Battle of Taiyuan

The Japanese offensive called 太原作戦 or the Battle of Taiyuan was a major battle fought in 1937 between China and Japan named for Taiyuan (the capital of Shanxi province), which lay in the 2nd Military Region. The battle concluded in a victory for Japan over the National Revolutionary Army (NRA), including part of Suiyuan, most of Shanxi and the NRA arsenal at Taiyuan, and effectively ended large-scale organized resistance in the North China area.

Battle of Taiyuan
Part of the Second Sino-Japanese War
Date (1937-09-01) (1937-11-09)September 1 – November 9, 1937
(2 months, 1 week and 1 day)
Location
Taiyuan, North China Plain, China
Result Japanese victory
Belligerents

China

Japan

  •  Mongol Military Government
Commanders and leaders
Yan Xishan
Yang Aiyuan
Wei Lihuang
Zhu De
Fu Zuoyi		 Isogai Rensuke
Itagaki Seishiro
Demchugdongrub
Units involved
Strength
6 Army Groups, ~280,000 men 5 divisions, ~140,000 men
Casualties and losses
129,737 ~30,000

Japanese forces included the Japanese Northern China Area Army under Hisaichi Terauchi, elements of the Kwantung Army, and elements of the Inner Mongolian Army led by Demchugdongrub. Chinese forces were commanded by Yan Xishan (warlord of Shanxi), Wei Lihuang (14th Army Group), and Fu Zuoyi (7th Army Group), as well as Zhu De who led the Eighth Route Army of the Chinese Communist Party (under the Second United Front alliance).

Occupation of the territories gave the Japanese access to coal from Datong in northern Shanxi, but also exposed them to attacks by the guerrilla forces of the Nationalist army including the Eighth Route Army, tying down many Japanese troops which could have been diverted to other campaigns.

The battle was marked by fierce urban combat.

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