This article contains a list of battles and military campaigns with most Japanese military deaths.
Introduction This article lists battles and campaigns in which the number of Japanese military fatalities exceed 1,000. The term casualty in warfare refers to a soldier who is no longer fit to fight after being in combat. Casualties can include killed, wounded, missing, captured or deserted.
In this article the numbers of killed refer to those killed in action, killed by disease, missing presumed dead, or someone who died from their wounds.
Battles Battle or siege Conflict DateEstimated number killed Opposing forceReferences Battle of Shanghai Second Sino-Japanese War China Battle of Guam (1944) World War II United States Battle of Noryang Imjin War Joseon Ming dynasty Battle of Manila (1945) World War II United States Philippines Robert Ross Smith, Triumph in the Philippines, United States Army in World War II, Office of the Chief of Military History, Department of the Army, 1961, pp.306-307. Battle of Mukden Russo-Japanese War Russia Menning p.194Martin p.207 Siege of Port Arthur Russo-Japanese War Russia Clodfelter, Micheal, Warfare and Armed Conflicts, a statistical reference, Volume II 1900–91, pub McFarland, p648. Battle of Peleliu World War II United States "History of the USMC in World War II vol. IV: Western Pacific Operations p. 179, 253. Retrieved 2/10/23. According to American records, the Japanese lost more than 12,000 dead and 300 prisoners on the 3 main islands, excluding several dozen more who survived the initial battle and were captured or killed later. Battle of Wuhan Second Sino-Japanese War China Battles of Khalkhin Gol Soviet–Japanese border conflicts Soviet Union Mongolia Battle of Mutanchiang Soviet–Japanese War Soviet Union Battle of the Sittang Bend World War II United Kingdom Allen pp 524–525Slim pp. 600–04 Battle of Changsha (1944) Second Sino-Japanese War China Battle of Buna–Gona World War II Australia United States Battle of Kohima World War II United Kingdom Nepal Battle of Meiktila and Mandalay World War II United Kingdom United States Allen (1984), p.638 Battle of Villa Verde Trail World War II United States Smith (1993), pp.509-510 Battle of Tinian World War II United States Battle of Liaoyang Russo-Japanese War Russia The Official history of the Russo-Japanese War / prepared by the Historical Section of the Committee of Imperial Defence Part IV p 115 Battle of Biak World War II United States Australia Smith 1996, pp. 391 Battle of Munda Point World War II United States Rentz, Marines in the Central Solomons, p. 93 Battle of Shaho Russo-Japanese War Russia Kowner, Historical Dictionary of the Russo-Japanese War, pp. 347–350. Battle of West Hunan Second Sino-Japanese War China Battle of Eniwetok World War II United States Rottman, G. The Marshall Islands 1944: Operation Flintlock, the capture of Kwajalein and Eniwetok. Oxford: Osprey Publishing Ltd (2004) Battle of Mount Austen, the Galloping Horse, and the Sea Horse World War II United States Colony of Fiji New Zealand An unknown number, but probably in the thousands more Japanese soldiers throughout Guadalcanal died during this time from starvation and tropical disease but this is the approximate number killed by direct American action during this battle. Miller, pp. 244, 249–252, 270, 275–279; Frank, pp. 533–534, 555–558, 562–563, 566–567. Battle of Xuzhou Second Sino-Japanese War China Battle of Bataan World War II United States Philippines Senshi Sōsho (戦史叢書) (in Japanese). Vol. 2. Asagumo Shimbunsha. 1966. Battle of Midway World War II United States Battle of Lake Khasan Soviet–Japanese border conflicts Soviet Union Bakaev D. A. In the Fire of Khasan and Khalkhin-Gol. - Saratov, 1984. - P. 775. Siege of Myitkyina World War II China United States Battle of Bessang Pass World War II United States Philippines Smith, R.R., 2005, Triumph in the Philippines, Honolulu: University Press of the Pacific, Battle of Attu World War II United States Canada Battle of Baguio World War II United States Battle of Cape Gloucester World War II United States Australia Tanaka 1980, p.120 Battle of Nanking Second Sino-Japanese War China Masahiro Yamamoto, Nanking: Anatomy of an Atrocity (Westport, Connecticut: Praeger, 2000), 118. Yamamoto cites Nankin Senshi based on testimonies of Japanese veterans.Askew, David (2003). Defending Nanking: An Examination of the Capital Garrison Forces. Sino-Japanese Studies. p. 158. Battle of Sandepu Russo-Japanese War Russia Kowner, Historical Dictionary of the Russo-Japanese War, pp. 342–343. Siege of Pyongyang (1593) Imjin War Ming dynasty Joseon Battle of Changsha (1941) Second Sino-Japanese War China Japanese Monograph No. 179, Central China Area Operations Record 1937-1941 pp. 265 Battle of Changde Second Sino-Japanese War China Battle of Xinkou Second Sino-Japanese War China Battle of Changsha (1941–1942) Second Sino-Japanese War China Battle of Tulagi and Gavutu–Tanambogo World War II United States United Kingdom Combat Narrative, p. 77. Battle of Sio World War II Australia United States Battle of Zaoyang–Yichang Second Sino-Japanese War China Battle of Mount Song World War II China Battle of Angaur World War II United States Battle of North Borneo World War II Australia United States Battle of Wau World War II Australia United States Battle of Qingshanli Korean Revolution Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea Battle of South Shanxi (1940) Second Sino-Japanese War China
Campaigns Campaign Conflict DateEstimated number killed Opposing forceReferences Philippines campaign (1944–1945) World War II United States Philippines Australia Mexico Toland, "The Rising Sun" p. 607Smith, Triumph in the Philippines, p. 694 New Guinea campaign World War II United States Australia United Kingdom Netherlands Japan campaign World War II United States United Kingdom Canada New Zealand Australia Soviet Union . Combined death tolls of "Japan proper" (103,900) and Okinawa (89,400). Burma campaign World War II United Kingdom India Burma Gambia Gold Coast Kenya Nigeria Northern Rhodesia Southern Rhodesia Nyasaland Uganda China United States Nepal McLynn, The Burma Campaign: Disaster into Triumph, 1942–1945, p. 1.Chidorigafuchi National Cemetery . Retrieved 10 March 2016. Operation Ichi-Go World War II China United States 記者が語りつぐ戦争 16 中国慰霊 読売新聞社 (1983/2) P187 Battle of Okinawa World War II United States United Kingdom Australia New Zealand Canada Hirofumi Hayashi, "Okinawa-sen to minshu" (Japanese). p. 5. Retrieved 2/1/2024 Battle of Leyte World War II United States Australia Toland, "The Rising Sun" p. 607 Bougainville campaign World War II United States Australia New Zealand Fiji Rottman 2005, pp. 70–72; Gailey 1991, p. 211 and Long 1963, pp. 102–103 Soviet invasion of Manchuria World War II Soviet Union Mongolia Australian War Memorial. "Australia-Japan Research Project: Dispositions and deaths". Citing figures of the Relief Bureau of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, March 1964. Total dead in Manchuria are given as 45,900 for the IJA, but this includes the earlier Soviet–Japanese border conflicts (c. 10,000 deaths), soldiers killed by Chinese Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army and Chinese Anti-Japanese volunteer armies in the Manchurian insurgency (c. 15,000 deaths), and POW deaths after the war. Guadalcanal campaign World War II United States Australia United Kingdom New Zealand Cowdrey (1994) p. 71: "Of the 19,200 dead, only 8,500 were 'killed in actual combat,' the majority perishing by malnutrition, malaria, diarrhea, and beriberi." Naval personnel deaths both on land and at sea are not included. Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign World War II United States Rottman, Gordon (2013). The Marshall Islands 1944: Operation Flintlock, the capture of Kwajalein and Eniwetok (Campaign). Oxford: Osprey Publishing. Japanese invasion of Manchuria Interwar period China 1939–1940 Winter Offensive Second Sino-Japanese War China Huon Peninsula campaign World War II United States Australia Tanaka 1980, p.70 Malayan campaign World War II United Kingdom Netherlands Aleutian Islands campaign World War II United States Canada Operation Kikusui I World War II United States Philippines campaign (1941–1942) World War II United States Philippines Operation Kikusui World War II United States United Kingdom Bougainville counterattack World War II United States Fiji New Zealand James (2012), p. 155 Admiralty Islands campaign World War II United States Krueger, Walter, Report on Brewer Operation, 2 August 1944, AWM54 519/1/12. Japanese intervention in Siberia Russian Civil War Russian SFSR Far Eastern Republic World War I: A Student Encyclopedia. p.969. Hundred Regiments Offensive Second Sino-Japanese War China Beiping–Hankou Railway Operation Second Sino-Japanese War China Fall of Singapore World War II United Kingdom Australia New Georgia campaign World War II United States New Zealand Australia Altobello, Into the Shadows Furious, p. 354. Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign Second Sino-Japanese War China Pescadores campaign First Sino-Japanese War China Tianjin–Pukou Railway Operation Second Sino-Japanese War China
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