Battle of Changde

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Battle of Changde
Part of the Second Sino-Japanese War
Pitched battle at Changde
Date November 2, 1943 - December 20, 1943 Location Changde and vicinity Result Chinese victory
Combatants
National Revolutionary Army, Republic of China	Imperial Japanese Army, Japan
Strength
100,000 troops	100,000 troops
Casualties
50,000 troops	40,000 troops

Second Sino-Japanese War

Major engagements in bold Mukden - Invasion of Manchuria -(Jiangqiao - Nenjiang Bridge - Chinchow - Harbin) - Shanghai (1932) - Operation Nekka - ( Rehe - Great Wall) - Suiyuan - Marco Polo Bridge - Beiping-Tianjin - Chahar - Shanghai (1937) (Sihang Warehouse) - Beiping-Hankou Railway - Tianjin-Pukou Railway - Taiyuan - (Pingxingguan) - Xinkou - Nanjing - Xuzhou- Taierzhuang - N.-E.Henan - (Lanfeng) - (Amoy) - Wuhan - Canton - (Hainan) - (Xiushui River) - Nanchang - Suixian-Zaoyang - (Swatow) - 1st Changsha - S.Guangxi- (Kunlun Pass) - Winter Offensive -(Wuyuan) - Zaoyang-Yichang - Hundred Regiments - Indochina Expedition - C. Hopei - S.Henan - W. Hopei - Shanggao - S.Shanxi - 2nd Changsha - 3rd Changsha - Yunnan-Burma Road-(Yenangyaung)- Zhejiang-Jiangxi - W.Hubei - N.Burma-W.Yunnan - Changde - C.Henan - 4th Changsha - Guilin-Liuzhou - W.Henan-N.Hubei - W.Hunan- 2nd Guangxi edit

Battle of Changde (Traditional Chinese: 常德會戰; Simplified Chinese: 常德会战; pinyin: Chángdé Huìzhàn)

The Battle of Changde was a major engagement in the Second Sino-Japanese War. On November 2, 1943 the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) invaded and occupied the undefended city of Changde. On November 18, 9,000 troops from the 57th Division of the NRA arrived and retook the city. The IJA then counterattacked, and the 57th held out for 16 days till December 3, when 100 remaining soldiers escaped the Japanese siege and linked up with reinforcements who retook the city on December 9. Reinforcements arrived from both sides and fighting continued until the IJA finally retreated on December 20. This battle has been called the "Stalingrad of the East".

During the battle, Japan utilised extensive biological and chemical weapons, spreading bubonic plague over a 36-km radius in the city.

Reporter Israel Epstein witnessed and reported on the battle.

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