1938

1938 Yellow River flood

Nationalist troops open the Yellow River dike at Huayuankou

Warnings were kept deliberately local so the Japanese would not learn the plan — which left most villages downstream unaware that the river was coming for them.

The 9th, after two failures

The June 5–7 dating in the listing belongs to work at the wrong site. Micah Muscolino's chronology places two failed attempts at Zhaokou on 4–6 June 1938, after which Chinese Nationalist troops excavated the Yellow River's southern dike at Huayuankou, north of Zhengzhou. Water spilled through the opening on 9 June.

The dike was opened primarily by excavation, not by simply blowing up a dam.

The Japanese vanguard was less than 50 kilometres away.

What the flood was meant to do

The operation was carried out under Chiang Kai-shek's command to cut the Long-Hai railway, stop the Japanese drive toward Zhengzhou, and cover the retreat and regrouping of Chinese forces.

Only people near the breach received meaningful warning; commanders feared wider notice would reveal the plan and accelerate the Japanese advance. The water moved slowly at first, then advanced southeast across the densely cultivated Henan plain at roughly 16 kilometres a day.

By 15 June it had reached the Long-Hai railway, and a Japanese spokesman acknowledged that it had completely checked the advance on Zhengzhou and would force a change of route toward Wuhan.

Counting the dead is itself disputed

Postwar damage tables covering 44 counties in Henan, Anhui and Jiangsu record 19,934,000 mu flooded — 35 percent of the recorded cultivated area — with 893,303 deaths and 3,911,354 people displaced across the prolonged 1938–1947 disaster.

Diana Lary gives 500,000 as the lowest death estimate. The figures are not interchangeable: immediate drownings cannot be cleanly separated from later deaths from hunger, disease, recurring floods and wartime disruption.

The flood bought time but did not end the campaign — Japanese forces redirected along the Yangtze and took Wuhan in October 1938.

Sources

Researched 24 Aug 2026 6 sources not yet audited Date corrected

How this was checked

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Date corrected. The research places this at 1938-06-09.

What the sources leave uncertain

The supplied June 5 and June 7 dating conflates work at different sites. Muscolino dates two failed Zhaokou attempts to June 4–6 and the successful release of water at Huayuankou to June 9.
Death estimates differ because sources count different territories, causes, and periods. Immediate drownings cannot be cleanly separated from later deaths caused by hunger, disease, recurring floods, and wartime disruption.
Postwar tables give 893,303 deaths and 3,911,354 displaced across 44 counties, while other scholarly estimates give approximately 400,000–500,000 or describe 500,000 as the lowest estimate. Every number needs its definition and time horizon.
The flood blocked the direct Zhengzhou route and bought time, but it did not permanently halt Japan's campaign: Japanese forces redirected toward the Yangtze and captured Wuhan in October.