Battle Of Lanfeng The Battle of Lanfeng was part of the larger campaign for Northern and Eastern Honan (Feb. 7- June 10th 1938) and was occuring at the same time as the Battle of Xuzhou (Late Dec. - Early June, 1938). It involved a counterattack on the Japanese 14th division, the vanguard of the IJA 1st Army of its North China Area Army - 20,000 men and tanks. The Battle of Xuzhou was fought between Japanese and Chinese forces in May of 1938 during World War Two. ...

China

1st War Area - Cheng Chien

- Eastern Honan Army - Hsueh Yueh

-- 64th Corps - Li Han-huen

--- 155th Division - Chen Kung-hsin

--- 187th Division - Peng Ling-cheng

-- 8th Corps - Huang Chieh

--- 40th Division - Lo Li-jung

--- 102nd Division - Po Hui-chang

-- 74th Corps - Wang Yao-wu

--- 51st Division - Wang Yao-wu

--- 58th Division - Po Hui-chang

- 71st Corps Sung Hsi-lien (Song Xilian)

--- 87th Division [2]

--- 88th Division [2]

Reinforcements [May22nd]

- 17th Army - Hu Tsung-nan [Hu Zongnan - May22nd]

-- 1st Corps - Li Tieh-chun

--- 1st Division - Li Tieh-chun

--- 78th Division - Li Wen

- 27th Corps - Kuei Yung-ching

--- 36th Division [2] - Chiang Fu-sheng

--- 46th Divison - Li Liang-yung

- 200th Mechanized Division (part) - Qiu Qingquan

-- 2 full strength armoured battalions

• These Chinese armoured battalions would have been equipped with new Soviet T-26 tanks.

Japan

North China Area Army - Juichi Terauchi [1,3]

1st Army - Kyoji Kotsuki

- 14th Division - Kenji Doihara

-- 27th Infantry Brigade

--- 2nd Infantry Regiment

--- 59th Infantry Regiment

-- 28th Infantry Brigade

---15th Infantry Regiment

---50th Infantry Regiment

--20th Field Artillery Regiment

--18th Cavalry Regiment

--14th Engineer Regiment

---14th Transport Regiment

• IJA 1st Army had these armoured units direcly under its command that could have been assigned to 14th Division: [3]

--1st Independent Light Armored Car Squadron

--5th Independent Light Armored Car Squadron

--2nd Tank Battalion

Sources:

[1] Hsu Long-hsuen and Chang Ming-kai, History of The Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945) 2nd Ed. ,1971. Translated by Wen Ha-hsiung , Chung Wu Publishing; 33, 140th Lane, Tung-hwa Street, Taipei, Taiwan Republic of China.

page 230-235

Map. 9-2

[2] German trained Division. Note these divisions had been badly mauled in the battles of Shanghai and of Nanking in 1937 and were no longer the crack units they once were.

[3] IJA in China orbat, 1937 to 1945