Battle of Zaoyang-Yichang

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NRA troops in action.

Date	1 May - 18 June 1940
Location	Vicinities of Zaoyang and Yichang, Hubei
Result	Chinese victory

Combatants

National Revolutionary Army, China 5th theatre

Imperial Japanese Army, Japan

Commanders

Li Zongren

Waichiro Sonobe

Strength

2nd, 11th, 22nd, 29th, 31st, 33rd Army Groups, 2nd, New 12th, 18th, 39th, 75th Corps, Eastern Hupei Guerilla Force

3rd, 4th, 13th, 39th Divisions, 2 partial Divisions (6th, 40th), 14th and 18th Independent Mixed Brigades, 3rd Flight group

Casualties

Second Sino-Japanese War
Major engagements in bold Mukden - Manchuria -(Jiangqiao - Nenjiang Bridge - Chinchow - Harbin) -Shanghai (1932) -Pacification of Manchukuo - Operation Nekka - ( Rehe - Great Wall) - Suiyuan - Marco Polo Bridge - Beiping-Tianjin - Chahar - Shanghai (1937) (Sihang Warehouse) - Beiping-Hankou Railway - Tianjin-Pukou Railway - Taiyuan - (Pingxingguan) - Xinkou - Nanjing - Xuzhou- Taierzhuang - N.-E.Henan - (Lanfeng) - Amoy - Wuhan-(Wanjialing)- Canton - (Hainan) - (Xiushui River) - Nanchang - Suixian-Zaoyang - (Swatow) - 1st Changsha - S.Guangxi- (Kunlun Pass) - Winter Offensive -(Wuyuan) - Zaoyang-Yichang - Hundred Regiments - French Indochina - C. Hupei - S.Henan - W. Hopei - Shanggao - S.Shanxi - 2nd Changsha - 3rd Changsha - Yunnan-Burma Road-(Yenangyaung)- Zhejiang-Jiangxi - W.Hubei - N.Burma-W.Yunnan - Changde - C.Henan - 4th Changsha - Guilin-Liuzhou - W.Henan-N.Hubei - W.Hunan- 2nd Guangxi edit

The Battle of Zaoyang-Yichang (Traditional Chinese: 棗宜會戰; Simplified Chinese: 枣宜会战; pinyin: Zǎoyí Huìzhàn), also known as the Battle of Zaoyi was one of the 22 major engagements between the National Revolutionary Army and Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

The Japanese were seeking a quicker solution to getting the Chinese to surrender. They contemplated moving directly down the Yangtze to the relocated Chinese capital, Chongqing. To do so, they would need to capture a critical town in western Hubei province, Yichang.

The Japanese attack did not commit much troops or materiel, which enabled the main Chinese commander, Li Zongren, who had frustrated the Japanese before, to repel the Japanese.