Battle of South Guangxi

Battle of South Guangxi
Part of the Second Sino-Japanese War
Date (1939-11-15) (1940-11-30)November 15, 1939 – November 30, 1940 (1 year, 2 weeks and 1 day) Location South Guangxi Result Japanese victory Territorial changes Chinese maintain control of Kunlun Pass
Belligerents
China	Japan
Commanders and leaders
Bai Chongxi Zhang Fakui	Rikichi Andō Seiichi Kuno
Strength
150,000 (initially only 2 understrength army groups, reinforced by 2 army groups, including 200th Division (only mechanised force in NRA)) CAF 100 aircraft	100,000 (5th Division, 18th Division (elements), Guards Mixed Brigade, Taiwan Mixed Brigade) 100 aircraft 2 aircraft carriers 70 warships
Casualties and losses
From 15 November 1939 until 26 February 1940 : 576 officers and 23,582 soldiers killed 932 officers and 29,630 soldiers wounded 203 officers and 9,366 soldiers missing Total: 64,289 killed, wounded, or missing In the battle of Kunlun Pass : 5,600 killed 11,000 wounded 800 missing 6,416 other Total: 23,816 casualties 45 billion yuan worth of private & public property damage	4,000+ killed (including 85% of all officers) 4,000+ wounded 100 captured Total: 8,100+ casualties
11,147 civilians killed 2,161 civilians wounded 3,986 civilians missing Total: 17,294 civilians

The Battle of South Guangxi (traditional Chinese: 桂南會戰; simplified Chinese: 桂南会战; pinyin: Guìnán Huìzhàn) was one of the 22 major engagements between the National Revolutionary Army and Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

In November 1939, the Japanese landed on the coast of Guangxi and captured Nanning. In this battle, the Japanese successfully cut off Chongqing from the ocean, effectively severing foreign aid to China's war efforts by the sea, rendering Indochina, the Burma Road and The Hump the only ways to send aid to China.

The Chinese launched several major offensives that maximized Japanese casualties. A majority of the conflicts occurred in the fighting for Kunlun Pass. With the success of the Vietnam Expedition in September 1940, the Japanese were able to cut China off from Indochina. Now only the Burma Road and The Hump remained, ending the costly necessity of occupying Guangxi. By November 1940, Japanese forces had evacuated from Guangxi except from some coastal enclaves.

Order of battle

Further information: Order of Battle for Battle of South Guangxi

See also

• Air Warfare of WWII from the Sino-Japanese War perspective

Sources

• Hsu Long-hsuen, Chang Ming-kai (1972). History of The Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945). Translated by Wen Ha-hsiung (2nd ed.). Taipei, Taiwan Republic of China: Chung Wu Publishing. pp. 311–318, 325–327, map 18.
  • Map 18
• Perry–Castañeda Library Map Collection, China 1:250,000, Series L500, U.S. Army Map Service, 1954- . Topographic Maps of China during the Second World War.
  • These two maps cover the area where most of the fighting went on in the Guangxi campaign:
  • Lai-Pin nf49-1, has the Kunlun Pass just above where the road from Nanning enters the map:
  • Nanning nf49-5

References

Bibliography

• Cheung, Raymond. OSPREY AIRCRAFT OF THE ACES 126: Aces of the Republic of China Air Force. Oxford: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2015. ISBN 978-1-4728-0561-4.
• Xú,Lùméi. Fallen: A Decryption of 682 Air Force Heroes of The War of Resistance-WWII and Their Martyrdom. 东城区, 北京， 中国: 团结出版社, 2016. ISBN 978-7-5126-4433-5.