Battle of Pingxingguan

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Battle of Pingxingguan" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (September 2012) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Battle of Pingxingguan
Part of the Second Sino-Japanese War
Chinese soldiers firing a Type 24 heavy machine gun at an ambush against Japanese troops in the Battle of Pingxing Pass
Date Evening of 24 September 1937 – noon of 25 September 1937 Location Pingxingguan, Shanxi 39°20′43.98″N 113°57′34.23″E / 39.3455500°N 113.9595083°E / 39.3455500; 113.9595083 Result Chinese victory
Belligerents
Republic of China	Empire of Japan
Commanders and leaders
Lin Biao Zhu De	Itagaki Seishiro
Units involved
National Revolutionary Army Eighth Route Army  Republic of China Air Force	Imperial Japanese Army
Strength
6,000 troops of the 115th Division	15,000 troops (5th Division); however, only certain supply troops and the 3rd Battalion of the 21st Regiment were involved in the actual ambush
Casualties and losses
~400[1]	400–500[1] 165 killed, 75 wounded[2]

The Battle of Pingxingguan (Chinese: 平型關戰役), commonly called the Great Victory of Pingxingguan in Mainland China, was an engagement fought on 25 September 1937, at the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War, between the Eighth Route Army of the Chinese Communist Party and the Imperial Japanese Army.^[3]

The battle resulted in the loss of 400 to 600 soldiers on both sides, but the Chinese captured 100 trucks full of supplies. The victory gave the Chinese Communists a tremendous boost since it was the only division-size battle that they fought during the entire war.^[3]