The Battle of Shanghai
On 13 August 1937 fighting broke out between Chinese and Japanese forces in Shanghai, and the next day the Chinese launched a general offensive, beginning the Battle of Shanghai, one of the largest battles of the early War of Resistance. After Japanese landings at Wusong and Chuanshakou in late August, the two sides fought over Shanghai's northern outskirts for more than two months; China committed more than 700,000 troops and Japan about 250,000. A Japanese landing at Jinshanwei on 5 November forced a Chinese withdrawal, Shanghai fell in mid-November, and Japanese forces advanced on Nanjing. By the two sides' own counts, Japanese casualties exceeded 40,000 and Chinese casualties approached 190,000, with higher estimates also cited.
Background: From North China to Shanghai
After the Marco Polo Bridge Incident of 7 July 1937, fighting spread across North China, and Beiping and Tianjin fell at the end of July. Under the 1932 Shanghai ceasefire agreement, China could not station regular troops in Shanghai, while Japan kept naval landing forces in the International Settlement and at Wusong, Jiangwan and Zhabei. After the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, Chiang Kai-shek appointed Zhang Zhizhong commander of the Nanjing–Shanghai garrison, and his troops moved into the Shanghai area disguised as peace preservation units. On 9 August, Sub-Lieutenant Ōyama Isao of the Japanese naval landing force and a seaman drove into Hongqiao Airport and were killed in an exchange of fire with Chinese peace preservation troops; Japan then sent more warships and marines to Shanghai.
The Outbreak of Fighting
On the morning of 13 August, Japanese troops and Chinese peace preservation units exchanged fire in Zhabei; by evening there was an artillery duel around the Bazi Bridge, and Japanese warships shelled the city. Zhang Zhizhong had planned to attack at dawn on the 13th, but because Britain, the United States, France and Italy were attempting mediation, Chiang ordered him to "await orders." At dawn on 14 August, the Ninth Army Group launched a general offensive against Japanese strongpoints in Hongkou and Yangshupu, the Chinese air force bombed Japanese warships and the naval landing force headquarters, and the Nationalist government issued its Statement of Self-Defense and Resistance. Chinese troops pushed as far as the Huishan wharf, but the Japanese strongpoints were built of reinforced concrete and the Chinese lacked heavy artillery, so the assaults failed.
Japanese Landings and a War of Attrition
On 15 August Japan formed the Shanghai Expeditionary Army under General Matsui Iwane. On 20 August the Military Affairs Commission designated southern Jiangsu and Zhejiang the Third War Zone, with Chiang Kai-shek himself as commander and Chen Cheng as front-line commander-in-chief. On 23 August the Japanese 11th Division landed at Chuanshakou and the 3rd Division at Wusong, and the Chinese shifted to the defensive. For more than two months the two sides fought back and forth along the Luodian–Wusong–Yunzaobang–Dachang line, with Japanese air and naval superiority inflicting very heavy Chinese casualties: according to Chen Cheng's report, between 22 August and 7 September five divisions alone — the 11th, 14th, 67th, 98th and 56th — lost 9,039 officers and men killed and wounded. Chiang decided to "concentrate all strength on one point" and hold Shanghai for the long term, partly to tie down Japanese forces and relieve pressure on North China and partly to show China's capacity to resist before the Nine-Power Treaty conference in Brussels; according to Tang Shengzhi's recollection, Chiang said, "This battle for Shanghai must be fought for the foreigners to see." China brought in more than 700,000 troops from across the country, and Japan committed nine divisions, about 250,000 men.
Retreat and the Fall of Shanghai
After Dachang fell in late October, Chinese forces withdrew to the south bank of Suzhou Creek. Xie Jinyuan, deputy commander of the 524th Regiment of the 88th Division, held the Sihang Warehouse on the north bank with some four hundred men — publicized as the "Eight Hundred Heroes" — for several days before withdrawing into the International Settlement on orders. On 5 November the Japanese Tenth Army landed at Jinshanwei on the northern shore of Hangzhou Bay, threatening the Chinese rear, and Chiang ordered a withdrawal. The retreat was disorderly, and many units disintegrated. In mid-November Chinese forces left Shanghai, Japan occupied the city outside the foreign concessions, and its armies then advanced along the Shanghai–Nanjing railway toward Nanjing.
Casualties and Assessments
According to Japanese statistics, by 8 November the Japanese army had lost 9,115 killed and 31,257 wounded on the Shanghai front, 40,672 in all; according to He Yingqin's report of 5 November, Chinese forces had suffered 187,200 killed and wounded, and other estimates are higher. Chiang later reproached himself for not withdrawing to the Wufu line before the Nine-Power conference, "instead adding troops to hold on when exhausted, so that we were utterly defeated" — "this was the fault of my being too unyielding."
Narrative Comparison
| Source | Narrative |
|---|---|
| China Daily commemorative report (2025) | Official commemorative coverage calls the Battle of Shanghai a battle of unprecedented scale after the start of the nationwide War of Resistance, stressing that the Nationalist government mobilized more than 700,000 troops, that Guangxi, Sichuan, Hunan, Guangdong and Northeastern armies converged on Shanghai from across the country, and that the air force and navy fought alongside the army; it holds that the three-month battle "shattered Japan's strategic aim of subjugating China in three months." The defenders of the Sihang Warehouse are described as having "shown the international community China's determination to resist," and as having bought time for coastal factories and schools to move inland. |
| Peter Harmsen, Shanghai 1937 (as reviewed by Morgan Deane, 2013) | According to Deane's review, Harmsen, a former correspondent, treats Shanghai as the first large-scale urban battle of the war and draws on the documents and eyewitness accounts left by the city's large foreign community to weave Chiang Kai-shek's international political maneuvering into the battlefield story. The book identifies as fatal Chinese missteps the sudden withdrawal of forces at crucial moments and the failure to distribute antitank and antiaircraft weapons to forward units, and presents the battalion left at the Sihang Warehouse as having been left behind to show the flag during a critical international conference. Deane also notes that recent scholarship has quashed the persistent myth that the Nationalists avoided battle. |
| Zhang Zhizhong's wartime telegrams and the recollections of officers Shi Shuo and Guo Rugui (as cited by Yang Tianshi) | On 17 August Zhang Zhizhong reported to Chiang: "Our original aim was to break in wherever we found a gap, not to storm fortified positions, but every route was blocked by strong enemy obstacles… in the end we had no choice but to assault each target head-on." On 24 August he cabled: "Enemy aircraft have been extremely active for days, bombing everywhere all day without pause; our troops have almost no room to move in daylight." Shi Shuo, head of operations of the Ninth Army Group, recalled: "Under the guns of the Japanese warships our losses were terrible; a unit would often be pulled out after only a few days, all but wiped out. I saw with my own eyes a regiment of the Training Division go up in perfect order and come back with only a few cooks' carrying poles left." Guo Rugui said: "I was in the front line throughout the Shanghai campaign… three months of head-on fighting, heavy casualties, but morale did not sag… only in the great rout did we lose our best troops within days and all discipline collapse." |
Key Milestones
- Hongqiao Airport incident
Japanese naval Sub-Lieutenant Ōyama Isao and a seaman drive into Hongqiao Airport and are killed in an exchange of fire with Chinese peace preservation troops; Japan reinforces Shanghai.
- Fighting breaks out in Shanghai
Japanese troops and Chinese peace preservation units clash in Zhabei; artillery fire is exchanged around the Bazi Bridge and Japanese warships shell the city.
- Chinese general offensive
The Ninth Army Group attacks Japanese strongpoints in Hongkou and Yangshupu and the Chinese air force goes into action; the Nationalist government issues its Statement of Self-Defense and Resistance.
- Japanese landings at Chuanshakou and Wusong
The 11th and 3rd Divisions of the Shanghai Expeditionary Army land at Chuanshakou and Wusong, and the battle becomes a prolonged war of attrition.
- Japanese landing at Jinshanwei
The Japanese Tenth Army lands at Jinshanwei on Hangzhou Bay, threatening the Chinese rear; Chiang then orders a withdrawal.
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