World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseThe Japanese had taken the city of Wuhan in 1938 and, further up the Yangtze River, Yichang in 1940. Due to Chinese activity (largely by the Chinese 128th Division) in between the two cities, however, the Japanese could not use the river to transport supplies between the two locations, which was a major source of frustration especially given that a large Japanese fleet amassed at Wuhan while the Japanese had captured 53 Chinese barges and other river shipping vessels at Yichang back in 1940. While the Japanese began amassing forces for an attack into this region, the movements were detected by the Chinese. On 5 May, the Japanese 58th Division launched an attack into this region. At dawn on the following day, Chinese troops counterattacked in the border region between Hubei and Hunan Provinces, China; the counterattack would eventually be turned back after suffering very high casualties. Despite Chinese aggressiveness, the Japanese continued to advance into Hubei and Hunan Provinces, capturing Nan County on 9 May and by the following week forcing the Chinese to abandon Gong'an. Just as the situation appeared dire for the Chinese, they were able to repulse a Japanese attack against Pianyan in Hubei Province, inflicting 3,000 casualties against the Japanese force of 4,500, bolstering morale. On 27 May, the Japanese launched a major attack in the region, drawing the attention of Chinese troops while the 53 captured barges ran the gauntlet, successfully reaching Wuhan by the end of the day. On 30 May, Chinese 6th War Area commander Chen Cheng ordered a full scale counter offensive to be launched, catching the Japanese by surprise, pushing back the Japanese forward elements at multiple locations. During the first week of Jun 1943, Japanese positions continued to fall back. On 6 Jun, fresh Chinese troops arrived in the region and were immediately deployed to attack. By 11 Jun, the Chinese regained all territory lost to the Japanese since early May in this region and once again regained control of this section of the Yangtze River. In this month-long battle, according to Chinese reports, the Japanese suffered 25,718 casualties while the Chinese suffered 50,000 wounded and 10,000 killed or missing; the Japanese reported only 3,517 casualties, while claiming 30,766 Chinese killed and 4,279 captured.

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Battle of Exi Timeline