The Swatow Operation (June 21–27, 1939; ) was part of a campaign by Japan during the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...

to blockade China in order to prevent it from communicating with the outside world and importing needed arms and materials. Control of

Swatow Shantou, alternately romanized as Swatow and sometimes known as Santow, is a prefecture-level city on the eastern coast of Guangdong, China, with a total population of 5,502,031 as of the 2020 census (5,391,028 in 2010) and an administrative ...

and its harbour would provide a base to make the blockade of

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

province more effective.

Order of battle Swatow Operation

Part of Goto Detachment and a part of Sasebo 9th SNLF landed on the east coast on June 21 near the airfield east Swatow. Other Japanese troops in more than ten motor boats proceeded up the Han river and landed at Mei-hsi (near modern Anbu) cutting the road between Swatow north to Chao-chow. A coordinated attack by the Japanese drove the Chinese defenders, Hua Chen-chung's brigade and local militia units, from the city of Swatow. They fell back to the Yenfu–Meihsi line on June 23. The Japanese also had landed at

Jiao Yu Jiao Yu () was a Chinese military general, philosopher, and writer of the Yuan dynasty and early Ming dynasty under Zhu Yuanzhang, who founded the dynasty and became known as the Hongwu Emperor. He was entrusted by Zhu as a leading artillery o ...

, the island south of Swatow, on June 22. They occupied the whole island by June 24. The Chinese fell back to

Fuyang () is a prefecture-level city in northwestern Anhui province, China. It borders Bozhou to the northeast, Huainan to the southeast, Lu'an to the south, and the province of Henan on all other sides. Its population was 8,200,264 inhabitants at the ...

on the 24th to block the approaches to Chaochow as the Japanese landed reinforcements. Proceeding north in pursuit the Japanese also sent forces up the river and landed in the Chinese rear, part of the Chinese force then fell back into the city while the remainder moved into the mountains northwest of the city. The Japanese advancing from the west captured Chaochow by June 27 after heavy street fighting. Later the Chinese sent reinforcements of the 5th Reserve Division, and 1st Advance Column to block the Japanese from further advances and conduct guerrilla warfare on their positions and lines of communications.

References

*Hsu Long-hsuen and Chang Ming-kai, History of The Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) 2nd Ed.,1971. Translated by Wen Ha-hsiung, Chung Wu Publishing; 33, 140th Lane, Tung-hwa Street, Taipei, Taiwan Republic of China. Pg. 492-493 * 中国抗日战争正面战场作战记 China's Anti-Japanese War Combat Operations ** Author : Guo Rugui, editor-in-chief Huang Yuzhang ** Press : Jiangsu People's Publishing House ** Date published : 2005-7-1 ** ** Online in Chines

**
第七部分：相持阶段前期的作战海南岛作战 2
Shantou battles
The Japanese OOB of Swatow Operation

External links

Map of Swatow Operation
{{coord, 23.3388, 116.7120, display=title Battles of the Second Sino-Japanese War 1939 in China 1939 in Japan Military history of Guangdong Conflicts in 1939 June 1939 events