Benjamin Lai, born and living in Hong Kong and educated in the UK, was one of the few ethnic Chinese to serve as an officer in the British Army. His previous books include several for Osprey including CAM 309 Shanghai and Nanjing 1937 (2017), CAM 263 Hong Kong 1941-45 (2014) and ELI 194 The Chinese People's Liberation Army since 1949: Ground Forces (2012).

Johnny Shumate works as a freelance illustrator living in Nashville, Tennessee. He began his career in 1987 after graduating from Austin Peay State University. His greatest influences are Angus McBride, Don Troiani and Edouard Detaille.

In July 1937, the Marco Polo Bridge Incident sparked a bloody conflict between Chinese and Japanese forces that would rage across China and beyond for more than eight years.

The two sides' forces brought very different strengths and limitations to the conflict. In 1937 China was divided into factions, each controlled by warlords with independent forces, and there was no unified Chinese army. In order to fight the Japanese Chiang Kai-shek, the nominal leader of Nationalist China, was compelled to do deals with these regional powers. For their part, the Japanese employed ground forces broadly comparable to those fielded by Western powers, including modern artillery and tanks. Featuring specially commissioned artwork and drawing upon an array of sources, this study investigates the origins, training, doctrine and armament of the Chinese and Japanese forces who fought in the opening stages of the Second Sino-Japanese War.