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 feeder 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 command original factions with interesting lore and backstories while battling on authentic maps using weapons and equipment carefully modeled to be as realistic as possible enjoy total control over the battlefield assigning orders to each unit under your command individually to pull off advanced tactics such as flanking and circling and out maneuvering your opponents feedback on your decisions is instant and comprehensive letting you see exactly what factors influenced your victory or defeat this focus on strategy and tactics allows every player to stay competitive even without paying immerse yourself in both pve and pvp battles using faithfully depicted tanks infantry and special weapons from world war ii sign up for warpath today using the link in the description below and don't forget to use our gift code warpath00 to get a special bonus when you sign up 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 shanghai sheck 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 shang'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 shanghai sheck 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 shang deployed more troops to shanghai to counter the japanese troops stationed there and on august 13th the battle began [Music] chang'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 nanshing which was little more than 300 kilometers or 186 miles down river 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 iga captured the town of baoshan giving them a foothold in the northern suburbs rather than waste his manpower on hopeless counter-attacks shang redeployed his forces around the town of lodian 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 lodian area was heavily contested and changed hands several times unlike previous engagements the chinese avoided masked frontal assaults instead resorting to knight attacks which prevented the japanese from utilizing their advantage in firepower the fighting around lo diane 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 da chang 12 kilometers or seven and a half miles to the south east of luardian 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 da chong 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 sheng 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 xihong 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 nanshing only 300 kilometers or 180 miles up the yangtze on november the 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 seven hundred thousand men deployed to shanghai roughly three hundred thousand became casualties the german-trained divisions which shang deployed at the most crucial points of defense were especially hard hit losing 60 percent 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 three hundred thousand japanese soldiers who were deployed there were sixty thousand killed or injured despite its loss at shanghai china continued to resist alone for the next four years thanks again to warpath for sponsoring this video play warpath using my special link and code below to support the channel [Music] you

Channel: The Armchair Historian

Views: 1,297,055

Keywords: Battle of Shanghai, Second Sino Japanese War, Second Sino-Japanes War, Japanese Invasion of China, Invasion of Manchuria, China in WW2, Second world war asia, east asian theater

Id: e8R5LyE7xLM

Length: 12min 29sec (749 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 15 2020

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