Beiping–Hankou Railway Operation

Beiping–Hankou Railway Operation
	Part of the Second Sino-Japanese War and the interwar period
Date	Mid-August – December 1937
Location	Beiping–Hankou Railway, Republic of China
Result	Japanese victory
Belligerents
Japan	China
Commanders and leaders
Hisaichi Terauchi; Kiyoshi Katsuki; Toshizō Nishio	Song Zheyuan
Units involved
Imperial Japanese Army 5th division; 6th division; 14th division; 16th division; 20th division; 108th division; 109th division; Kawabe brigade; ;	Republic of China Army First Military Front : 30 divisions, 5 brigades, and 3 regiments;
Strength
78,000; Chinese Claim : 192,400	297,347
Casualties and losses
According to statistics of the First and Second Armies in major battles :; Battles of Zhuozhou and Baoding (14 until 24 September 1937) : 1,047 killed and 3,083 wounded; Battles of Shijiazhuang and Fuyang River (late September until late October 1937) :; First Army : 329 killed and 1,002 wounded; Second Army : 82 killed and 235 wounded; Mopping-up operation against Song Zheyuan's army (4 November until 15 December 1937) : 264 killed and 996 wounded;	From 14 September until 28 December 1937 :; 467 officers and 13,932 soldiers killed; 585 officers and 13,336 soldiers wounded; 153 officers and 5,693 soldiers missing

The Beiping–Hankou Railway Operation (Japanese: 京漢線作戦; 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 Japanese advanced to the south along the Beiping–Hankou Railway until the Yellow River, capturing Linfen along the way. After the Imperial General Headquarters 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.