Battle of Wanjialing Battle of Wanjialing , well known in Chinese text as the Victory of Wanjialing ( ) refers to the Chinese Army ' s successful engagement during the Wuhan theatre of the Second Sino - Japanese War against the Japanese 101st and 106th Divisions around the Wanjialing region in 1938 . Combatants . Chinese . In the Battle of Wanjialing , the Chinese side consisted of the 4th Army , the élite 74th Army , 66th Army , 187th Division , 91st Division , New 13th Division , 142nd Division , 60th Division , Reserved 6th Division , 19th Division , a brigade from the 139th Division and the New 15th Division , which totals up to 100 , 000 men . The chief commander in the frontline was the commander of the 9th Group Army Wu Qiwei . They were under the overall command of the supreme commander of the 9th Military Region Xue Yue . Japanese . The Japanese side consisted of the 106th Division , led by lieutenant - general Junrokurō Matsuura . Under the 106th Division , there were the 111th Infantry Brigade ( 113th and 147th Infantry Regiments ) and 136th Brigade ( 123rd and 145th Infantry Regiments ) , as well as Regiments of cavalry , artillery , engineers and transport . Reinforcing the 106th division were the 9th , 27th and 101st divisions . The battle . Under the orders of Yasuji Okamura , the Japanese 106th Division intended to cross the Wanjialing Region in hopes of cutting off the connection between the Chinese Army in Nanxun and Wuning Railway . The plan was discovered by Xue Yue , and the Chinese Army managed to surround the 106th Division with 16 divisions at Lushan . On August 20 , the Japanese 101st division amphibiously landed at Xingzi in an attempt to relieve the surrounded 106th division , but faced fierce resistance from the Wang Jingjiu ' s 25th corps and Ye Zhao ' s 66th corps . Unable to break through the Chinese lines , Japanese deployed poison gas in an attempt to break through , and , although the Chinese army was sorely lacking in protective equipment against chemical weapons , were still unable to break through the Chinese lines . At the beginning of September , Okamura ordered the 9th and 27th Divisions to relieve the 106th Division , but they were halted by the Chinese Army . On September 24 , the Japanese army finally managed to punch through the Chinese lines in the west , but were then confronted by Ou Zhen ' s 4th corps and Yu Jishi ' s elite 74th corps and were once again surrounded . Desperate to break open a safe path for their trapped ground forces , the Japanese Air Force began heavy bombing on the Chinese positions with incendiary bombs , resulting in many Chinese deaths . On October 7 , the Japanese divisions were suddenly struck by fierce counter - offensives by the Chinese army . The Japanese divisions had accumulated tremendous casualties by now , and the remaining units which were still intact hastily retreated . The two and a half month battle was finally over , ending in a decisive Chinese victory . The date was the October 10 , which was coincidentally the Chinese National Celebration Day . On October 13 , 1938 , the Chinese forces withdrew from the battlefield . At the beginning of the battle , Japanese 101st and 106th divisions had a combined strength of over 31 , 000 troops . By the end of the battle , only a little over 1 , 000 troops had escaped the encirclement of the Chinese army , the rest being killed or captured . During this battle , not only did the Japanese suffer very heavy casualties , they also experienced a large shortage of officers as a result of the heavy fighting . In fact , throughout the battle , Japanese general Shunroku Hata had to constantly airdrop officers onto the bases of his surrounded units . The Battle of Wanjialing was a major victory for the Chinese and the first time a full Japanese division had been destroyed .