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The Second Battle of Shanghai, known in Chinese as Battle of Songhu, was the first of 22 major engagements between China and Japan during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Even before Beijing fell under Japanese control on 29 Jul 1937, Chiang Kaishek had already decided to establish his next strongpoint at the port city of Shanghai, drawing Japanese troops to stay close to the coast. Chiang's reasoning to do so was to make sure that, should the Japanese troops continue to advance on Chinese defenders, the movement would move in a westward direction, allowing Chinese troops to fall back to Nanjing and beyond. Had he concentrated in Nanjing instead of Shanghai, Japanese troop would be given a chance to move in-between the two cities and envelope Shanghai for easy pickings. Another reason for Chiang to establish his next strongpoint at Shanghai was because of the importance of the city itself, both as Chiang's strongest political support base as well as China's industry center.

Since the First Battle of Shanghai in 1932, Zhang Zhizhong had been training men for the defense of the city under the disguise of police trainings. Between Nanjing and Shanghai, several defense lines were in the process of being constructed under German guidance. By Aug 1937, the construction had barely completed, and the Chinese troops were not yet indoctrinated in the fortifications' usage.

Oyama Incident
9 Aug 1937

On 9 Aug, First Lieutenant Isao Oyama of the Japanese Naval Special Landing Forces attempted to enter the grounds of the Hungchiao Airport in Shanghai, a maneuver that he was not allowed to perform under the terms of the ceasefire after the 1932 battle. Oyama was fired upon by Chinese policemen and was killed. The next day, Japanese consul general in Shanghai publicly apologized for Oyama's action, but demanded the Chinese police force, the Peace Preservation Corps, to disarm. With troops already underway for Shanghai, Japanese escalation of the death of this junior officer was obvious an attempt at creating a pretext for an invasion on Shanghai that was already in the plans. With Oyama violating the terms of the 1932 ceasefire of Shanghai first, Chiang also broke the Chinese end of the bargain by moving his troops into Shanghai on 11 Aug.

On 12 Aug, western powers convened in attempt to broker peace. The western powers' main motivation was not to prevent an escalation of the Second Sino-Japanese War, but instead they simply wished to protect their industrial and commercial interests in the city. In Nanjing, Japanese and Chinese representatives met, with the Japanese demanding all Chinese troops as well as the Peace Preservation Corps be removed from Shanghai. The Chinese stood firm.

The Invasion Began
13 Aug-11 Sep 1937

At 0900 on 13 Aug, more than 10,000 Japanese troops entered the suburbs of Shanghai, and engagements broke out in Zhabei, Wusong, and Jiangwan districts. In the mid-afternoon, Chinese regulars of the 88th Division began attacking advancing Japanese troops with mortar. At 1600 that day, ships of the Japanese 3rd Fleet in the Huangpu and Yangtze Rivers began bombarding the city with naval guns. On 14 Aug, Chinese aircraft began bombing Japanese positions, followed by the issuance of the Proclamation of Self-Defense and War of Resistance from Chiang's government. A counterattack on the ground by Chinese troops commenced at 1500, but with the Japanese heavily fortified in the international zone, the lightly-armed Chinese counterattack failed. On 16 Aug, Zhang changed his strategy. Instead of persisting on the counterattack, he began instructing his men to engage in a style of fighting characterized by sneaking up to Japanese-held buildings and set the building ablaze by torches or grenades. When the Japanese troops fled the building, well-placed Chinese machine guns would strike down the fleeing men. On 17 Aug, the deployment Japanese light tanks drove back the Chinese troops and ended the counterattack. Zhang was heavily criticized by Chiang for the inability to penetrate Japanese lines, especially with the kind of heavy casualty numbers he was experiencing. Chiang would slowly take on more direct responsibilities for Shanghai's defense, eventually personally assuming the role of the overall commander.

Meanwhile, Japanese aircraft from Formosa bombed the city beginning on 14 Aug. The civilian who had not fled the city now fled in waves, creating further chaos. Lee Paokui, wife of Chinese Army Air Corps enlisted man Chen Nan, was among the civilian in Shanghai at the time and her story was saddeningly typical of the civilian experience during the battle. Running away from the city amidst a frightened crowd while clutching on to her children was not easy; once she lost grip of the hands of any of them, the child would disappear into the crowd forever, and that was how she simply lost all of one of her children. But, also like many Chinese at the time, her spirit was strong. Seeing a 5-year-old girl crying and cowering in a street corner, having lost her parents in the same manner Lee had lost her children, Lee grabbed on to her and guided her to safety. Lee was WW2DB editor C. Peter Chen's grandmother, and it was her war time stories that planted the seeds of interest in history in him. The little girl eventually fled to Taiwan with Chen and Lee and settled down in the port city of Kaohsiung.

The Japanese bombings on Shanghai were challenged by Captain Gao Zhihang's 4th Flying Group, shooting down six Japanese aircraft while suffering no casualties. 14 Aug was announced Air Force Day as an instrument of morale bolstering. Nevertheless, Chinese aircraft were few in number, and lacked proper replacement parts for repairs. By the end of the campaign, even though the Chinese aircraft shot down 85 Japanese aircraft and sank 51 ships, the 91 losses suffered by the Chinese represented nearly half of China's total available combat aircraft.

Despite the valiant effort of Chinese pilots, Shanghai still suffered at the hands of Japanese aerial attacks. Tens of thousands of civilians died as a direct result of the bombings.

On 18 Aug, Chinese reinforcements in the form of the 36th Division arrived and attacked the docks at Hueishan. The 36th Division's attack was coordinated with a counterattack by the 87th Division at Yangshupu to assert maximum pressure on Japanese troops. Supported with tanks, the 36th Division drove off the Japanese defenders at Hueishan, but the lack of tank-infantry coordination quickly led to losing the docks again. The attack eventually failed with the Chinese losing 90 officers and over 1,000 troops.

Moored in Shanghai's ports, American cruiser Augusta observed the Japanese aggression while her Marine detachment guarded American interests in the city's international zone. Though neutral, Augusta came under accidental Chinese aerial attack, though the attack fortunately was a near-miss. Large American flags were painted atop the three main batteries to prevent similar mistakes. Nevertheless, she still received casualties when Chinese anti-aircraft shells came down on her on 20 Aug. These incidences, though accidental, strained Sino-American relationship. Augusta remained in Shanghai until 6 Jan 1938.

On 22 Aug, the Japanese reinforced the city as well, landing General Iwane Matsui's 3rd, 8th, and 11th Divisions at Chuanshakou, Shizilin, and Baoshan 50 km northeast of Shanghai under the cover of naval guns. The landing drew out some Chinese troops from the city, but naval bombardment prevented the Chinese troops from disrupting the landing. The Chinese forces, instead, set up a line of defense at the Lotien-Shuangtsaoten section of a major railroad network by 11 Sep. At Chiang's urging, the outgunned Chinese troops prepared for the upcoming assault by the better-trained Japanese troops. General Li Zongren advised Chiang to only make limited engagements and preserve the army's strength for a future confrontation further inland where the Chinese could fight on more favorable terms. Chiang refused, for reasons that will be discussed below in the conclusion. Generals Zhang Zhizhong and Zhang Fakui led the 50,000 Chinese troops in the Shanghai area.

"More than two thirds of my 15,000 soldiers died within the initial stages of the battle for Shanghai," commander of the 36th Division Sun Yuanliang said.

On 23 Aug, Matsui made another large-scale landing at Liuhe, Wusong, and Chuanshakou. The Chinese 18th Division under the command of Chen Cheng attempted to counter the new wave of Japanese landings, but again failed under the firepower of Japanese naval gun support. He turned to the tactic of night attacks, which was successful in overtaking several villages, but only to lose them again when daylight broke. Toward the end of Aug, remnants of the Chinese 98th Division was completely wiped out in defense of enveloped Baoshan; only one Chinese soldier survived the siege.

On 12 Sep, Chinese representatives requested League of Nations intervention, but the League failed to react in any manner significant enough to make a difference. From this point on, Chiang looked toward the Americans, hoping that the United States would gather international support for China. Chiang continued to order his field commanders to hold on to Shanghai for as long as possible at any cost, waiting for some kind of action in the international diplomatic theater.

Battle for Luodian
11-15 Sep 1937

On 11 Sep, under the advice of Chiang's German advisor Alexander von Falkenhausen, 300,000 Chinese troops dug in at Luodian, a town in the suburbs of Shanghai that was strategically important as a transportation center. With artillery, tanks, and naval and aerial support, 100,000 Japanese troops attacked Luodian shortly after. Despite the overwhelming firepower, Chinese troops fought on stubbornly. Defending in depth, the frontlines were manned with a minimal number of men while the rest of the forces were held in reserve, charging forward only when the artillery fire and naval bombardment ceases and the Japanese ground troops charged forth. Nevertheless, Chinese casualty rate reached 50%, and fled on 15 Sep when Luodian simply could no longer be held effectively.

Battle for Dachang
1-25 Oct 1937

Crossing the Yunzaobin River south of Luodian, freshly reinforced with men from Japan and Formosa, the Japanese troops aimed to take the town of Dachang, which acted as Chinese Army's communications hub. Should Dachang fall, flanks of Chinese troops in eastern parts of Shanghai would also become exposed, adding even greater importance to the suburban town. Bitter fighting quickly turned into a battle of attrition, which was especially difficult on the Chinese forces, whose Stalingrad-esque suicide charges against machine gun nests and artillery placements were the only way to challenge the Japanese's superior firepower. On 17 Oct, however, things were a little brighter for the Chinese with the arrival of the Guanxi Army under Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi. A Chinese counterattack was soon orchestrated, though it was conducted poorly and was quickly driven back. Dachang fell under Japanese control on 25 Oct.

With Dachang lost, Chinese troops began withdrawing from parts of Shanghai.

Battle for Sihang Warehouse
27 Oct-1 Nov 1937

While troops began to retreat from the areas north of the international settlement, Chiang realized the importance of the westerners still observing in the area, thus he decided to order the 88th Division to stay behind at a block which contained the Sihang on the northern bank of the Suzhou River, directly across the international zone, hoping that the observers would pass news back to their home countries. Chiang hoped that the Japanese aggression would be condemned by the 6 Nov Brussels conference.

However, the plan to leave men behind was vehemently opposed by Sun Yuanliang, the commander of the 88th Division. Unwilling to disobey Chiang's orders, Sun and his superior Gu Zhutong decided to leave a single battalion behind as token defense which should fulfill Chiang's needs for a demonstration for the western observers. "It would achieve the same purpose no matter how many people we sacrifice", said Sun. As the result, 414 officers and men of the 524th Regiment of the Chinese 88th Division was left behind to guard the warehouse, commanded by Xie Jinyuan who volunteered for the duty; most of the men were recent transfers from the 1st Battalion of the 5th Regiment from the Hubei Provincial Garrison. Some popular versions of this battle today incorrectly describe Chinese strength at 800 men, particularly with the well-known phrase "800 heroes" to describe the defenders, mainly due to Xie's false information that aimed to confuse Japanese intelligence.

At 2200 on 26 Oct, the Chinese 524th Regiment withdrew from Shanghai North Railway Station into the Sihang Warehouse. The warehouse was a six-story concrete building with a small footprint, used as the 88th Division's headquarters, stockpiling food, medical supplies, and ammunition. Each Chinese soldier was assigned a German Gewehr 88 or Gewehr 98 rifle, and 27 light machine guns were available to the defenders.

Moving toward the Sihang Warehouse were troops of General Iwane Matsui's 3rd Division. With access to Type 94 tankettes and Type 89 mortars, the Japanese wielded far greater firepower.

After taking Shanghai North Railway Station in the morning of 27 Oct, the Japanese troops moved into the vicinity of the warehouse by that afternoon. The first engagement took place at 1400 when a Chinese reconnaissance team exchanged fire with around 50 Japanese soldiers. The first assault on the warehouse took place shortly after 1400 from the west, and was ineffective. Japanese troops set fire to the northwestern corner of the warehouse, but it was extinguished by 1700. After the first day of action, two Chinese were killed with four wounded. The Chinese reported seven Japanese killed and about 20 wounded. Through the night Chinese troops repaired and constructed fortifications at and near the warehouse. To avoid provoking international incidents, the Japanese decided against bombarding the warehouse with mortar, fearful that mis-aimed mortars might land in the international zone south of the warehouse. Aerial bombing was likewise avoided.

On the second day, 28 Oct 1937, another assault from the west was mounted at about 1500 while light field artillery bombarded the northern face of the warehouse. The attack was once again driven back. Elsewhere, Japanese troops found the electric wires and the water pipes leading into the warehouse, and promptly cut them. During the night of 28-29 Oct, trucks came in to resupply the warehouse; three soldiers were killed by Japanese snipers while unloading the supplies. The supplies were donated by Shanghai civilians. Meanwhile, ten wounded Chinese soldiers were given permission by British officers to be evacuated through the international zone.

In the morning of 29 Oct, a 12-foot-wide Chinese flag was raised atop the warehouse, which became a source of inspiration for the defenders and the Chinese citizens in the city alike. The flag was sneaked into the warehouse overnight by girl scout Yang Huimin. At noon on 29 Oct, the Japanese attacked all three sides of the warehouse simultaneously with artillery and tankettes. A small group of Japanese troops tried to scale the wall, but was driven off. Interestingly, some of the intelligence the Chinese defenders were getting were provided by Chinese civilians on the southern bank. Witnessing Japanese maneuvers, they relayed the intelligence to those standing at the river bank, who made large posters of the intelligence information for the Chinese soldiers inside the warehouse to read.

Beginning at 0700 on 30 Oct, the Japanese displayed a show of heavy firepower against the warehouse throughout the bulk of the day. After nightfall, floodlights were set up so that the bombardment could continue. On 31 Oct, surprising the defenders, Chiang gave the defenders the go-ahead to withdraw from the warehouse. As things had turned out, on 29 Oct western officials in the international zone submitted a plea for Chiang to give up the warehouse for "humanitarian concerns" at the face of overwhelming Japanese forces. Meanwhile, they had also approached the Japanese, who agreed that they would allow the Chinese to retreat through the international zone without interference. As the clock struck 12 during the night of 31 Oct-1 Nov, Xie and his remaining 376 men began leaving the warehouse. The Japanese, despite of the earlier agreement, opened fire on the withdrawing Chinese soldiers, which wounded ten. The retreat was completed around 0200 in the morning of 1 Nov. The soldiers were arrested by the British, however, so the Japanese would not accuse the British of aiding Chinese war efforts. The Chinese soldiers were treated well and given utmost freedom by their captors.

Although the fight did not last until the start of the Brussels conference, Chiang believed that the defense of the Sihang Warehouse had achieved acquiring the level of publicity that he called for. Elated, Chiang promoted every defending by one rank, and Xie was awarded the Order of the Blue Sky and White Sun. After Xie's assassination in Apr 1941, he was posthumously made a lieutenant general.

"[There] were 3,000 men in my regiment when the battle for Shanghai started," Yang Yangzheng, a platoon leader who fought at the warehouse, recalled. "When it was over, there were 300 left.... The battle lasted four days and five nights. We didn't get a minute of sleep". When the Japanese crossed Suzhou River and threatened to surround the warehouse, the remaining defenders finally withdrew.

The fighting at Sihang Warehouse became the basis of morale-inspiring propaganda as early as 1938, providing much needed boost.

The Fall of Shanghai
5-19 Nov 1937

On 5 Nov 1937, Japanese 10th Army (equivalent of a western corps in strength) landed in Jinshanwei, south of Shanghai, nearly unopposed due to Chinese troops' concentration near Dachang and other regions north of the city. With the city encircled, and not seeing any positive results out of the Brussels conference, Chiang finally issued a general retreat order on 8 Nov, and by 12 Nov the city was cleared of remaining Chinese soldiers. Japanese advances broke Chinese defenses at Kunshan on 10 Nov, the Wufu Line on 19 Nov, and Xicheng Line on 26 Nov. Chinese Army fell back to the capital city of Nanjing.

Conclusion of the Battle

Initially, the Japanese predicted a victory over Shanghai in three days; the battle lasted three months.

This battle was the first large-scale confrontation between the armies of Japan and China, and proved to be among the bloodiest. The greatest achievement of the Chinese was to inflict 40,000 casualties out of the 300,000 Japanese engaged and slowing the Japanese momentum. However, the achievement came at an extremely heavy price. The Chinese suffered 250,000 casualties out of 700,000 engaged, and worst of all, many of the casualties include the elite German-trained troops of the Chinese Army. The toll on experienced officers also had severe repercussions in subsequent events of the Second-Sino Japanese War. Politically, Chiang's position as the head of the Chinese republic suffered as a result of this loss, but the stubborn defense, despite the heavy losses, gave the international community some confidence in the fighting ability of the Chinese.

The resistance that lasted three months also provided the Chinese time to relocate some industrial capability further inland. Though the amount of machinery actually relocated was insignificant, it provided the Chinese a minimal ray of hope that the war against the Japanese could be continued even at the loss of the major industrial region of Shanghai.

After the Japanese victory, the Japanese garrison in Shanghai was increased to 300,000 men. At that time, British, French, American, and Chinese (recall those imprisoned after Sihang Warehouse defense) troops in the International Settlement in the city totaled less than 8,000. When the Japanese came in Dec 1941 at the outbreak of the Pacific War, the international zone would be occupied by the Japanese without much of a challenge.

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Visitor Submitted Comments

1. norm says:
   15 Aug 2007 09:04:33 PM
   
   Great read, I am looking for info on chinese battles during world war two. Do you know where I can find information?
2. siu says:
   18 Dec 2008 04:12:44 AM
   
   I think you can find enormous information on the Wiki(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki). I always reading the histories of World War Two there.
3. Anonymous says:
   26 Aug 2009 03:32:00 PM
   
   I was on guam as a marine and searching the manny caves I found a Japanese red ball flag with a artilery gun drawen on it . there is a lot of writing on it. the first battel was I n china in 1936.the flag is 27 inches by 38 inches. the writing is getting dull but the last time anything is written on it was orders for the flag was canceled Dec the 6th 1941. If I knew how to send you pictures on the computer I would. jesse j williamson 1841 holub lane Antioch ca. By the way I turned 18 on Dec.7th 1941.

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