Battle of Changde

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Battle of Changde
Part of the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Pacific Theater of World War II
Chinese troops in combat at Changde
Date (1943-11-02) (1944-01-05)2 November 1943 – 5 January 1944 (2 months and 3 days) Location Changde and vicinity, Hunan, China Result Chinese defensive victory Territorial changes Japanese capture the city, but later withdraw in January 1944
Belligerents
Republic of China	Empire of Japan
Commanders and leaders
Sun Lianzhong Xue Yue Feng Zhi'an Li Yutang Wang Yaowu Liu Chen-san	Isamu Yokoyama
Strength
Sixth and Ninth Military Fronts in the main battlefield : 194,594 Fifth, Sixth, and Ninth Military Fronts in supporting operations : 155,793[1]: 162-163	60,000+
Casualties and losses
Chinese Claim : Main battlefield :[1]: 162-163  23,485 killed 17,310 wounded 3,170 missing Supporting operations :[1]: 190-191 [a] 1,740 killed 2,109 wounded 360 missing Fifth Military Front supporting the Sixth Military Front :[2] 1,159 killed 1,703 wounded 317 missing 378 unspecified casualties Japanese Claim : Until 8 December 1943 :[3] 29,503 killed 14,025 captured Until 29 December 1943 :[4] 32,747 killed 14,325 captured	Japanese claim : Until 8 December 1943 :[3] 1,274 dead 2,977 wounded Until 29 December 1943 :[4] 1,666 killed Reduction of 7,547 personnel of the 116th division from 10 November 1943 until 17 January 1944[5] 65th Infantry Regiment Suffered irreparable losses of about 1,400-1500 people(Calculated based on the number of additional soldiers)[6] Chinese Claim : Main battlefield :[1]: 162-163  46,470 casualties American and British claims: 40,000+ killed and wounded[7] Thousands of guns, ammunitions, shells, and prisoners taken and captured.
^ The statistics of losses for the Fifth Military Front are mostly missing

The Battle of Changde (Battle of Changteh; simplified Chinese: 常德会战; traditional Chinese: 常德會戰; pinyin: Chángdé Huìzhàn) was a major engagement in the Second Sino-Japanese War in and around the Chinese city of Changde (Changteh) in the province of Hunan.

The purpose of the Japanese offensive was to maintain pressure on the Chinese National Revolutionary Army to reduce its combat ability in the region and its ability to reinforce the Burma Campaign.^[8][9]

The Japanese were initially successful in their offensive operation by bacteria-infected bombs and captured parts of the city of Changde, which forced civilians to evacuate. The Japanese were pinned down in the city by a Chinese division long enough for other Chinese units to surround them with a counterencirclement. Heavy casualties and the loss of their supply lines then forced the Japanese to withdraw, which returned territorial control to the original status quo.

Some contemporary Western newspapers depicted the battle as a Chinese victory.^{[10][11][12][13][14]} American government film footage showed 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. A British newsreel titled Japs Loose Changteh Aka Japs Lose Changte showed similar footage.