Chinese Stalingrad: Battle of Shanghai | Animated History

It is the 9th of August, 1937, and a nervous Chinese soldier is standing guard at the gates of Hangzhou Airport in Shanghai. He has heard reports from the north of a great Japanese army sweeping through Beijing's feeble defenses, crushing all resistance in their path. Yet, inexplicably, things here in the south remain almost disturbingly normal. With no formal declaration of war, the citizens of Shanghai are not even sure what to think. Suddenly, his quiet musings are interrupted by the screech of tires as a car breaks sharply at the checkpoint barrier. As the soldier hurries towards it, he sees the face of a Japanese lieutenant through the windshield. The soldier throws up his arms in warning. Japanese are expressly forbidden from entering the airport, but the lieutenant ignores him, putting his car into reverse and swinging the wheel to try and drive around the barrier. Once again, the Chinese soldier intercepts him. Furious, the lieutenant responds by drawing his pistol, and with a single shot, the war has come to Shanghai. Hi, I'm Griffin Johnson, the armchair historian. While many consider the Eastern Front to be the most brutal theater of the Second World War, the Chinese theater by itself was one of the bloodiest conflicts in human history. The Second Sino-Japanese War lasted for eight years, and saw the fragmented and underdeveloped China pitted against the modern Imperial Japanese Army. The 1937 Battle of Shanghai, sometimes referred to as the Chinese Stalingrad, is the subject of today's video, and was the largest of the Second Sino-Japanese War, only surpassed in casualties by the Battle of Wuhan the following year. First, a word from our sponsor, Warpath. A free real-time strategy and simulation game that offers a unique take on the World War II setting. 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During the early 1900s, China was deep into its century of humiliation, a period of time when it seemed certain to collapse under the weight of internal and external threats. However, in the 1920s, the Kuomintang, or Chinese Nationalist Party, led by Chiang Kai-shek, finally managed to wrestle control of the country from warlords that had ruled the fragmented remnants of the old Qing dynasty. But then, everything changed when the Japanese nation attacked. Still in the midst of their unsteady recovery, the Kuomintang could only watch as its new rival seized all of Manchuria in 1932, forcing China to sign yet another unequal treaty recognizing the authority of a foreign power. Both sides knew that Manchuria was just the beginning of Japanese ambitions in Asia, and border skirmishes between the two powers would continue for the next five years. During this interim period, Chiang's new government grappled with the legacy of the century of humiliation which had enabled foreign powers to establish colonies in Chinese territory. Shanghai was one such location, and arguably, it was the most important. Sitting at the mouth of the Yangtze River, the city served as a gateway to the interior of China, and featured a bustling industrial sector, port facilities, and a large expatriate population. As a result, by the 1930s, Shanghai was mostly controlled by Western nations and the Japanese. In 1937, tensions between the Chinese and the Japanese exploded after the Marco Polo Bridge incident near the city of Beijing, which the Japanese used as an excuse to launch what was essentially an invasion of Northern China. But despite this blatant act of aggression, war was not officially declared, and Chiang Kai-shek tried to negotiate if only to delay the inevitable. Neither side expected a major confrontation at Shanghai, at least until a belligerent Japanese lieutenant started a shootout with Chinese soldiers at Shanghai airport, resulting in his death. The Japanese quickly jumped on this incident, demanding that the Chinese National Revolutionary Army, or NRA, leave the city. In response, Chiang deployed more troops to Shanghai to counter the Japanese troops stationed there. And on August 13th, the battle began. Chiang's decision to escalate the incident was strategic in three ways. First, opening up a second front would slow down the Japanese advance in the north by drawing away manpower and resources. Second, preemptively expelling the Japanese from Shanghai would prevent them from using it as a foothold if they conducted a second invasion in the south. And third, a major battle would demonstrate Chinese resolve to the rest of the world. However, the decision was risky, as a Japanese breakthrough would threaten the capital city, Nanjing, which was little more than 300 kilometers, or 186 miles, downriver. Initially, the Chinese operational goal was simply to destroy Japanese forces in the area. Although they possessed a huge numerical advantage, the Chinese army of the time was incapable of waging modern warfare. With the exception of certain units, such as the elite German-trained 88th Division, most Chinese soldiers were poorly equipped conscripts, marching into battle with nothing but a rifle and a bayonet. This, in conjunction with mass frontal assaults against a fortified enemy with tanks and artillery, resulted in massive casualties and virtually no progress. Though they were unable to accomplish their objective, the NRA was able to contain the Japanese, who were forced to explore other options. Ultimately, it was decided that an amphibious assault, consisting of three divisions under General Iwan Matsui, would be performed in the northern section of the city, with the goal of outflanking the Chinese forces concentrated in downtown Shanghai. Beginning on the 23rd of August, Matsui's men landed with support of tanks, naval artillery, and aircraft. But instead of the rapid breakthrough they were expecting, the Japanese had to fight village by village against the Chinese, who possessed overwhelming numerical superiority and had painstakingly built rudimentary fortifications. For the next week, the NRA attempted to repel the Japanese where they landed, taking heavy casualties in the process. On the 6th of September, the Imperial Japanese Army, or IJA, captured the town of Baoshan, giving them a foothold in the northern suburbs. Rather than waste his manpower on hopeless counterattacks, Shang redeployed his forces around the town of Luodian, nine kilometers or five and a half miles inland, which was a major road junction that the Japanese could use to sustain their logistics. The Luodian area was heavily contested and changed hands several times. Unlike previous engagements, the Chinese avoided massed frontal assaults, instead resorting to night attacks, which prevented the Japanese from utilizing their advantage in firepower. The fighting around Luodian was exceptionally fierce and by the end of the battle it had been nicknamed the Flesh Mill. It was only a matter of time before the position became untenable for the NRA and they withdrew on the 15th of September. The next major defensive position on the Chinese line was the small town of Dachang, 12 kilometers or seven and a half miles to the southeast of Luodian. Shang's men were dug in and prepared for the Japanese, who arrived on the 1st of October. What ensued was three weeks of brutal urban warfare. In desperation, the NRA commanders resorted to the tactics which had cost them so heavily in the early stages of the battle, such as frontal attacks and massed charges. However, like in August, Japanese firepower could not be overcome even with advantage in manpower, and the NRA was forced out of Dachang on the 25th of October. Despite this development, Shang decided to redeploy his men in the city to the western suburbs. He was determined to show the world that although downtown Shanghai was lost, the Chinese had not given up and would fight the Japanese every step of the way. As such, he ordered a battalion from the Elite 88th Division to defend Sihang Warehouse, which bordered the western-controlled international settlement while the rest of the NRA retreated from downtown Shanghai. Shang hoped that the foreigners watching the battle from across the river would see the fierceness of Chinese resistance. Additionally, the warehouse was made of concrete, and the danger of striking foreign territory forced Japan not to use naval artillery. On the 27th of October, the Japanese surrounded the warehouse, and for the next three days, they attempted to dislodge the 400 defenders through bombardment and repeated infantry and tank assaults, but were unsuccessful. Finally, on November 1st, Shang allowed the defenders to retreat, and most escaped to the international settlement. While Sihang Warehouse was being contested, the Japanese landed a second invasion force at Jinshanwei, 40 kilometers or 24 miles south of downtown Shanghai. Threatened with encirclement, Shang finally ordered a general retreat from the city and its suburbs. For the Chinese, the most important priority was now the defense of the capital, Nanjing, only 300 kilometers or 180 miles up the Yangtze. On November 11th, the Japanese began the march to Nanjing, and little more than a month later, the capital fell. The loss of Shanghai had dire effects for the Chinese war effort due to its economic importance and the fact that it had enabled the Japanese to capture Nanjing. Aggravating this were the huge losses that the NRA suffered. Of the 700,000 men deployed to Shanghai, roughly 300,000 became casualties. The German-trained divisions, which Shang deployed at the most crucial points of defense, were especially hard-hit, losing 60% of their strength. However, the battle was a morale victory for the Chinese, who felt that they had demonstrated their resolve to both the enemy and the international community. Additionally, the battle bought them enough time to relocate most of their industry to the Chinese interior. The Japanese, although victorious, were bitterly disappointed about how costly the battle had been. They underestimated the Chinese will to fight, and expected Shanghai to fall in a few days rather than three months. It took not one, but two naval invasions to take the city, and out of the 300,000 Japanese soldiers who were deployed, there were 60,000 killed or injured. Despite its loss at Shanghai, China continued to resist, alone, for the next four years.