Battle of Guilin-Liuzhou
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| Second Sino-Japanese War |
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| Major engagements in bold Mukden - Nenjiang Bridge - Shanghai (1932) - Great Wall - Rehe - Suiyuan - Marco Polo Bridge - Beiping-Tianjin - Chahar - Shanghai (1937) (Sihang Warehouse) - Pingxingguan - Xinkou - Taiyuan - Nanjing - Tai'erzhuang - Xuzhou- Northern and Eastern Honan 1938 - Wuhan - Xiushui River - Nanchang - Lanfeng - Suixian-Zaoyang - 1st Changsha - S.Guangxi - Winter Offensive - Zaoyang-Yichang - Hundred Regiments - S.Henan - Shanggao - S.Shanxi - 2nd Changsha - 3rd Changsha - Zhejiang-Jiangxi - W.Hubei - Changde - C.Henan - 4th Changsha - Guilin-Liuzhou - W.Henan-N.Hubei - W.Hunan [edit] |
The Battle of Guilin-Liuzhou (Traditional Chinese: ; Simplified Chinese: }}}; pinyin: ), also known as the Battle of Guiliu was one of the 22 major engagements between the National Revolutionary Army and Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War.
This battle was the third of the three-part Battle of Henan-Hunan-Guangxi, also known as Operation Ichigo. As part of the said Operation, a major aim of this attack was to connect the pieces of Japanese-held territory, and also, to destroy airbases in the area which were housing USAAF aircraft.
In August, after battles in Hunan and Guangdong, the 11th and 23rd Armies of the IJA launched attacks towards Guilin and Liuzhou, respectively. The NRA troops defending the area were mainly the remnants from the Battle of Hengyang, and therefore, only 20,000 troops were at Guilin on 1 November when the Japanese started their attack on the city. After 10 days of intense fighting, the Japanese occupied Guilin, and on the same day entered Liuzhou as well. Fighting continued sporadically as Chinese forces made their retreat, and on 24 November the Japanese were in control of 75 counties in Guangxi, roughly 2/3 its area, and is said to have killed 215,000 civilians in reprisal and during crossfire, wounding more than 431,000.
Evaluation
In this battle the NRA forces, despite substantial air superiority provided by USAAF and NRA aircraft, did not utilise these advantages effectively, and lost the battle in mere days, making this one of the most devastating losses during the entire war.However, despite having destroyed the airbases in this region, the USAAF could still strike at the Japanese main islands from their other bases. Although the Japanese partially accomplished the goals of Operation Ichigo, it increased the area that Japanese troops had to defend, and substantially thinned out their lines, setting up a favourable situation for subsequent counterattacks by Chinese forces.
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