| Battle Of Shanghai (1937) |
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The Battle of Shanghai (; and the Empire Of Japan during the Second Sino-Japanese War . It was by far the largest and bloodiest battle of the entire war. Some Japanese sources call the battle "Second Shanghai Incident", but in reality it was a full-scale battle signifying the beginning of an all-out war between the two countries. The term "incident" is used to downplay the Japanese invasion of China. The battle itself lasted three months and involved nearly one million troops, and is divided into three stages. The first stage lasted from August 13 to September 11 , during which the National Revolutionary Army defended the city against the Japanese who were landing at the shores of Shanghai; The second stage lasted from September 12 to November 4 , during which the two armies involved in a bloody house-to-house battle in an attempt to gain control of the city; and the last stage, lasting from November 5 to end of the month, involved the retreat of the Chinese army by flanking Japanese. BACKGROUND The Battle of Shanghai was the first major battle in the Second Sino-Japanese War and escalated the regional skirmish of the Marco Polo Bridge Incident into a full-scale war. There were several underlying causes for this. Strategic reasons Since the outbreak of war triggered by the Marco Polo Bridge Incident on July 7 , 1937 major combat had occurred in and around North China in military operations collectively known as the Battle Of Beiping-Tianjin . Originally, neither China nor Japan expected the skirmirsh at Marco Polo Bridge to escalate into a full scale war. Japan had expected a quick ceasefire and further gain of Chinese territory, similar to what had happened in the earlier conflicts of Mukden Incident (1931), Battle Of Shanghai (1932) , and the Defense Of The Great Wall (1933). However, Chinese public opinion was vehemently opposed to any further concessions, and the National Government under Chiang Kai-shek was prepared to fight a war of resistance. Chiang Kai-shek saw the Marco Polo Bridge Incident as the boldest attempt by Japan to completely separate Hebei , Chahar , Suiyuan , and other northern provinces from central Chinese government control and incorporate them into Manchukuo . This broke the "Final Point" (最後關頭) of Chiang's tolerance of Japanese action in his policy of "internal pacification before external resistance." Chiang was left with no option but to fight a full-scale war with Japan. Chiang Kai-shek and his military advisors believed that the next logical step for the Japanese army was to march from the north, along the Peiping-Hankow and Peiping-Pukow railways, and cut right into Wuhan and areas of middle and eastern China. The Japanese strategy of advancing from the north to the south would have put the Chinese army in a situation where they had to set up a horizontal defense line, in an attempt to encircle the enemy through Pincer Movement . However, Chinese army strength in North China was weak and that without adequate number of trucks and tracked vehicles, the army could not have made sufficient maneuver for such encirclement. On the other hand, the Japanese army had total superiority in North China and the mobility of its armor and artillery pieces was unmatched. Furthermore, North China has been under effective Japanese control for a while since the mid-1930s. Chinese military presence in North China was minimal, and the Kuomintang itself was banned from conducting party activity in the Hebei province because of a series of settlements from the 1930s that "specialized" North China. In addition, most of the more robust Chinese defense works were built around Eastern China, around the lower Yangtze Delta , instead of in North China. Thus it would have been less strategically sound to transport and deploy Chinese troops in the north. Because the Japanese army was moving southward, if the Japanese army had cut through the Chinese defenders, the Chinese line would have been cut in the middle into two parts. The eastern part would have been chased to the sea in a scenario similar to the future Battle Of Dunkirk . Japanese navy had total supremacy in the Chinese seas and the retreating Chinese forces would have been totally decimated by the enemy as they had nowhere to retreat to. Therefore, Chiang decided to establish a second front in Shanghai, to draw enemy troops to the eastern China theater. His plan worked as most Japanese troops arrived by amphibious landings at Shanghai, and Japanese troops from the North China theater did not factor much, until toward the end of the battle when they arrived as reinforcements. Chiang's plan was to fight as much as he could to delay the Japanese advance, while time was bought to move vital industries into the Chinese hinterlands. This strategy of trading "space for time" and diplomatic and domestic concerns were the basis of Chiang's decision to place his most capable, German-trained Divisions to fight in the battle. Diplomatic reasons Shanghai was a cosmoplitan city at the time and had investments and assets from foreign powers, such as the United States , the United Kingdom , and the Empire Of Japan . Before the attacks, the Western Powers have been unwilling to condemn Japan for its encroachments upon China because of their similar anti- Soviet Union political agenda and preoccupation with the situation in Europe. To Chiang Kai-shek, the Japanese attack on the city would provide an impetus for the United States and the United Kingdom to enter the war on the side of China. Chiang had some hope that the war would affect their commercial investments and would force them to propose a quick settlement on terms acceptable to China. In addition, Japan could not possibly sustain a war against America, the greatest economic power, and Great Britain, the greatest colonial power. However, Appeasement permeated the international community and past experience from the 1930s has made it clear that Japanese excursions would not be acted upon by the foreign powers, other than some ineffective censures by the League Of Nations . Already in 1935, Chiang's German advisor, General Alexander Von Falkenhausen , told him that the Nine-Power Treaty was basically a piece of scrap paper and that he should place no hope that the international community would come to intervene . Chiang's foreign and Chinese advisers also believed that China must be prepared to fight alone for at least two years of the war, regardless of the international situation. In addition, the Japanese initially had no strong intention to escalate the Marco Polo Bridge Incident into an all-out war. They had expected that the Chinese make further localized settlements and incorporate Chinese territories piece by piece, as they had done since 1931. Domestic reasons Public opinion and Chinese nationalism were very strong forces that caused Chiang to make a frontal war with Japan. Chiang's National Government have lost considerable public support with the Chinese populace because it was preoccupied with the pacification of the Communist insurgents before Japan. Chiang and his military advisers believed that they needed at least several years of peace to build up the national army to fight Japan on the same footing, thus it would be wasteful to risk his growing divisions. On the other hand, if Chiang decided to put up a great resistance, he risked losing his nascent German-trained divisions that were barely ready to meet the enemy head-on. Thus for Chiang, fighting the war would bolster his public image among the Chinese, but would decrease his political power, which was based on military power. However, stepping down and making more concessions would make him lose public support, but would maintain his political power and grip on a unified China. The Battle of Shanghai would prove to be a great gamble for Chiang. In addition, Chiang could not risk losing the provinces Zhejiang and Jiangsu to Japanese hands. Both Nanjing , the capital of the Republic of China at the time, and Shanghai are situated in the Jiangsu province. Zhejiang and Jiangsu were the economic powerhouse of the lower Yangtze Delta region and much of the industrial progress and political foundation of the " Nanjing Decade " were developed in these two provinces. This region was also the only place where the National Government under Chiang Kai-shek had unopposed political authority, while North China was already subjugated to Japanese influence, and other provinces were subject to the control of remnant warlords or other Kuomintang militarist factions. Thus, Chiang had to defend Shanghai at all costs since it was situated at the core of his administration. Chiang and his advisers were also somewhat confident in raising the stakes of the battle, since in 1932 the Chinese army had fought the Japanese to a standstill in the First Battle Of Shanghai . Chiang also hoped that the battle would produce a quick cease-fire, as was the case in 1932, and a return to pre-July 1937 status to buy more time to build up his military strength. On the other hand, Chiang was determined to fight a protracted war if Japan would not settle for localized settlements, and already planned to move important industries further inland for the coming war of attrition. Prelude to the battle Because of these reasons, Chiang Kai-shek decided to deploy his troops along the Nanjing-Shanghai railway for the impending battle. On August 9 , First Leutenant Isao Oyama (大山勇夫) of the Japanese Marines tried to enter the Hungchiao Airport (虹橋機場) of Shanghai, and was shot to death by the Chinese Peace Preservation Corps (保安隊) stationed near the military airport. On August 10 , the Japanese consul general in Shanghai apologized for the intrusion, but demanded that the Chinese to withdraw the Peace Preservation Corps and to dismantle their defense works around the city. The shooting incident also caused Japan to send in reinforcements into the Shanghai area on August 10 . In response to Japanese troop movements, Chiang Kai-shek began deploying Chinese troops into the Shanghai area on August 11 , in direct violation of the Shanghai Ceasefire Agreement Of 1932 , which forbade the deployment of Chinese troops in Shanghai. On the next day, representatives of the major powers convened and Japan demanded the powers to enforce the withdrawal of Chinese troops from Shanghai, but mayor Yu Hung-Chun protested that Japan had already violated the agreement through its invasion of China on July 7. In Shanghai itself, Chinese citizens feverishly welcomed the presence of Chinese troops in the city. Around 9am on August 13 , the Chinese Peace Preservation Corps exchanged small arms fire with the Japanese plain-clothes troops near the Baoshan Road (寶山路) in northeastern Shanghai. Sporadic shootings continued through the day until around 4pm, when the Japanese headquarters ordered the naval ships of the Third Fleet, stationed in the Yangtze and the Huangpu River , which runs through Shanghai, to open fire on Chinese positions in the city. Thus the Battle of Shanghai began. The Chinese initial plan was to use their outnumbered and relatively better-equipped artillery divisions to swiftly attack the marine command building in the Japanese settlement (which had only 4-6 thousand Japanese marines) and win the war. However, with their strongly fortified reinforced concrete building, the Japanese were able to defend their command building despite the 75-115mm artillery cannons that were used by the Chinese. When, in late August, further tens of thousands of Japanese reinforcements came from the sea the Chinese lost their initiative to the Japanese. THE BATTLE On August 13 , more than 10,000 Japanese troops pressed towards the Kongkew district of Shanghai and encountered the Chinese Peace Preservation Corps. The Japanese expected a swift victory to conquer Shanghai in three days and China in three months. However, they faced strong resistance. On August 22 , the Japanese 3rd, 8th, and 11th Divisions made an amphibious assault under cover from naval bombardments and proceeded to land in at Chwansa, Shihtzelin, and Paoshan districts of Shanghai. The Chinese were unable to counterattack efficiently because of heavy enemy naval firepower, and had to give ground soon after the landing. By September 17 , the Chinese retreated to the North Shanghai Railway Station further inland to set up a defensive line at Lotien-Shuangtsaoten section of the railway. During mid-September vicious house-to-house fighting erupted and 100,000 Japanese troops broke the Lotien line. The Chinese retreated further to the southern bank of Wentsaopang creek and took up defensive positions along the Kwangfu-Szesiangkungmiao-Liuho line. The Japanese further increased their men to 200,000 during October and launched an offensive on the Wentsaopang creek region. The Chinese also started their counter-offensive. This caused tremendous casualties on both sides. On October 23 , the Japanese broke through Chinese lines, forcing them to make an orderly tactical withdrawal further south to the hilltops of the Blue Dragon Ridge. The Chinese fought relentlessly to hold their higher ground. But with casualties of some thirty thousand, the Chinese retreated. However, a group of Chinese troops successfully covered the retreat of the bulk of Chinese forces by fortifying the Sihang Warehouse and defending it against all odds against more than 10 Japanese attacks in 4 days. The story of " The 800 Heroes " spawned a patriotic song of the same name, and successfully raised the morale in an otherwise grim situation. With Chinese lines faltering throughout the city, the Japanese demanded a surrender on November 7th . However, the Chinese refused to surrender and bitter close-quarters battle continued, with Japanese planes strafing and bombing the city. The last Chinese troops evacuated from the city and retreated further south on November 12 . Order of battle Order of battle prior to 13 Aug 1937 (click to show): Order of battle soon after 13 Aug 1937 (click to show): AFTERMATH AND APPRAISAL The Battle of Shanghai was a military defeat but a morale-boosting victory for the Chinese. It made clear to the world that the Chinese would no longer stand by and watch as Japanese forces "peacefully" conquered its territory piece by piece. It also demonstrated that the Chinese would not surrender under intense Japanese fire, something that Chiang wanted to show to the Americans and the British to bring them to his side. However, to prove his point, Chiang also had to send his German-trained divisions into savage battles with the better-equipped and navally-supported Japanese army. The divisions participating in the battle lost one-third of their men in the battle and it greatly reduced the NRA 's manpower. In addition, as General Li Tsung-jen pointed out in his memoir, Chiang knew the Chinese army had a slim chance of winning and Shanghai was likely to be lost. Li Tsung-jen proposed that the National Revolutionary Army should preserve its strength and move further inland to capital Nanking to prepare for a more robust defense there. Strategically speaking, Li believed that China was a vast country and it made no difference if a city could be held for a few months longer at the expense of huge casualties. But Chiang believed that it was necessary to prove Chinese valor to the foreign powers in the city to bring them to China's side. In addition, the Chinese fought tenaciously so that the city would not fall in three days, and that China would not fall in three months as the Japanese had proclaimed. This proved to be a huge morale-booster to the Chinese troops. But Chiang's calculation backfired, as no foreign powers came for effective intervention and the futile defense of the city with heavy casualties also decreased the ability of China to mount effective counteroffensives against the Japanese in later battles. Plus, the heavy casualties inflicted by the Chinese and difficulties in conquering the city caused Japanese troops to carry out the infamous Nanjing Massacre as a retributive action against Chinese resistance. All in all, although the price paid was astronomical, the battle was a proving ground for China's unwillingness to surrender and make any concessions to Japan and its determination to resist Japanese aggression. SEE ALSO |
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