Battle of Nanking

Battle context

The Battle of Nanking was fought in early December 1937 as Imperial Japanese forces under Iwane Matsui, Heisuke Yanagawa, and Yasuhiko Asaka moved against Nanjing, the capital of the Republic of China. Chinese forces under Tang Shengzhi numbered approximately 100,000 against a Japanese force of 200,000. Chinese casualties reached 33,000 against Japanese losses of 1,558, reflecting the scale of the defeat. The fall of the Chinese capital represented a major blow to the National Revolutionary Army and the Nationalist government during the early phase of the Second Sino-Japanese War, demonstrating Japan's capacity to strike at the political center of Chinese resistance.