Archives cover key battle against Japanese aggressors

China released archives of a key battle in Wuhan city in 1938 on Sunday, as the country marks the 69th anniversary of the victory against Japanese aggressors.

This is the 14th part of the series released daily by the State Archives Administration beginning Aug. 25.

In June 1938, the Japanese army initiated an attack on Wuhan in central China, then political and military center of the country following the fall of Nanjing in December 1937.

The Japanese army with around 250,000 soldiers, over 400 aircraft and over 100 ships encountered fierce resistance from the Chinese army which rallied nearly 1.1 million soldiers, 200 aircraft and over 30 ships, according to the archives.

The battle lasted for four and a half months and ended after the Chinese army withdrew and gave up Wuhan on Oct. 25.

It was the longest and largest-scale battle since the full-scale anti-Japanese war began on July 7, 1937.

After the fall of Wuhan, the advance of the Japanese army reached its limit and were slowed down because of the extended battlefront and limitations of its national power, shattering the aggressors' dream of a quick final showdown in China, according to the synopsis.

China has officially set Sept. 3 as the "Victory Day," to mark Japan's surrender on Sept. 2, 1945.