Editing Second Sino-Japanese War (section)

===Second phase: October 1938 – December 1941===
[[File:Chinese soldiers 1939.jpg|thumb|National Revolutionary Army soldiers march to the front in 1939.]]
During this period, the main Chinese objective was to drag out the war for as long as possible in a war of attrition, thereby exhausting Japanese resources while it was building up China's military capacity. American general [[Joseph Stilwell]] called this strategy "winning by outlasting". The NRA adopted the concept of "magnetic warfare" to attract advancing Japanese troops to definite points where they were subjected to ambush, flanking attacks, and encirclements in major engagements. The most prominent example of this tactic was the successful defense of [[Changsha]] in 1939, and again in the [[Battle of Changsha (1941)|1941 battle]], in which heavy casualties were inflicted on the IJA.

Local Chinese [[Resistance movement|resistance forces]], organized separately by both the CCP and the KMT, continued their resistance in occupied areas to make Japanese administration over the vast land area of China difficult. In 1940, the [[Eighth Route Army|Chinese Red Army]] launched a [[Hundred Regiments Offensive|major offensive]] in north China, destroying railways and a major coal mine. These constant guerilla and sabotage operations deeply frustrated the Imperial Japanese Army and they led them to employ the [[Three Alls policy]]—kill all, loot all, burn all. It was during this period that the bulk of Japanese war crimes were committed.

By 1941, Japan had occupied much of north and coastal China, but the KMT central government and military had retreated to the western interior to continue their resistance, while the Chinese communists remained in control of base areas in [[Shaanxi]]. In the occupied areas, Japanese control was mainly limited to railroads and major cities ("points and lines"). They did not have a major military or administrative presence in the vast Chinese countryside, where Chinese guerrillas roamed freely.

From 1941 to 1942, Japan concentrated most of its forces in China in an effort to defeat the Communist bases behind Japan's lines.<ref name=":022" />{{Rp|page=35}} To decrease guerilla's human and material resources, the Japanese military implemented its Three Alls policy ("Kill all, loot all, burn all").<ref name=":022" />{{Rp|page=35}} In response, the Communist armies increased their role in production activities, including farming, raising hogs, and cloth-making.<ref name=":022" />{{Rp|page=35}}