Shanghai 1937: Stalingrad on the Yangtze
Page 31
On its way to the Chinese capital, the Japanese divisions marched across a once-prosperous and densely populated area, whose silk products had once made their way to the markets of ancient Rome. They turned it into a deserted and blackened wasteland where the only living creatures were stray dogs “unnaturally fattened by feasting on human corpses.”23 The soldiers routinely massacred whatever civilians they came across, sometimes as a form of entertainment after a long day on the road. On rare occasions when individual soldiers questioned the need for this harshness, the officers explained that it was retribution for fierce resistance offered by the Chinese Army.
Kurosu Tadanobu, a soldier of the 13th Japanese Division, described what happened when his artillery unit entered a village and set up camp for the night. “We’d take all the men behind the houses and kill them with bayonets and knives,” he said. “Then we’d lock up the women and children in a single house and rape them at night. I didn’t do that myself, but I think the other soldiers did quite a bit of raping. Then, before we left the next morning, we’d kill all the women and children, and to top it off, we’d set fire to the houses, so that even if anyone came back, they wouldn’t have a place to live.”24
By December 1937, the Japanese Army arrived at Nanjing. Whatever prestige it might have won due to its military prowess in Shanghai and beyond, was completely erased by the ensuing orgy of rape and murder that seemed to have no end, but rather escalated as if the sight of blood whetted the Japanese appetite for more. Days turned into weeks. It became the infamous “Rape of Nanjing.” An unnamed foreign resident of the city described what life under Japanese occupation meant. “At noon a man was led to headquarters with head burned cinder black—eyes and ears gone, nose partly, a ghastly sight. I took him to the hospital in my car where he died a few hours later. His story was that he was one of a gang of some hundred who had been tied together, then gasoline thrown over them and set afire.”25
Robert O. Wilson, an American surgeon at Nanjing’s University Hospital, described the horrors he witnessed in a letter to his family dated December 18, 1937: “Two girls, about 16, were raped to death in one of the refugee camps. In the University Middle School where there are 8,000 people the Japs came in ten times last night, over the wall, stole food, clothing, and raped until they were satisfied. They bayoneted one little boy, killing him, and I spent an hour and a half this morning patching up another little boy of eight who [had] five bayonet wounds including one that penetrated his stomach.”26
Matsui appears to have been horrified when he realized the extent of the atrocities committed by his troops. According to one report, he subsequently subjected his senior officers to a personal reprimand that surprised everyone in attendance by its severity.27 It did not, however, save him from the gallows. He was sentenced to death by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East and hanged in Tokyo’s Sugamo Prison in December 1948. Tani Hisao, the bespectacled commander of the 6th Infantry Division, was sent back to China after the war to answer for crimes committed by his troops. He was executed in Nanjing in April 1947.
That was years into the future. In December 1937, as a young girl, Liliane Willens had only hazy ideas about what was going on in Nanjing. Kept in the dark by her concerned parents, she nevertheless saw the ghastly pictures in the local newspapers. The “Japanese dwarfs” were very, very bad, she was told by Old Amah, her Chinese nanny. Then the woman explained ominously how war had broken out in China every five years, first 1927, then 1932 and now 1937. In five more years, the Japanese would attack again, she said.28 She was almost correct. Four years and one month after the last shot rang out in Shanghai, the first shot was fired over Pearl Harbor. Only then did China’s lonely struggle become a world war.
APPENDIX
Order of Battle
Names of commanders are given, in parentheses, down to division level for the Japanese side, and down to army level for the Chinese side. Please note that there was some organizational inconsistency in the deployment of Chinese forces in the Shanghai area. In principle, divisions were grouped into armies, which in turn were grouped into army groups. However, the army level was sometimes skipped, in which case the divisions went into battle under the direct command of the army group. As a result, in certain cases in the order of battle below, divisions are listed as placed on the same organizational level as armies. This is not meant to reflect any necessary equivalence between divisions and armies in terms of manpower strength or combat value.
JAPAN
______________________________________________________________________________________________
FORCES IN SHANGHAI, AUGUST 13, 1937
Third Fleet (Hasegawa Kiyoshi)
8th Cruiser Division (Nagumo Chuichi)
11th Gunboat Division (Tanimoto Umataro)
1st Torpedo Squadron
3rd Torpedo Squadron
Shanghai Special Naval Landing Force (Okawachi Denshichi)
JAPANESE REINFORCEMENTS, DISEMBARKING FROM AUGUST 23, 1937
Shanghai Expeditionary Force (Matsui Iwane)
3rd Division (Fujita Susumu)
5th Brigade
6th Regiment
68th Regiment
29th Brigade
18th Regiment
34th Regiment
11th Division (Yamamuro Monetake)
10th Brigade
12th Regiment
22nd Regiment
22nd Brigade
43rd Regiment
44th Regiment
JAPANESE REINFORCEMENTS, DISEMBARKING
FROM SEPTEMBER 22, 1937
Attached to Shanghai Expeditionary Force:
9th Division (Yoshizumi Ryosuke)
7th Brigade
7th Regiment
35th Regiment
18th Brigade
19th Regiment
36th Regiment
13th Division (Ogisu Ryuhei)
103rd Brigade
14th Regiment
65th Regiment
26th Brigade
116th Regiment
58th Regiment
101st Division (Ito Masaki)
101st Brigade
101st Regiment
149th Regiment
102nd Brigade
103rd Regiment
157th Regiment
Shigeto Detachment (Shigeto Chiaki)
JAPANESE REINFORCEMENTS, DISEMBARKING
FROM NOVEMBER 5, 1937
10th Army (Yanagawa Heisuke)
6th Division (Tani Hisao)
11th Brigade
36th Brigade
18th Division (Ushijima Sadao)
23th Brigade
35th Brigade
114th Division (Suematsu Shigeharu)
127th Brigade
128th Brigade
Kunizaki Detachment (5th Division’s 9th Brigade)
6 Heavy Artillery Brigade
CHINA
______________________________________________________________________________________________
CHINESE FORCES AS OF SEPTEMBER 6, 1937
Third War Zone (Feng Yuxiang)
8th Army Group (Zhang Fakui)
28th Army (Tao Guang)
62nd Division
55th Division
63rd Division
45th Independent Brigade
45th Independent Artillery Brigade
9th Army Group (Zhang Zhizhong)
Right Wing (Sun Yuanliang)
72nd Army (Sun Yuanliang)
88th Division
Peace Preservation Corps
Left Wing (Wang Jingjiu)
71st Army (Wang Jingjiu)
87th Division
78th Army (Song Xilian)
36th Division
61st Division
20th Independent Brigade
15th Army Group (Chen Cheng)
Right Wing (Hu Zongnan)
1st Army (Hu Zongnan)
1st Division
78th Division
8th
Division
15th Division
16th Division
32nd Division
57th Division
77th Division
159th Division
Central Wing (Luo Zhuoying)
18th Army (Luo Zhuoying)
11th Division
67th Division
60th Division
54th Army (Huo Kuizhang)
14th Division
98th Division
4th Army (Wu Qiwei)
59th Division
90th Division
66th Learning Brigade
Left Wing (Liu Heding)
39th Army (Liu Heding)
56th Division
74th Army (Yu Jishi)
51st Division
6th Division
37th Independent Brigade
CHINESE FORCES AS OF OCTOBER 2,1, 1937
Third War Zone. (Chiang Kai-shek, deputy commander: Gu Zhutong)
Right Wing (Zhang Fakui)
8th Army Group (Zhang Fakui)
28th Army (Tao Guang)
62nd Division
55th Division
63rd Division
45th Independent Brigade
2nd Independent Artillery Brigade
Artillery Learning Batallion
10th Army Group (Liu Jianxu)
45th Division
52nd Division
126th Division
37th Independent Brigade
11th Brigade (temporary)
12th Brigade (temporary)
13th Brigade (temporary)
Ningbo Defense Command
Central Wing (Zhu Shaoliang)
9th Army Group (Zhu Shaoliang)
8th Army (Huang Jie)
61st Division
Tax Police Division
71st Army (Wang Jingjiu)
87th Division
72nd Army (Sun Yuanliang)
88th Division
Peace Preservation Corps
78th Army (Song Xilian)
36th Division
3rd Division
18th Division
Songhu Defense Command
21st Army Group (Liao Lei)
1st Army (Hu Zongnan)
1st Division
78th Division
32nd Division
19th Division
26th Division
135th Division
171st Division
173rd Division
174th Division
176th Division
Left Wing (Chen Cheng)
15th Army Group (Luo Zhuoying)
76th Army (Tao Zhiyue)
16th Division
18th Army (Luo Zhuoying)
11th Division
67th Division
90th Division
15th Division
77th Division
39th Army (Liu Heding)
56th Division
74th Army ((Yu Jishi)
51st Division
58th Division
34th Independent Brigade
44th Division
60th Division
Jiangsu Peace Preservation Regiment
16th Artillery Regiment
Two artillery companies
19th Army Group (Xue Yue)
2nd Army (Li Yannian)
9th Division
20th Army (Yang Sen)
133rd Division
134th Division
25th Army (Wan Yaohuang)
13th Division
66th Army (Ye Zhao)
159th Division
160th Division
Learning Brigade regiment
69th Army (Yuan Zhaochang)
57th Division
REINFORCEMENTS LATE OCTOBER TO EARLY NOVEMBER 1937
Attached to 9th Army Group:
46th Division
154th Division
Attached to Right Wing:
67th Army (Wu Keren)
107th Division
108th Division
79th Division
Training Brigade
Attached to 15th Army Group:
98th Division
Attached to 19th Army Group:
54th Army (Huo Kuizhang)
14th Division
33rd Division
105th Division
Attached to 21st Army Group:
48th Army (Wei Yunsong)
170th Division
172nd Division
___________________________
Sources: Cao Jianlang, Zhongguo Guomingdangjun jianshi, [A Brief History of the Chinese Nationalist Forces], Beijing: Jiefangjun chubanshe, 2009; Riben haijun zai Zhongguo zuozhan [The Japanese Navy’s War in China], Tianjin: Tianjin shi zhengxia bianyi weiyuanhui, 1991.
Notes
PROLOGUE
1. Zhang Fakui. Reminiscences of Fa-k’uei Chang: Oral History, 1970–1980. Columbia University Libraries, Oral History Research Office, p. 490. This document is based on a series of interviews Zhang gave in the 1970s.
2. Snow, Edgar. The Battle for Asia. Cleveland OH: The World Publishing Company 1941 p. 45.
CHAPTER ONE: THREE CORPSES
1. The account of the situation at Hongqiao Aerodrome on the night between August 9 and 10 is based mainly on reports in the Shanghai-based North China Daily News (hereafter cited as NCDN), as well as The New York Times and other western media. Details have also been gleaned from Shin Shina genseiyoran [The Current Situation in China]. Tokyo: Toa Dobunkai, 1938, p. 65, quoted in Higashinakano Shudo. The Nanking Massacre: Facts versus Fiction. Tokyo: Sekai Shuppan, 2006, p. 11.
2. “Chapei Again Fearful,” Associated Press, August 9, 1937, in The New York Times, August 10, 1937.
3. Ibid.
4. Li Junsan. Shanghai Nanjing baoweizhan [Defensive Battlesfor Shanghai and Nanjing]. Taipei: Maitian chubanshe, 1997, pp. 49–50.
5. All About Shanghai and Environs. Shanghai: The University Press, 1934, pp. 1, 39, 41.
6. Dong, Stella. Shanghai: The Rise and Fall of a Decadent City. New York: HarperCollins, 2001, pp. 22–23.
7. Fenby, Jonathan. Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-shek and the China He Lost. London: Simon & Schuster, 2003, pp. 138–139.
8. Hanson, Haldore. Humane Endeavour: The Story of the China War. New York: Farrar & Rinehart, 1939, p. 124.
9. Dong, p. 113.
10. Dong, pp. 109–117.
11. Fenby, pp. 147–148.
12. Jordan, Donald A. China’s Trial by Fire: The Shanghai War of 1932. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2001, p. 47.
13. Abend, Hallett. My Life in China. 1926–1941. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1943, pp. 192–193.
14. Jordan, pp. 186–190.
15. Teitler, Geir et al. A Dutch Spy in China: Reports on the First Phase of the Sino-Japanese War. Leiden: Brill, 1999, p. 51.
16. Barnhart, Michael A. Japan Prepares for Total War: The Search for Economic Security 1919–1941. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1987, pp. 27–28, 39.
17. Bix, Herbert P. Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan. New York: HarperCollins, 2001, p. 306.
18. Dryburgh, Marjorie. North China and Japanese Expansion 1933–1937. Richmond and Surrey: Curzon Press, 2000, p. 147.
19. Taylor, Jay. The Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-shek and the Struggle for Modern China. Cambridge MA: Belknap, 2009, p. 145.
20. Bix, p. 321.
21. Qiao Defu, a 13-year-old farm boy, saw his mother recover a foot-long bayonet from the family’s cornfield. “It was gleaming. We used it at home to cut radish leaves,” he recalled many years later. “Xuezhan Nanyuan, xuebing sui jiangjun sunqu” [“The bloody battle for Nanyuan: Soldiers followed general into obliteration”], Beijing News, July 7, 2005.
22. Dorn, Frank. The Sino-Japanese War 1937–41: From Marco Polo Bridge to Pearl Harbor. New York: Macmillan, 1974, p. 42. The incident is recognized by Chinese historians. See, Xiao Yiping et al. Zhongguo kangri zhanzheng quanshi [A Complete History of China’s Anti-Japanese War]. Chengdu: Sichuan r
enmin chubanshe, 2005, vol. 2, p. 13.
23. Volume 3 of Defense Exhibits Rejected by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE).
24. Wilson, Dick. When Tiger Fight: The Story of the Sino-Japanese War 1937–1945. New York: The Viking Press, 1982, p. 22.
25. Dorn, pp. 42, 46.
26. Lu, David J. From the Marco Polo Bridge to Pearl Harbor: A Study of Japan’s Entry into World War II. Washington DC: Public Affairs Press, 1961, p. 17.
27. Bix, p. 322.
28. Kuo Mo-jo. “A Poet with the Northern Expedition,” in Far Eastern Quarterly, vol. 3, no. 2, February 1944, p. 163.
29. Zhang Fakui, p. 453.
30. Yang Tianshi. “Chiang Kai-shek and the Battles of Shanghai and Nanjing,” in Mark Peattie et al. (eds.). The Battle for China. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2011, pp. 144–145.
31. Zhang Fakui, p. 453.
32. Shen Zui. Juntong neimu [The Inside Story of the Military Statistics Bureau]. Taipei: Xinrui chubanshe, 1994, p. 70.
33. Wakeman, Frederic E. Spymaster: Dai Li and the Chinese Secret Service. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003, p. 244.
34. Dreyer, Edward L. China at War 1901–1949. London: Longman, 1995, pp. 181–185.
35. The Chinese Army was built around the square division, consisting of four regimental units. This had been popular in Europe prior to World War I, but was gradually abandoned by the European powers for the triangular division, made up of three regiments.
36. Ch’i Hsi-sheng. Nationalist China at War: Military Defeats and Political Collapse, 1937–45. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1982, p. 37.
37. Die Schlacht bei Shanghai. Berlin: Oberkommando der Wehrmacht, 1939, p. 5. Die Schlacht bei Shanghai (hereafter cited as DSBS) was based on the testimonies of former German advisors to the Chinese military, but was mainly authored by Robert Borchardt, one of Germany’s earliest experts on tank warfare.
38. Chang Jui-te. “The Nationalist Army on the Eve of War,” in Peattie et al. (eds.). pp. 89–90.
39. Chang Jui-te, p. 103.
40. Liang, Hsi-huey. The Sino-German Connection. Amsterdam: van Gorcum, 1978, pp. xii, 172.
41. Andersson, Lennart. A History of Chinese Aviation. Taipei: AHS of ROC, 2008, p. 108.
42. Andersson, p. 128.