Atlas of Battles

battle, major, interwar and Second World War

Operation Ichi-Go

Operation Ichi-Go was a battle fought in 1944 in what is now China. Its exact site is not recorded; the atlas places it at its recorded location. It was part of Second Sino-Japanese War, which ran from 1937 to 1945. The recorded result: Japanese victory.

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Japanese mechanized forces marching towards Lo-yang
Japanese mechanized forces marching towards Lo-yang. Yomiuri Shimbun, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Fought1944
WhereChina22.600N, 111.000E, placed at the location, approximate
OutcomeJapanese victory
BelligerentsEmpire of JapanagainstUnited States
Part ofSecond Sino-Japanese War1937 to 1945

Where it sits in Second Sino-Japanese War

Defense of Harbin, 1932Battle of Wenzaobang, 1932Battle of Nanking, 1937Siege of Shanghai, 1937Battle of Luodian, 1937Marco Polo Bridge incident, 1937Battle of Beiping–Tianjin, 1937Battle of Zhangjiakou, 1937Battle of Nankou, 1937Battle of Shanghai, 1937Battle of Wusong, 1937Battle of Taiyuan, 1937Battle of Datong, 1937Battle of Jining, 1937Battle of Xinkou, 1937Battle of Pingxingguan, 1937Defense of Sihang Warehouse, 1937Battle of Jinshanwei, 1937Defense of Linyi, 1938Siege of Xuzhou, 1938Battle of Northern and Eastern Henan, 1938Defense of Teng County, 1938Battle of Taierzhuang, 1938Battle of Xuzhou, 1938Battle of Wuhan, 1938Battle of Changsha, 1939Battle of Nanchang, 1939Battle of Suixian–Zaoyang, 1939Battle of South Guangxi, 1939Battle of Baotou, 1939Battle of Kunlun Pass, 1939Battle of West Suiyuan, 1940Battle of Wuyuan, 1940Battle of Zaoyang–Yichang, 1940Hundred Regiments Offensive, 1940Battle of South Henan, 1941Battle of Shanggao, 1941Battle of South Shanxi, 1941Battle of Changsha, 1941Battle of Changsha, 1942Battle of Tachiao, 1942Battle of Oktwin, 1942Battle of Toungoo, 1942Battle of Yenangyaung, 1942Battle of Lashio, 1942Battle of Yunnan-Burma Road, 1942Battle of West Hubei, 1943Battle of Northern Burma and Western Yunnan, 1943Battle of Changde, 1943Battle of Dushan, 1944Battle of Central Henan, 1944Operation Ichi-Go, 1944Battle of Changsha, 1944Defense of Hengyang, 1944Battle of Guilin–Liuzhou, 1944Battle of West Hunan, 194519321945Operation Ichi-Go, 1944
58 placed engagements of Second Sino-Japanese War in time order; taller ticks are more widely documented. Each tick is a link.

Record

Date1944 (year precision)
to 1944
PlaceChina
22.600N, 111.000E
KindBattle, interwar and Second World War
Territorial changeJapanese forces capture the cities of Luoyang, Changsha, Guilin, Hengyang, Liuzhou and Nanning; Establishment of a Japanese-occupied corridor from Central China Plain to French Indochina; Subsequent Japanese capture and destruction of key Allied airbases across southern China
StrengthJapanese record: In the Henan battlefield; 148,000 troops; 33,000 horses; 269 artillery pieces; 691 tanks; 6,100 vehicles; In the Hunan-Guangxi battlefield; 362,000 troops; 67,000 horses; 1,282 artillery pieces; 103 tanks; 9,450 vehicles; Total; 510,000 troops; 100,000 horses; 1,551 artillery pieces; 794 tanks; 15,550 vehicles; 200 bombersWestern Claim: 1,000,000; Chinese Claim: In the Henan battlefield: 300,000 troops; In the Hunan battlefield: 286,000 troops; In the Guangxi battlefield: at least 100,000 troops
Casualties and losses100,000 combat and non-combat deaths; heavy materiel lossesWestern Claim: 500,000–600,000 casualties (according to "China's Bitter Victory: War with Japan, 1937-45"); Armies totalling 750,000 'destroyed' or put out of action according to Cox; 130,000 killed in action; Chinese Claims: According to the Ministry of Military Affairs for the Chinese Army in 1944 : Statistics compiled in 1944 : 124,893 killed; 181,312 wounded; 60,149 missing; 366,354 total combat casualties; Post-war statistics : 102,719 killed; 103,596 wounded; 4,419 missing; 210,734 total combat casualties; 1,771,618 other losses
Commanders
Operation Ichi-GoOperation Ichi-GoBattle of Nanpéng IslandBattle of Nanpéng IslandYulinWuzhouMaomingYangjiangZhaoqing100 km22.600N, 111.000E
Placed at its recorded location; the exact site is not recorded. with the nearest other engagements in the atlas. Present-day coastlines, rivers and borders; towns from Natural Earth.

The ground today

Relief of the ground around the site of Operation Ichi-Go
Relief within about 10.0 km of the site, contours every 25 m. Copernicus DEM GLO-30, ESA.
Satellite view of the site of Operation Ichi-Go today
The same ground from Sentinel-2 on 2025-01-06. Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2025.

The recorded site stands at about 391 m; within 10.0 km the ground runs from 0 to 517 m, 517 m of relief, steep country and today it is 93% tree cover, 3% grassland, 3% cropland.

tree cover: 93%grassland: 3%cropland: 3%tree cover 93%grassland 3%cropland 3%
west to east, 10.0 km0 to 419 mnorth to south, 10.0 km223 to 506 m
Elevation from the Copernicus DEM GLO-30 (ESA, Airbus); land cover from ESA WorldCover 2021 (CC BY 4.0), within about 5 km of the recorded site. Computed, not recorded.

Nearest engagements

In the same war

Elsewhere in 1944

Operation Ichi-Go is one of 2,997 engagements of the 20th century in the atlas and one of 339 in present-day People's Republic of China.

Sources

Identity, coordinates, dates and the war from Wikidata Q696448, released under CC0. Result, belligerents, commanders, strength and casualties from the infobox of the English Wikipedia article Operation Ichi-Go, revision 1382423136, read 2026-11-14, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; the article's text is not reproduced here. Present-day country and state from Natural Earth. Dates before 1582 follow the Julian calendar as recorded.