The Beiping–Hankou Railway Operation (; Mid August – Dec. 1937) was a follow-up to the Battle of Beiping–Tianjin of the Japanese army in North China at the beginning of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War, fought simultaneously with Tianjin–Pukou Railway Operation. The attack was not authorized by the

Imperial General Headquarters The was part of the Supreme War Council (Japan), Supreme War Council and was established in 1893 to coordinate efforts between the Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy during wartime. In terms of function, it was approximately equi ...

. The Japanese advanced to the south along the Beiping–Hankou Railway until the

Yellow River The Yellow River, also known as Huanghe, is the second-longest river in China and the List of rivers by length, sixth-longest river system on Earth, with an estimated length of and a Drainage basin, watershed of . Beginning in the Bayan H ...

, capturing

Linfen Linfen () is a prefecture-level city in the southwest of Shanxi province, People's Republic of China, China, bordering Shaanxi province to the west. Linfen City is located in the southern part of Shanxi Province, with the remaining branches of T ...

along the way. After the

wrestled control over troops from local commanders, the majority of participating Japanese units were transferred to participate in the concurrent Battle of Taiyuan. These units were replaced by newly formed 108th and 109th divisions.

Operations

In September after securing Beijing and its surrounding area the Japanese army moved south in 2 armies. Their main objective was to secure the major cities and the railway lines connecting them.

Battle of Baoding

Japanese forces approached Baoding, which boasted a sixty-foot wall, two successive moats, and considerable amounts of barbed wire. If properly defended, the city could have held for weeks. Instead, it fell in a single day. The Japanese, as was to become commonplace, committed atrocities within the city after its fall. Acts of rape and murder were committed at the medical college of the city, which was burned, with many of its faculty thrown into the blazing fires.

Aftermath

After the stalemate at

from December 1937 to March 1938, the fighting resumed resulting in

Battle of Xuzhou A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

References

Conflicts in 1937 1937 in China 1937 in Japan Beiping–Hankou Railway August 1937 in Asia September 1937 in Asia October 1937 in Asia November 1937 in Asia December 1937 in Asia {{Japan-battle-stub

Operations

Battle of Baoding

Aftermath

See also

References