Seeing the whole picture

Homeless residents flock to the streets after an air raid in Chongqing in 1939.[Photo provided to China Daily]

At least 14 million Chinese died during the war - over 17 times the combined death toll of the United Kingdom and the US, which was around 800,000.

Another 80-100 million Chinese became refugees, Mitter writes in his book, citing figures from the war archives.

Unfortunately, China's wartime sacrifices have largely faded from Western narratives and the country's role in the war wasn't properly recognized.

"If China was considered at all, it was a minor player, a bit-part actor in a war where the United States, Soviet Union and Britain played much more significant roles," Mitter writes in the preface to his book.

In an earlier review of the English version, the Wall Street Journal described Mitter's book as giving China its "historical due".

When the book's Chinese version was published in 2014, Cao Jingxing, a veteran news commentator and chief editor of Hong Kong-based TV networks Asian United Broadcasting, said had it not been for China's perseverance against the Japanese invasion, WWII would have ended with greater difficultly.

Five books give glimpses of war