Battle of Shanghai
The Battle of Shanghai (Chinese: 淞滬會戰) was the first of the twenty-two major engagements fought between the National Revolutionary Army (NRA) of the Republic of China (ROC) and the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) of the Empire of Japan at the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War. It lasted from August 13, 1937, to November 26, 1937, and was arguably the single largest and longest battle of the entire war,[10] with it even regarded by some historians as the first battle of World War II.[11] The Japanese eventually prevailed after over three months of extensive fighting on land, in the air and at sea. Both sides accused each other of using chemical weapons during the battle, both without evidence.[12] Historian Peter Harmsen stated that the battle "presaged urban combat as it was to be waged not just during the Second World War, but throughout the remainder of the twentieth century" and that it "signalled the totality of modern urban warfare".[13] It has also been called "one of the most incredible defensive battles ever waged on this planet".[14] It is considered to be the single largest urban battle prior to the Battle of Stalingrad.[15]
This article is about the 1937 battle. For the 1932 Japanese attack on Shanghai, see January 28 incident. For other uses, see Battle of Shanghai (disambiguation).
Since the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931 followed by the Japanese attack of Shanghai in 1932, there had been ongoing armed conflicts between China and Japan without an official declaration of war. These conflicts finally escalated in July 1937, when the Marco Polo Bridge Incident triggered the full advance from Japan.[16] Shanghai was China's largest and most cosmopolitan city, with it being the world's fifth largest city at the time.[17][13] Shanghai was known as the "Pearl of the Orient" and "Paris of the East", with it being China's main commercial hub and largest port.[18][19] Dogged Chinese resistance at Shanghai was aimed at stalling the Japanese advance, giving much needed time for the Chinese government to move vital industries to the interior, while at the same time attempting to bring sympathetic Western powers to China's side. During the fierce three-month battle, the forces of China and Japan fought in downtown Shanghai, in the outlying towns, and on the beaches of the Yangtze River and Hangzhou Bay, where the Japanese had made amphibious landings.
Chinese forces were equipped primarily with small-caliber weapons against much greater Japanese air, naval, and armor power.[20] In the end, Shanghai fell, and China lost a significant portion of its best troops, the elite Chinese forces trained and equipped by the Germans,[21] while failing to elicit any international intervention. However, the resistance of Chinese forces over three months of battle shocked the Japanese,[22] who had been indoctrinated with notions of cultural and martial superiority, and largely demoralized the Imperial Japanese Army, who believed they could take Shanghai within days and China within months.
The battle can be divided into three stages, and eventually involved around one million troops. The first stage lasted from August 13 to August 22, 1937, during which the NRA attempted to eradicate Japanese troop presence in downtown Shanghai in bloody urban fighting.[23] The second stage lasted from August 23 to October 26, 1937, during which the Japanese launched amphibious landings on the Jiangsu coast and the two armies fought a house-to-house battle,[24][25] with the Japanese attempting to gain control of the city and the surrounding regions. The last stage, ranging from October 27 to the end of November 1937, involved the retreat of the Chinese army in the face of Japanese flanking maneuvers, and the ensuing combat on the road to China's capital, Nanjing. In addition to the urban combat, trench warfare was also fought in the outskirts of the city.[26][13]
Casualties[edit]
The battle saw both sides suffer an enormous amount of casualties, especially the Chinese forces, who had inferior armaments as compared to the Japanese. A Chinese historian at the time stated that it was "the bloodiest battle . . . since Verdun."[30] There are differing estimates and reports of the number of casualties each side suffered. According to Benjamin Lai, China suffered 187,200 dead according to a report dated 5 November 1937 to the War Council, with the estimated injured being 83,500 for a total of 270,700 and the Japanese suffered a total of 93,000 to 99,000 casualties, including 17,000 combat deaths plus about 1,800 illness-induced deaths, making a total of almost 19,000 deaths, also, there were 35,000–40,000 wounded and 40,000 sick, for a combined total of 363,700 to 369,700 causalties.[52] Hsi-Sheng Chi stated that China suffered some 300,000 casualties during the battle.[53] According to research done by James Paulose, the Japanese suffered 92,640 casualties and the Chinese suffered over 333,500 casualties, for a combined total of at least 426,140 casualties.[23]