CHANGSHA BATTLES

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Institution of Affiliation
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Changsha is the capital city of Hunan province in southern central china. It is located on

the lower end of river xiang. This city covers an area of 4563 sq. mi. Changsha has been of great

importance to china as a whole since it has been the commercial hub which has helped in raising

the country’s economy. Being a male citizen of china living in this city of Changsha, the warfare

brought a lot of experience to my life. During the battle, it also became the base in which the

American flying tigers used to fly. During the time when the Japanese attacked china early in the

conflict, Changsha was amongst the on the list of city Chinese to overcome just as much as

Beijing. Just like Shanghai, fighting was demanding and long which made Japanese to suffer

long for every ile they took. This war between China and japan brought a lot of global concern

since many nations depend on china in one way or another.

The Wuhan battle was the second Sino-Japanes war. Over one million National

Revolutionary Army troops gathered to defend Wuhan from Japanese army. This battle ended up

in capture of Wuhan by Japanese forces. Nevertheless, the war knocked out a large number of

enemy efficacy and approximately 40,000 Japanese enemies were killed and wounded. This

battle broke Japanese delusion of last showdown in Wuhan to overwhelm the core forces of the

Chinese army and brought the whole war to a deadlock1.

In September 1939, a war battle began in Changsha which took quite a period of time.

This was the beginning of a series of battles that would happen between these two countries

because of the Japanese attack on western allies. Although the Chinese forces were able to hold

back the imperialist Japanese army, the Japanese would still be back for more two occasions.

This was the first major city not to be defeated by the Japanese but would also have defended

themselves in brutal attacks that occurred in 1942 and 1944. The Chinese army and the Japanese

1. Li, Xiaobing. 2012. China at war: an encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO
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assailants in this city conducted four large fierce battles which referred to as “battle of

Changsha”. From a strategic point of view, the two countries had been claiming a win and this

was the second war the t the two went through. None of the two parties conceded victory or

defeat.

In October 1 st, the Japanese army started to retreat after suffering heavy losses. Herald

troops intruded into Changsha outskirts pulled across Laodaohe River. The Chinese planes then

bombed Wuhan’s Japanese airfield on the same day. On 5th, the Chinese were then forced to

shoot a Japanese plane. On 8th, the Japanese fell back. During the third Changsha battler, Chinese

army waged a desperate struggle which eventually repulsed the Japanese. The combined battles

would lead to deaths of over 67,000 soldiers for the Chinese government. On the other hand, the

Japanese lost 25,000 soldiers during this battle. Breaking the Japanese strong hold and regional

control became a difficult task to the Changsha. However, the Chinese succeeded to hold the

Japanese army though they were forced to retreat back to the rivers2.

In December, Japanese came back and this was the major Japanese belligerent

succeeding the attacks at Pearl Hobour. The third battle of Changsha became in and out strikes

after Hong Kong went down on Christmas day. This time, 120000 Imperial troops came

extremely stubborn city with bombers and 200 fighters. The National Revolutionary Army again

set traps besides the rivers and mountains about the city. When this battle came towards the end,

2. Mao, Tse-tung, and Stuart R. Schram. 1992. Mao's road to power: revolutionary writings

1912-1949. Armonk, N.Y.: M. E. Sharpe.

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57,000 Japanese troops due to constant retaliations and ambushes around the heavily armed city.

Just like the first battle in 1939, it was the only victory alongside Imperial Japan.

The fourth battle of Changsha took place in May 1944 preamble. It is also called long

scale battle. The battle lasted for four months. Attack of the Japanese number was about 360,000

the Chinese military defensive about 300,000. According to US air force, more than 193,000

people used bombs. During these battles, China’s economy was tremendously affected. This is

so because out of the many provinces in the country, only one of them was attacked by the

Japanese and it the main commercial hub before the other four. This left the country’s economic

condition not badly of. On the other hand, another reason for this is that due to the large number

of the China’s citizen, it very difficult for the country’s economic to depreciate tremendously3.

January first 1942, Chinese quickly attacked and surprised the Japanese with fire arms.

They also inflicted heavy casualties on them an attack on the Japanese. During the same time, the

army which was up the mountains retreated came down the mountain to attack Japanese supply

line. It was unfortunate that the Japanese collapsed due to the division4. However, on 9 January

they encountered heavy rebellion with the Chinese and were not able to release the overwhelmed

Japanese unions.

3. Paine, S. C. M. 2012. The wars for Asia, 1911-1949. New York: Cambridge University

Press.

4. Dillon, Michael. 2012. China: a modern history.

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All in all, China being a large country with a huge population, only Changsha city was

greatly affected by the battle. This is so because it is one of the China’s four biggest rice markets.

This is so because it produces important cotton, timber and livestock. Due to this war, Changsha

economy was then affected by this battle. The social conditions of Changsha were also affected

because the citizens were not able to interact freely due to tension and insecurity of wars.

According to calculation that was taken, a huge number of people were affected from well

documented occurrences. Social wise, most innocent lives were lost during this battle. Many

citizens were also displaced due to the magnitude of the war between the Changsha and japan. If

you look closely at the China’s economy and social conditions, it is not that easy for such a large

country to be affected by small war between provinces.

Bibliography

Li, Xiaobing. 2012. China at war: an encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO.

Mao, Tse-tung, and Stuart R. Schram. 1992. Mao's road to power: revolutionary writings 1912-

1949. Armonk, N.Y.: M. E. Sharpe.

Paine, S. C. M. 2012. The wars for Asia, 1911-1949. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Dillon, Michael. 2012. China: a modern history.