Battle of Changde

The Battle of Changde was a major engagement in the Second Sino-Japanese War in and around the Chinese city of Changde in the province of Hunan. During the battle, Japan extensively used biological and chemical weapons.

The purpose of the Japanese offensive was not to hold the city, but to maintain pressure on the Chinese National Revolutionary Army "in order to destroy their main units, to deny them the time needed for recuperation, regrouping, and retraining, and to make sure that no Chinese troops could be spared for the Burma front."

Although the Japanese army initially successfully captured the city, the Chinese 57th division was able to pin them down long enough for reinforcements to arrive and encircle the Japanese. The Chinese army then cut off the Japanese supply lines, forcing them into retreat, whereupon the Chinese pursued their enemy.

Contemporary Western newspapers depicted the battle as a Chinese victory. American government film footage shows victorious Chinese troops with Japanese prisoners and captured Japanese flags and equipment on display after the battle. In addition, an American newsreel titled "Chinese troops drive Japs from Changteh" showed Chinese troops firing, with dead and captured Japanese on display.

Battle
On 2 November 1943, Isamu Yokoyama, commander of the Imperial Japanese 11th Army, deployed the 39th, 58th, 13th, 3rd, 116th and 68th divisions, a grand total of around 60,000 troops, to attack Changde from the north and the east. The Changde region was protected by the Chinese 6th war area's 10th, 26th, 29th and 33rd army groups, as well as a river defense force, and two other corps, for a grand total of 14 corps.

On the 14th, the Japanese 13th division, with aid from collaborators, drove south to break through the defense lines of the Chinese 10th and 29th group armies. On the 16th, Japanese paratroopers landed on Taoyuan, a county in the Changde region. At the same time, the Japanese 3rd and 116th divisions reached Changde. The city was guarded by the Chinese 74th corps' 57th division, whose commander, Yu Chengwan, led his single division of 8,000 soldiers to fight against the overwhelming attack of 2 Japanese divisions. 11 days and nights of fierce fighting saw heavy casualties on both sides. When Chinese reinforcements finally arrived, the remaining 100 survivors of the 57th division, all of whom were wounded, escaped the city. On the 6th of December, Changde was lost.

While the Chinese 57th division pinned down the Japanese in the city, the rest of the 74th corps, and 18th, 73rd, 79th, and 100th corps, as well as the 9th war area's 10th corps, 99th corps and Jiangxi's 58th corps arrived at the battlefield, forming a counter-encirclement on the Japanese forces.

Fang Xianjue's 10th corps was first to strike, successfully retaking Deshan on the 29th of November, before attacking the Japanese positions at Changde from the south. Unable to withstand the fierce Chinese assault, the Japanese utilized chemical weapons. The battle lasted for 6 days and nights. The Chinese 10th division's commander Sun Minjin was shot 5 times in the body and killed in action.

At this time, the other Chinese units were pressing onto the Japanese positions. On the 11th of December, the Chinese army broke through the Japanese lines and into the city, whereupon intense house to house fighting occurred. The Chinese army then proceeded to intercept the Japanese army's supply lines. Without food and ammunition, the Japanese army retreated on the 13th. Upon leaving, their Unit 731 spread bubonic plague, while the army burned buildings and killed civilians in frustration.

The Chinese units pursued the retreating Japanese army for more than 20 days. By the January 5, 1944, the Japanese forces were pushed back to their original positions prior to the invasion, thus concluding the engagement as a decisive Chinese victory.

During this campaign, besides the 10th division's Sun Minjin, two other Chinese division commanders died. One was the 44th corps' 150th division's Lieutenant General Xu Guozhang, while the other one was the 73rd corps' 5th division's Lieutenant General Peng Shiliang. General Xu was killed at Taifushan in Changde's northwest, aged 37. General Peng was killed at the Taoyuan-Shimen line, aged 38.

The Changde campaign had the largest participation of the Chinese air force since the Battle of Wuhan.

Reporter Israel Epstein witnessed and reported on the battle. Witold Urbanowicz, a Polish pilot fighting in China in 1943, saw the city just after the battle. According to Urbanowicz, nearly 300,000 civilians died in Changde.

Biological attacks
During the Khabarovsk War Crimes Trials, some witnesses, such as Major General Kiyoshi Kawashima, testified that, as early as November 1941, about 40 members of Unit 731 airdropped fleas contaminated with bubonic plague on Changde and that this caused outbreaks of plague epidemics. Overall, 7,643 Chinese died in 1942 following this infestation. 10,000 Japanese soldiers were also infected with the plague, and 1,700 died. Some Japanese soldiers, notably Yoshio Shinozuka, also admitted to have spread bubonic plague within a 36 km radius around the city. However, the Japanese actions did not achieve their objective, as the Chinese defenders continued to resist.

Conclusion
Although the Japanese army was initially able to capture Changde and cause terror among the civilians, the Chinese were ultimately able to liberate the city and defeat their enemy, inflicting severe losses.