A Journey Through the Flames of War in the Republican Era

Since the crisis in Beijing and Tianjin, the Japanese army has poured several main divisions into its efforts to resolve the North China issue in one fell swoop. The entire North China Plain is now indefensible, and the Japanese mechanized forces can run rampant. Their strategic advance may be along the Tianjin-Pukou Railway and the Pinghan Railway, sweeping across North China, the Huai River Basin, and the Jiangnan region.

The enemy relies on its mechanized advantage and is well-positioned for a swift victory. Our strategy to defeat them is to do the opposite – if they want a quick victory, we will employ a strategy of protracted attrition to wear them down.

The Nationalist government, intending to disrupt the island nation's strategy, decided to take the initiative to drive the Japanese marines stationed in Shanghai into the sea and eliminate enemy strongholds in Shanghai. This would disrupt the enemy's strategic deployment and established plans, prolong the battle line, and disperse the enemy's strategic offensive forces.

By trading space for time, and making full use of the natural barriers of the mountainous, lake, river, and complex terrain along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, we can offset the enemy's mechanized advantage, wear down the enemy's army, and wage a protracted war against the enemy.

Another important objective was that North China was far from the core areas of interest of the American and British powers, while Shanghai, known as the "Paris of the East," held enormous interests for the Western powers. Starting a war there would draw in the European and American powers, attract international attention, and make the enemy hesitant, thereby securing international intervention and aid. At the time, the Nationalist government still placed great hope in international intervention through the League of Nations and the Nine-Power Treaty.

Song Hongfei was extremely concerned about the Battle of Shanghai, but due to the poor information dissemination technology at the time, he could only hear about the situation and battle in Shanghai from occasional news broadcasts while on the ship.

国军最初投入淞沪战场的兵力是京沪警备司令张文白指挥的87、88、第2师补充旅、炮8团及炮10团一个营、驻沪保安总团等部。

After completing the operational deployment, they launched an attack on the Japanese Marine Corps headquarters in Hongkou and Yangshupu, the Huishan Wharf, the Japanese armory in the Gongda Cotton Mill, and other strongholds, attempting to catch the enemy off guard and annihilate the Japanese forces in Shanghai in one fell swoop while the enemy's large-scale reinforcements had not yet arrived and while the enemy was still figuring out their operational intentions.

According to earlier intelligence, the National Revolutionary Army (NRA) knew that the Japanese forces stationed in Shanghai numbered more than 3000 marines. However, the NRA failed to consider the Japanese army's wartime mobilization and reinforcement capabilities. Before the battle even began, the Japanese army urgently transported two special marine units totaling 1200 men from the mainland and mobilized more than 7000 local soldiers and volunteer corps in Shanghai to reinforce the force, bringing the regular army strength to more than 6000 men.

The Japanese naval air force had also made preparations in advance. As early as August 8, the Kanoya Air Group and the Kisarazu Air Group, equipped with the latest Type 8 medium bombers, were combined into the 1st Combined Air Group. Since the Japanese army had no land-based airfields in Shanghai, they were stationed on Jeju Island and Songshan Airport in Taiwan respectively, ready to be deployed.

On the 10th, the Japanese Navy's seaplane carrier "Kamui" arrived at the Jiushan Islands in Zhejiang Province, and subsequently dispatched Type 95 seaplane reconnaissance aircraft to conduct aerial reconnaissance and harassment against Zhejiang and Shanghai. The other two seaplane carriers of the 3rd Air Fleet, "Kagayu Maru" and "Kamikawa Maru", also rushed to the scene to provide reinforcements.

On the 11th, the Japanese Navy's 1st Carrier Division's aircraft carriers "Ryujo" and "Hosho", and the 2nd Carrier Division's "Kaga", assembled at the Ma'an Islands, only 132 kilometers from Shanghai, ready to be deployed for air combat in the Shanghai-Nanjing battle.

However, fate was on our side. On August 13, a strong typhoon passed near Shanghai, forcing the Japanese naval aircraft carrier to head north to avoid it. In the major battle on August 14, the carrier-based aircraft did not play a role and could only carry out sporadic sneak attacks with Nakajima E8N Type 95 seaplanes.

After thwarting the Japanese provocation, our army took the initiative to attack.

On August 14, the National Revolutionary Army launched a large-scale offensive against the Japanese Marine Corps, capturing key points such as Bazhiqiao, Wuzhou Cemetery, Baoshanqiao, and Shanghai University. As ground combat unfolded, the 2nd, 5th, and 6th Squadrons of the Chinese Air Force launched coordinated air raids against Japanese positions, command posts, ports, warehouses, and surface ships at the Wusongkou estuary. The Japanese flagship, the Izumo, was damaged, resulting in a brilliant victory.

Seeing the Chinese air force chasing and bombing Japanese ground forces, a humiliation never before seen in the war against China, the commander of the Japanese Third Fleet, Kiyoshi Hasegawa, could not swallow this insult and decided to carry out retaliatory action in order to save face.

Subsequently, 18 Type 96 bombers from the Kanoya Air Group took off from Taipei Songshan Airport and headed straight for the Chinese Air Force's Hangzhou Jianqiao and Guangde airports in Anhui Province. Due to poor weather conditions, the Type 96 carrier-based aircraft waiting on the Japanese aircraft carriers were unable to take off, and Kiyoshi Hasegawa was unable to send fighter escorts for the bomber formation.

Led by Squadron Leader Gao Zhihang, fighter jets from the 4th Squadron of the Chinese Air Force stationed at Jianqiao Airport took off to intercept the invading enemy aircraft. Squadron Leader Gao swooped down on the Japanese planes, engaging them at close range, firing until they were only 20 meters apart, setting a record for the first time in Chinese history that an enemy aircraft was shot down. Ultimately, the 4th Squadron achieved a brilliant 4-0 victory, marking its first complete victory in air combat against the Japanese and severely damaging the arrogance of the Japanese forces.

Hasegawa Kiyoshi's attempt to retaliate backfired. On August 15, disregarding the still unfavorable weather conditions, he forcefully ordered the aircraft carrier "Kaga" to dispatch 16 bombers and 29 fighters to Hangzhou in retaliation.

The 4th and 5th Squadrons of the Chinese Air Force concentrated their superior forces for an aerial ambush, shooting down a total of 17 Japanese aircraft that day, achieving a remarkable victory. On the 16th, the 4th Squadron again employed guerrilla tactics, shooting down 8 more Japanese aircraft.

In just three days, more than 30 planes were shot down. Hasegawa Kiyoshi was mortified, but he shifted the blame to Colonel Ishii Yoshi, the captain of the Kisarazu Air Group. Ishii Yoshi had no choice but to commit seppuku to apologize.

Most of the Nationalist army's aircraft were outdated biplane fighters with inferior performance, while Japanese aircraft held a significant performance advantage. China lacked its own aviation industry, and its air force lacked the ability to sustain itself; every aircraft shot down or damaged was a loss. In contrast, the Japanese air force could continuously replenish its ranks, resulting in an ever-increasing number of Japanese aircraft on the Shanghai battlefield.

In the protracted war of attrition, the fragile Chinese air force suffered heavy losses and gradually became unable to cope, and the Japanese gradually gained control of the airspace.

Since the January 1.28 Incident, the Japanese Marine Corps had been entrenched in Shanghai for many years, building a large number of strong fortifications and equipping itself with a large number of heavy artillery pieces, including 120mm naval guns and 150mm howitzers. It also had a full range of mountain guns, infantry guns, rapid-fire guns and heavy mortars, making it extremely strong in defense.

The Nationalist army lacked large-caliber heavy artillery and had insufficient capabilities for attacking fortified positions, making it difficult to breach the fortified defenses of the Japanese army.

Even more critically, due to the betrayal of an insider, the Japanese army had learned a great deal about the National Revolutionary Army's operational plans.

Before the Battle of Shanghai, in order to eliminate the threat posed by the powerful Japanese navy to the hinterland of Beijing and Wuhan by sailing up the Yangtze River, the Nationalist government proposed a plan to sink ships to block the Yangtze River, preparing to mobilize a number of old warships and large civilian ships to sink in the river and block the Yangtze River waterway.

This strategy would prevent Japanese warships from entering from the outside and from escaping from the inside. By blocking the Japanese warships below Jiangyin, we could avoid being attacked from both land and sea by the Japanese army, and also trap all Japanese ships in the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River.

According to the Nationalist government's decision, the plan to blockade the Yangtze River was to be carried out in conjunction with the attack on Shanghai, with the aim of annihilating the Japanese warships on the Yangtze River and the marines in Shanghai in one fell swoop, and seizing the initiative in our hands.

However, Huang Jun, a traitor in Wang Jingwei's faction and then the confidential secretary of the Nationalist government, had been turned by the Japanese and betrayed our army's deployment plan to blockade the Yangtze River. The Japanese army learned of this crucial intelligence.

Just as the plan to seal off the Yangtze River was being implemented in full swing, overnight, Japanese ships of all sizes in the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River suddenly set sail, fully loaded with Japanese soldiers and residents from various ports. They sailed downstream day and night, escaping before our army could seal off the river, and retreated to the Wusongkou area of ​​Shanghai.

The Nationalist government's strategic objective of the "sinking of the Jiangyin ship" was far from being achieved.

Just as the National Revolutionary Army was about to launch the Battle of Shanghai, the Japanese troops stationed in Shanghai felt that their forces were insufficient and suddenly issued a deceptive statement emphasizing that they would "not expand" the war. However, it was clear that this was just a delaying tactic to buy time for reinforcements to land.

The consular corps of the European and American powers in Shanghai did not want their interests to be damaged in the war, but they were also unwilling to offend the powerful Japanese army. At the request of the Japanese side, they proposed to both countries on the same day that they should not start a war.

Thus, politics once again dictated military affairs.

The Nationalist government's high command hoped that the great powers would intervene and mediate, which delayed the launch of the offensive. In the early stages of the war, they ordered the offensive to be suspended several times, waiting for so-called international intervention, thus wasting the best opportunity to launch an attack.

The Nationalist government's hesitation gave the Japanese army the upper hand, turning what was originally a strategic initiative into a tactical passivity.

The Japanese army was able to calmly adjust its deployment and strengthen its defenses, relying on the strong defensive fortifications of the Marine Corps headquarters to hold out for reinforcements.

Japanese naval warships on the Huangpu River and Wusongkou continuously bombarded our positions in Zhabei with their cannons. The shells tore through the air with a terrifying whistling sound, and violent explosions rang out, sending up thick black smoke and creating huge craters in the ground, causing the earth to shake.

The piercing air raid siren sounded again, and the roar of Japanese aircraft could be clearly heard in the sky, sending chills down one's spine.

Soon, a massive formation of Japanese bombers appeared, their bomb bays opening, unleashing a deluge of bombs with the roar of death. Explosions echoed everywhere, deafeningly loud. Everywhere was a cacophony of explosions and flames; powerful shockwaves swept across the land, billowing thick smoke and trembling the earth as it was engulfed in flames.

Japanese air force planes carried out inhumane and indiscriminate bombing, killing countless civilians.

After several days of fierce fighting, the Nationalist army's offensive ultimately failed.