Battle of Pingxingguan
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Battle of Pingxingguan | |
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Part of the Pingxingguan, Shanxi 39°20′43.98″N 113°57′34.23″E / 39.3455500°N 113.9595083°E | |
Result | Chinese victory |
Zhu De
Republic of China Air Force
The Battle of Pingxingguan (Chinese: 平型關戰役), commonly called the Great Victory of Pingxingguan in Mainland China, was an engagement fought on 25 September 1937, at the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War, between the Eighth Route Army of the Chinese Communist Party and the Imperial Japanese Army.[2]
The battle resulted in the loss of 400 to 600 soldiers on both sides, but the Chinese captured 100 trucks full of supplies. The victory gave the Chinese Communists a tremendous boost since it was the only division-size battle that they fought during the entire war.[2]
Background
After the capture of
Japanese forces, mainly the 5th Division and 11th Independent Mixed Brigade, moved out from Beiping and advanced on
The main body of the Japanese 5th Division, under the command of
Battle
The pass of Pingxingguan was a narrow defile worn through the loess, with no exit for several kilometres except the road itself. Lin's division were able to ambush two columns of mainly transportation and supply units and virtually annihilate the trapped Japanese forces.
On 25 September, the 21st brigade of the Japanese 5th Division stationed at Lingqiu received a request from the 21st Regiment that they urgently needed supplies due to falling temperature. The supply troops of the 21st Regiment set out with 70 horse-drawn vehicles with 50 horses, filled with clothes, food, ammunition and proceeded westwards towards Pingxingguan. Around 10:00, the supply column passed into a defile with the two sides rising up more than 10 metres; they were heading towards Caijiayu about 3 km away.
At the same time, a motorized column of Japanese supply troops in about 80 trucks left Guangou and headed east. Both of these non-combat formations entered into the ambush set by the 115th division after 10 a.m. on the 25th and were largely wiped out. A relief force consisting of the 3rd Battalion of the 21st Regiment was rebuffed by Chinese troops and suffered almost 100 casualties. Lin Biao's troops eventually withdrew from the battlefield, allowing the Japanese to finally reach the site of the ambush on 28 September. The Nationalist Air Force of China provided some close-air support for the Chinese ground forces in course of the battles at Pingxingguan.[3]
Japanese casualties in the battle have been estimated at 400 to 500 and the Chinese at about 400.[1] The Chinese forces destroyed about 70 trucks and an equal number of horse-drawn carts and captured 100 rifles, 10 light machine guns, 1 gun and 2,000 shells as well as some clothing and food.[1]
Evaluation
The Kuomintang's official history of the
Japanese losses were greatly exaggerated for propaganda purposes. However, like the victory at the Battle of Taierzhuang, Pingxingguan was explained by Japan as Japanese officers succumbing to what they came to call "victory disease."[4][dubious ]
After a series of easy victories against their opponents, they failed to take elementary precautions. Japanese commanders seldom repeated the operational blunders that had led to Pingxingguan.
Nonetheless, the battle gave the Chinese a major boost in morale and credence to the Communists in the eyes of the people. The battle was constantly cited by CPC leaders as an example of their commitment to battling the Japanese occupation, even though Mao had opposed the battle, according to an account written by Lin Biao in Russia (where he was being treated for bullet wounds) and Lin had undertaken it on his own authority.[4]
See also
References
- ^ a b c d Yang Kuisong, "On the reconstruction of the facts of the Battle of Pingxingguan"
- ^ ISBN 9781851096725.
- ^ "Naval Aviation Resource Center - Vought O2U Corsair - A Warbirds Resource Group Site". www.warbirdsresourcegroup.org. Archived from the original on 2014-03-31. Retrieved 2021-05-27.
China purchased the 42 export versions of O2U-1 from 1929–1933, and 21 export versions of O3U between 1933–1934 and they saw extensive bombing-attack missions. The O2U-1 versions participated in the Central Plains War and in the January 28 incident against the Japanese targets, while the O3U versions first participated in the Battle of Pingxingguan to support the Chinese ground forces, and later against the Japanese targets in Shanghai.
- ^ a b Mao: The Unknown Story by Jung Chang and Jon Halliday, p. 279
External links
- Description (in Chinese) of the Battle of Pingxingguan in the on line version of the book: 中国抗日战争正面战场作战记 (China's Anti-Japanese War Combat Operations) by 郭汝瑰 (Guo Rugui), Jiangsu People's Publishing House, 2005-7-1, ISBN 7-214-03034-9
- a more recent study (in Chinese) 关于平型关战斗的史实重建问题 "On the reconstruction of the facts of the Battle of Pingxingguan" by Professor Yang Kui Song
- Pingxingguan Campaign
- 抗战烽火:平型关大捷 (Sino-Japanese War beacon-fire: Pingxingguan victory) Map and photos of the battle, in Chinese
- China AMS Topographic Map of Pingxingguan battle area from Perry–Castañeda Library Map Collection (area near GP5,6)