Battle of Lanfeng

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Battle Of Lanfeng
Part of the campaign of Northern and Eastern Honan 1938
Date May, 1938 Location Lankao, Henan Result Chinese victory
Combatants
National Revolutionary Army, China	Imperial Japanese Army, Japan
Commanders
Cheng Chien	Juichi Terauchi
Strength
?	20000
Casualties
?	?

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

The Battle of Lanfeng was part of the larger campaign for Northern and Eastern Honan (Feb. 7- June 10th 1938) and was occurring at the same time as the Battle of Xuzhou (Late Dec. - Early June, 1938). It involved a counterattack on the Japanese 14th division, the vanguard of the IJA 1st Army of its North China Area Army - 20,000 men and tanks.

[edit] Order of Battle

China

1st War Area - Cheng Chien

• Eastern Honan Army - Hsueh Yueh
  • 64th Corps - Li Han-huen
    • 155th Division - Chen Kung-hsin
    • 187th Division - Peng Ling-cheng
  • 8th Corps - Huang Chieh
    • 40th Division - Lo Li-jung
    • 102nd Division - Po Hui-chang
  • 74th Corps - Wang Yao-wu
    • 51st Division - Wang Yao-wu
    • 58th Division - Po Hui-chang
• 71st Corps Sung Hsi-lien (Song Xilian)
  • 87th Division [2]
  • 88th Division [2]

Reinforcements [May22nd]

• 17th Army - Hu Tsung-nan [Hu Zongnan - May22nd]
  • 1st Corps - Li Tieh-chun
    • 1st Division - Li Tieh-chun
    • 78th Division - Li Wen
  • 27th Corps - Kuei Yung-ching
    • 36th Division [2] - Chiang Fu-sheng
    • 46th Division - Li Liang-yung
  • 200th Mechanized Division (part) - Qiu Qingquan
    • 2 full strength armoured battalions

Note: These Chinese armoured battalions would have been equipped with new Soviet T-26 tanks. (There is some photographic evidence that there were some of the Italian CV-33 tanks there as well. One was photographed on the Lanfeng battlefeild with three Japanese troops examining it. see photo and discussion http://www.china-defense.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=512)

[edit] Japan

North China Area Army - Juichi Terauchi [1,3]

1st Army - Kyoji Kotsuki

• 14th Division - Kenji Doihara
  • 27th Infantry Brigade
    • 2nd Infantry Regiment
    • 59th Infantry Regiment
  • 28th Infantry Brigade
    • 15th Infantry Regiment
    • 50th Infantry Regiment
  • 20th Field Artillery Regiment
  • 18th Cavalry Regiment
  • 14th Engineer Regiment
  • 14th Transport Regiment

Note: IJA 1st Army had these armoured units directly under its command that could have been assigned to 14th Division: [3]

• • 1st Independent Light Armored Car Squadron
  • 5th Independent Light Armored Car Squadron
  • 2nd Tank Battalion

[edit] Sources:

[1] Hsu Long-hsuen and Chang Ming-kai, History of The Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945) 2nd Ed. ,1971. Translated by Wen Ha-hsiung , Chung Wu Publishing; 33, 140th Lane, Tung-hwa Street, Taipei, Taiwan Republic of China.

page 230-235

Map. 9-2

[2] German trained Division. Note these divisions had been badly mauled in the battles of Shanghai and of Nanking in 1937 and were no longer the crack units they once were.

[3] IJA in China orbat, 1937 to 1945