The Battle of Central Henan, was the first offensive in the Japanese Operation Ichi-Go during the Second Sino-Japanese War

Second Sino-Japanese War

The Second Sino-Japanese War was a military conflict fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. From 1937 to 1941, China fought Japan with some economic help from Germany , the Soviet Union and the United States...

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In the Battle of Central Henan, 390,000 Chinese soldiers, led by General Tang Enbo (汤恩伯), were deployed to defend the strategic position of Luoyang

Luoyang

Luoyang is a prefecture-level city in western Henan province of Central China. It borders the provincial capital of Zhengzhou to the east, Pingdingshan to the southeast, Nanyang to the south, Sanmenxia to the west, Jiyuan to the north, and Jiaozuo to the northeast.Situated on the central plain of...

. The 12th Army

Twelfth Army (Japan)

The was an army of the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War.-History:The Japanese 12th Army was formed on November 7, 1938 under the North China Area Army as a garrison force for the occuparion the provinces North China...

 spearheaded by the 3rd Tank Division

3rd Tank Division (Imperial Japanese Army)

The , was one of four armored divisions of the Imperial Japanese Army in World War II.-History:The 3rd Tank Division was raised in Mengjiang on June 24, 1942 as part of the Japanese Northern China Area Army under the overall aegis of the Mongolia Garrison Army...

of the IJA crossed the Yellow River around Zhengzhou in late April and defeated Chinese forces near Xuchang, then swung around clockwise and besieged Luoyang. Luoyang was defended by three Chinese divisions. The 3rd Tank Division began to attack Luoyang on May 13 and took it on May 25.