January 28 Incident - The Battle

The Battle

The situation continued to deteriorate over the next week. By January 27, the Japanese military had already concentrated some thirty ships, forty airplanes, and nearly seven thousand troops around the shoreline of Shanghai, in order to put down any resistance in the event that violence broke out. The military's justification was that it had to defend its concession and citizens.

The Japanese also issued an ultimatum to the Shanghai Municipal Council demanding public condemnation and monetary compensation by the Chinese for any Japanese property damaged in the monk incident, and demanding that the Chinese government take active steps to suppress further anti-Japanese protests in the city. In the afternoon of January 28, the Shanghai Municipal Council agreed to these demands.

Throughout this period the Chinese 19th Route Army (Chinese: 十九陸軍; pinyin: shíjǐulùjūn) had been massing outside the city, causing consternation to both the civil Chinese administration of Shanghai and the foreign-run Concessions. As such, the 19th Route Army was generally seen as little more than a warlord force of equal danger to Shanghai than the Japanese military. In the end, Shanghai donated a substantial bribe to the 19th Route Army with the hope that they would leave and not incite a Japanese attack.

However, on the midnight of January 28th, Japanese carrier aircraft bombed Shanghai in the first major aircraft carrier action in the Far East. Three thousand Japanese troops proceeded to attack various targets, such as the northern train station, around the city and began an invasion of the de facto Japanese settlement in Hongkew and other areas north of Suzhou Creek. In what was a surprising about-face for many, the 19th Route Army, who many had expected to leave after having been paid, stayed to put up a fierce resistance.

Though the opening battles of the conflict took place in the Hongkew district of the International Settlement, this soon spread outwards to much of Chinese-controlled Shanghai. The majority of the Concessions remained untouched by the conflict, and it was often the case that those in the Shanghai International Settlement would watch the war from the banks of Suzhou Creek, and could even visit the battle lines by virtue of their extraterritoriality.

Shanghai being a metropolitan city with many foreign interests invested in it, other countries, such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and France attempted to negotiate a ceasefire between Japan and China. However, Japan refused, continuing instead to mobilize troops in the region. On February 12, American, British, and French representatives brokered a half-day cease fire for humanitarian relief to civilians caught in the crossfire. On 30 January, Chiang Kai-shek decided to temporarily relocate the capital from Nanjing to Luoyang as an emergency measure, since Nanjing's proximity to Shanghai could make it a target.

On February 12, the Japanese issued another ultimatum, demanding that the Chinese Army retreat twenty kilometers from the border of Shanghai Concessions, a demand promptly refused by the Chinese forces. This only intensified fighting in Hongkew. The Japanese were still not able to take the city by the middle of February, and the number of Japanese troops was increased to nearly ninety thousand with the arrival of the 9th Infantry Division and the IJA 24th Mixed Brigade, supported by eighty warships and three hundred airplanes.

On 14 February, Chiang Kai-shek sent his 5th Army, including his 87th and 88th divisions into Shanghai.

On 20 February, Japanese bombardments were increased to force the Chinese away from their defensive positions near Miaoxing, while commercial and residential districts of the city were set on fire. The Chinese defensive positions deteriorated rapidly without naval and armored support, with the number of defenders dwindling to fewer than fifty thousand. Japanese forces increased to over a hundred thousand troops, backed by both aerial and naval bombardments.

On 29 February, the Japanese 11th Infantry Division landed near Liuhe behind Chinese lines. The defenders launched a desperate counterattack from 1 March but were unable to dislodge the Japanese. On March 2, the 19th Route Army issued a telegram stating that it was necessary to withdraw from Shanghai due to lack of supplies and manpower. The next day, both the 19th Route Army and the 5th Army retreated from Shanghai, marking the official end of the battle.