Shanghai Campaign - Prelude

Prelude

With six million population, Shanghai was the largest city in China in 1949 and provided around a third of the total GDP of China by that time. Both the communists and the nationalists believed that World War III was a real possibility and this perception influenced the strategic decisions of both sides. The nationalists who defended the city, had hoped that by using the resources of the wealthiest city of China, they would last until World War III when foreign intervention would occur. With foreign intervention, not only they would be able to defend the city, but they could counterattack and take China back from the enemy. If the city could not last until World War III, the nationalist would withdraw via sea and transfer the wealth with them, after destroying the city completely, just like the scorched-earth policy used against the Japanese invaders in many part of the China during World War II. Although the truthfulness of this perception of the nationalists remained in question, the enemy certainly believed that there was a possibility, as many of the nationalist propaganda had claimed, and thus was determined not to let it happen by taking the city as early as possible.