Operation Ichi-Go

Battle context

Operation Ichi-Go was a large-scale Japanese offensive fought from April to December 1944 across the Chinese provinces of Henan, Hunan, and Guangxi. It was among the largest operations of the Second Sino-Japanese War in terms of forces committed, with Japan deploying approximately 148,000 troops against a Chinese force of around one million. The disparity in casualties — Japanese losses of roughly 100,000 against Chinese losses estimated between 500,000 and 600,000 — points to the scale of the military disaster sustained by the National Revolutionary Army. The campaign unfolded across three distinct battles, spanning a vast geographic corridor through central and southern China, and placed heavy pressure on the Republic of China's capacity to sustain prolonged conventional resistance during the final phase of the war.