far westward and drew counterattacks from both north and south, forcing a partial retreat.

  On the 19th of September, Japanese forces deployed poison gas at scale along the Xinqiang River, targeting Chinese defensive positions. Japan had not signed the Geneva Protocol of 1925, the international agreement banning such weapons. Wang Yaowu's 74th Corps, including the 51st, 57th, and 58th Divisions, joined Song Ketang's 32nd Corps in a counterattack. Together they retook Gao'an on the 22nd of September. The next day, the 6th and 13th Divisions crossed the Xinqiang River under heavy artillery cover. They pushed further south along the Miluo River. East of Changsha, naval vessels landed the Shanghai Special Naval Landing Forces alongside portions of the 3rd Division. The city was now enclosed on three sides. The Japanese pressed toward the center, unaware that the Chinese were repositioning to reverse the situation.

• 5. Surrounded

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  By the 29th of September, the vanguard of the Japanese 6th Division had reached Changsha's outskirts. It appeared the city might fall. But on the night that followed, the Japanese advance walked into an encirclement. An American military observer described what happened: the attackers found themselves facing "60,000 screaming Chinese on their front, rear and both flanks." The Chinese had retreated southward as a deliberate distraction, drawing Japanese forces forward while supporting battalions closed in from the east and the west.

  Casualties among the Japanese had already mounted into the tens of thousands, with a significant portion being fatalities. The danger of their supply lines being completely severed made withdrawal the only realistic option. Japanese forces pulled back across the Laodao River. Guan Linzheng immediately ordered the 52nd and 73rd Corps in pursuit, pushing north toward the Miluo River. General Xue Yue issued a general counterattack order on the 3rd of October. It was aimed at Japanese forces still south of Chongyang and Yueyang. Chinese artillery, brought up to the front, bombarded the retreating columns.

  On the 5th of October, Chinese forces shot down a Japanese aircraft. It was carrying orders from General Yasuji Okamura to call off the Changsha offensive. That same day, the Chinese 23rd Division struck a Japanese naval port at Yingtian, damaging several vessels. By the 6th of October, Japanese forces at Changsha were decimated and in full retreat. The Chinese 195th Division of the 52nd Corps pursued fleeing units across the Xinqiang River, recapturing their former forward positions. Chinese forces launched night raids into Xitang and Yaolin. By the 10th of October, all former positions in northern Hunan, southern Hubei, and northern Jiangxi had been fully restored.

• 6. A City That Held

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  Japan's official casualty claim was 850 killed and 2,700 wounded. That figure came packaged with a characterization of the campaign as a spoiling attack, never intended to hold Changsha permanently. Japan further claimed to have inflicted 44,000 Chinese deaths and captured 4,000 prisoners. Foreign military observers drew very different conclusions. They estimated Chinese casualties at around 20,000 killed and wounded. On the Japanese side, those same observers calculated approximately 30,000 casualties. Military historian Micheal Clodfelter placed total Japanese casualties at around 50,000. The gap between these numbers reflects how differently each side chose to account for what happened.

  No Chinese city had successfully turned back a Japanese assault before Changsha. Nationalist Chinese forces had prevented Japan from consolidating its hold across southern China. The city's survival gave the Chinese defense a reference point it had not had before. Japan would return three more times to try to take it. This first battle was the opening chapter of a struggle that would last through the war.