In order to study the fatigue crack and retardation mechanism in variable loading, the effects of crack tip branching in crack growth retardation were examined. The characteristics of crack tip branching behavior were considered with respect to microstructure and crack tip branching angle was examined. Crack tip branching was observed along the grain boundary of finite and pearlite structure. It was found that the branching angle ranges from 25 to 53 degrees. Using the finite element method, the variable of crack driving farce to branching angle was examined. The effective crack driving farce (K$\_$eff/) decreased as the branching angle increased. The rate of decrease was 33% for kinked type and 29% for forked one. It was confirmed that the effect of crack tip branching is a very important factor in crack growth retardation. Therefore, crack branching effect should be considered in building the hypothetical model to predict crack growth retardation.