Chinese soldiers at the Battle of Changde in Hunan, 1943

Photograph, World War Two, Far East (1941-1945), 1943.

The Japanese invaded China in 1937, seeking to secure access to raw material reserves and food supplies. Initially the war went well for them, but eventually their campaign became bogged down as they fought both a conventional and counter-insurgency war against both Chinese Nationalist and Communist forces.

Following the Japanese attack on the Western powers in 1941, the war in China became a theatre of the Far East campaign (1941-45). The struggle ended in victory for the Chinese following Japan's surrender in 1945. The conflict in China proved something of a drain on Japanese manpower and contributed to its expansionism in the Pacific theatre running out of steam in 1942.

From a collection of 650 photographs compiled by the Commando Association.