The fracture of the Cr12MoV guide pillar in a progressive die during punching was investigated by SEM observation, metallographic examination, chemical composition analysis, hardness testing. It is showed that the failure of the guide pillar was caused by fatigue. The fatigue crack initiated from the circumferential groove by repeated punching, and propagated throughout about 1/3 of fracture surface, then, instantaneous fracture eventually took place. Besides, there are some bigger eutectic carbides and inclusions in the pillar that made the material worse.