Battle of Taierzhuang

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages) You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Japanese. (May 2022) Click [show] for important translation instructions. View a machine-translated version of the Japanese article. Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Japanese Wikipedia article at [[:ja:台児荘の戦い]]; see its history for attribution. You may also add the template {{Translated|ja|台児荘の戦い}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation. This article may contain an excessive amount of intricate detail that may interest only a particular audience. Please help by spinning off or relocating any relevant information, and removing excessive detail that may be against Wikipedia's inclusion policy. (June 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message) This article may lend undue weight to certain ideas, incidents, or controversies. Please help improve it by rewriting it in a balanced fashion that contextualizes different points of view. (June 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Battle of Taierzhuang
Part of the Second Sino-Japanese War
House-to-house fighting in Tai'erzhuang
Date 24 March – 7 April 1938 (2 weeks) Location Tai'erzhuang (Shandong), Pizhou (Jiangsu) 34°33′26″N 117°43′51″E / 34.55722°N 117.73083°E / 34.55722; 117.73083 Result Chinese victory
Belligerents
Republic of China National Revolutionary Army	Empire of Japan Imperial Japanese Army
Commanders and leaders
Li Zongren Pang Bingxun Sun Lianzhong Han Deqin Bai Chongxi Sun Zhen Tang Enbo Wang Mingzhang † Zhang Zizhong Guan Linzheng	Rensuke Isogai (10th Division) Itagaki Seishiro (5th Division)
Units involved
National Revolutionary Army 3rd and 4th PG Squadrons, Nationalist Air Force of China	North China Area Army, 2nd Army 10th Division 5th Division
Strength
100,000–288,000 troops in 10 divisions	40,000–70,000 troops in 2 divisions 80+ tanks
Casualties and losses
20,000~ [1][2]	8,000[3] - 20,000 killed in action[4][5] 12,000 wounded [6]

The Battle of Taierzhuang (Chinese: 臺兒莊會戰; pinyin: Tái'érzhuāng Huìzhàn) took place during the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1938. It was fought between the armies of the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The battle was the war's first major Chinese victory. It humiliated the Japanese military and its reputation as an invincible force; for the Chinese, it represented a tremendous morale boost.

The battle was characterized by vicious close quarters combat. The cramped conditions of urban warfare neutralized Japanese advantages in cannon and heavy artillery. Unlike previous engagements, the Chinese managed to resupply their troops whilst also preventing the Japanese from doing the same. After two weeks of heavy fighting, the Japanese were bled dry of men and material, and were forced out of Taierzhuang with heavy casualties.^[7][8]

Taierzhuang is located on the eastern bank of the Grand Canal of China and was a frontier garrison northeast of Xuzhou. It was also the terminus of a local branch railway from Lincheng. Xuzhou itself was the junction of the Jinpu railway (Tianjin-Pukou), the Longhai railway (Lanzhou-Lianyungang), and the headquarters of the KMT's 5th War Zone.