Battle of Lanfeng

The Battle of Lanfeng (Chinese: 兰封会战), in the Second Sino-Japanese War, was part of the larger campaign for Northern and Eastern Henan (February 7 – June 10, 1938) and took place at the same time as the Battle of Xuzhou (Late December – Early June 1938) was occurring.

Battle of Lanfeng
Part of Second Sino-Japanese War
Date (1938-05-20) (1938-06-10)May 20 – June 10, 1938 (3 weeks) Location Kaifeng and Shangqiu Counties, Henan, Republic of China Result Chinese victory Japanese capture of Shangqiu
Belligerents
China	Japan
Commanders and leaders
Cheng Qian	Kenji Doihara
Units involved
200th Division	14th Division
Strength
Unknown	Around 7,000[1]
Casualties and losses
Heavy	Heavy

It involved a Chinese counterattack at Lanfeng by elements of the 1st War Area against the positions held by the Japanese 14th Division. The 14th Division was the vanguard of the Japanese First Army (North China Area Army) and numbered 20,000 men with tanks. It was the first action of the Chinese 200th Division, the first mechanized division in the Chinese Army.

In the assault, the 200th Division of the National Revolutionary Army, located to the west of the line of contact, overran the flanks of Kenji Doihara's 14th Division, successfully encircling 7,000 men of the division in the county of Lanfeng. The battle resulted in a Japanese defeat, forestalling the Japanese capture of the northern section of the Longhai railway. The Chinese victory, which The New York Times described as a second Taierzhuang, resulted in the near destruction of the 14th Division.[2]

Simultaneously, Japanese forces undertook a successful offensive operation that captured the city of Kweiteh southeast of Lanfeng.[2]