Chapter 37 37. The "August 13" War of Resistance in the International Settlement

On August 11, 1937, the residents of Zhabei District in Shanghai woke up and found that the streets were full of Chinese army soldiers with straight military uniforms and imposing manners, all wearing German-style steel helmets and German-style firearms. , one for joy, one for worry... The so-called "one thing to be happy" starts with the "January 28 Anti-Japanese War" in 1932.Back then, the Japanese invaded Shanghai on the pretext of "the killing of a monk". The Nineteenth Route Army led by Cai Tingkai and Jiang Guangnai and the Fifth Army led by Zhang Zhizhong rose up to resist. Finally, China and Japan signed the "Songhu Anti-Japanese War Agreement."But although the war has stopped, the area around Shanghai has been designated as a peace zone, and the Chinese army cannot enter. Isn't this frustrating to the country?Now I opened the door and saw that my own country's army drove in overnight regardless of the bullshit agreement. How could the common people not feel elated and inexplicably excited?

So, what about "one thing to worry about"?Not to mention, everyone also understands that this war will inevitably cause people to lose their lives and harm themselves, not to mention that this is a densely populated urban area.Bullets and artillery fire are not eye-catching. If there is a real fight, the common people should stay away first.Ever since, on that day, hundreds of thousands of people brought their families with them and poured into the public concession from Zhabei District, so that the population in the concession surged, which led to a sharp increase in rent and prices... The war is imminent!People have never been so close to it.

After the Chinese army suddenly stationed in Zhabei, the Japanese were shocked. They sent a large number of soldiers wearing gas masks, and ordered all the shops and residences in Hongkou District (Japanese Concession) to close their doors and windows, saying that a large number of troops were going to land by warships. Intimidate to bluff.After a night of turmoil, hundreds of thousands of Hongkou residents fled into the public concession the next morning. It was not until later that the residents realized that this was a Japanese strategy to delay the attack, because they did not expect the Chinese army to strike first.

On August 13, the Japanese sent an ultimatum, claiming that as long as "the Chinese army retreats, everything can be negotiated", their attitude softened because they were not yet ready. After the "July 7th Incident", the Japanese army's operations were mainly concentrated in North China, and measures were taken to evacuate the expatriates in central and eastern China. By August, tens of thousands of expatriates had gathered in the Japanese concession in Shanghai, and there were also more than 3,000 naval personnel. The Marine Corps is stationed in Hongkou District.

The Chinese army's preemptive action was caused by an unexpected incident, that is, the "Dashan Hero" incident on August 9.Yuo Oyama was a lieutenant officer of the Japanese Marine Corps. On the same day, he drove a motorcycle to Hongqiao Airport with his sailor Yozo Saito and tried to force his way in. As a result, he was shot dead on the spot by the Chinese security team guarding the airport.After the incident, the Japanese demanded unreasonable demands such as withdrawing the Chinese security forces and demolishing fortifications. After receiving the report, Chiang Kai-shek immediately ordered to march to Shanghai.

In fact, the Chinese army's "preemptive strike" action was not sudden. As early as July 30, Zhang Zhizhong, the Beijing-Shanghai police commander, proposed to Nanjing that if the situation in Shanghai was abnormal, "it seems appropriate to take the initiative and launch the first attack." ".Chiang Kai-shek then replied, "I should attack the enemy first, but the timing should be ordered." Zhang Zhizhong's regular army disguised as a security team and stationed at Hongqiao Airport was a precautionary move. The Japanese side was also very alarmed when they saw that the Chinese army was here for real this time, because they had very limited troops in Shanghai at the time, and it would take at least a week to transfer troops from the mainland. Repeatedly.On the day when Japan issued the ultimatum, the elite 87th and 88th divisions of the Chinese army stationed in Zhabei District launched a fierce attack on the Japanese army. The strategic intention was to wipe out all Japanese troops in Shanghai.

After the battle broke out, the Chinese army quickly entered Hongkou. However, the Japanese army had built many strong barriers in the concession for many years. With the artillery support of the Japanese ships moored on the Huangpu River, the progress of the Chinese army was not fast.Not long after the war started, Huang Meixing, the brigade commander of the 264th Brigade of the 88th Division, died for his country on the battlefield, with nearly a thousand casualties in his unit, which shows the fierceness and cruelty of the battle.The next day, the Chinese army dispatched the air force to bomb the Japanese ships, the Marine Corps Headquarters, and Huishan Wharf. Morale at the front.After several days of bitter fighting, the Chinese army successively occupied important places such as Hujiang University, Wuzhou Cemetery, Baoshan Bridge, Bazi Bridge, and the Japanese Navy Club, and compressed the Japanese army in the narrow area on the left bank of the Huangpu River in Hongkou and Yangpu.

However, it is not an easy task to completely wipe out the Japanese army, because although the Chinese troops participating in the war are all German-style ordnance, they can be called China's first-class army, but because of the serious lack of heavy weapons, the Japanese army was able to resist and wait. backup. On the 19th, the 36th Division, which has a deep relationship with the 87th Division and the 88th Division (these three divisions were expanded from the teaching corps of the Central Military Academy, and the commander is Zhang Zhizhong) was urgently transferred from Xi'an and immediately entered the left-wing battle. On the 21st, the Chinese army invaded the Huishan Wharf, seriously threatening the Japanese marines who were defending.

Although the Japanese army suffered heavy losses in the battle, the Chinese army suffered even greater losses. In the end, they failed to completely unplug the Japanese army's stronghold and wipe out the Japanese army in Shanghai. On the 23rd, the Japanese reinforcements, led by Matsunae Ishine, respectively Landings at Wusongkou, Chuansha and other places forced the Chinese army to move its forces northward to intercept the Japanese reinforcements.As a result, the siege of Hongkou and Yangpu was virtually resolved. Chiang Kai-shek ordered the Chinese army to attack the Japanese army in Shanghai. One of the strategic intentions was to hope that Britain, the United States and other countries would be involved in the war. However, these powers were in a wait-and-see attitude, and the Japanese army was very cautious about this, even though it once accidentally injured an American ship. Patrol boat, but then quickly compensated.Therefore, Chiang Kai-shek's intention was not realized.

However, this does not mean that the public concession is absolutely safe.During the fierce battle between the Chinese army and the Japanese army, a Japanese army plane dropped a large bomb on the "Great World Amusement Park" on Nanjing Road, killing more than 1,000 people on the spot and injuring countless more. "Big World" is located on the edge of the International Settlement and Hongkou District. It was originally a bustling center with people coming and going, but it immediately became a hell on earth.According to the memories of the person involved, the surrounding buildings were shaken by the sound of the explosion, and many people were stunned, and it took several minutes to wake up; when they opened their eyes, they were surrounded by flying sand and fog, and the crowd on the street panicked They fled in all directions, and the center of the bomb explosion was completely changed beyond recognition. There were dead bodies and broken arms and limbs everywhere, which was extremely terrifying.After dozens of minutes, the people who came to look for their relatives were crying loudly, and the rows of complete or incomplete corpses were still bleeding on the ground, forming the most terrifying scene in the International Settlement.A few days later, the gate of Xianshi Company on Nanjing Road was also bombed, and there were also many casualties.

After the Japanese army landed, the two sides confronted each other on the line from Shizilin, Yuepu, Xinzhen, Luodian to Liuhekou (now Baoshan District, the battle line spread from Zhabei and Yangpu to the suburbs of Shanghai). On the Chinese side there are Luo Zhuoying's 15th Army, Xue Yue's 19th Army, Shangguan Yunxiang's 11th Army, and Zhang Fang's 12th Army. Chen Cheng served as the commander-in-chief; for the Central Route Army, except for the previous 87th Division (division commander Wang Jingjiu), 88th Division (division commander Sun Yuanliang), and 36th Division (division commander Song Xilian), the above three were all Whampoa first-year students. ), and Liao Lei’s 21st Army of the Guangxi Faction and Hu Zongnan’s 17th Army (at this time, Zhu Shaoliang replaced Zhang Zhizhong as the commander-in-chief of the Central Route Army); Except for the combat effectiveness of the corps, most of the rest are temporary or miscellaneous troops. At this stage, the two sides invested far more troops than the previous stage, and the battle was more intense than the previous stage.It can be said that "one inch of mountains and rivers and one inch of blood" means that every inch of land must be fought for in the fortunes of nations.The Yao Ziqing Battalion of the 18th Army guarding Baoshan, more than 600 officers and soldiers of the whole battalion were all martyred in the battle on September 7. The Qin Qingwu Regiment was martyred in the battle on September 18. Most of the casualties of other troops participating in the battle were also close to half. The new recruits who came up, the officers didn’t even know what their names were, so they sacrificed their lives for the country in the night attack that night (most of the Chinese army’s weapons are far inferior to the Japanese army, and they can only use the night and familiarity with the terrain to get rid of what they lost during the day. Take back the position), and it is these unsung heroes who forged the Great Wall of China with their flesh and blood. The consumption of the Japanese army is also very high, so the 9th Division, the 13th Division, the 101st Division and the Chongteng Detachment (Taiwan Brigade) of the First Division of the Special Forces were sent to join the battle. Fierce battles were launched in Yunzaohong, Dachang Town and other places, and they fought repeatedly.The battle continued until October 26, when Dachang Town was captured by the Japanese army. The Central Route Army on the north bank of the Suzhou River was attacked by the enemy and had to move to the position between Shanghai North Railway Station and Jiangwan. At this time, the battle had begun to move to the periphery of Shanghai. After the main force of the Chinese army retreated, only a small force remained, and this was the famous "Eight Hundred Heroes" in the history of the War of Resistance. The "Eight Hundred Heroes" are actually officers and soldiers of the 1st Battalion of the 524th Regiment of the 88th Division. It is said that a regiment has 800 people, but it is actually a reinforced battalion with only 411 officers and soldiers.At that time, Nanjing decided to keep such a small force in Zhabei, mainly to show the international community its determination to resist the war and boost morale. The Sixing Warehouse where the "Eight Hundred Heroes" was stationed was located in Tibet Road Bridge, Hebei, Suzhou. The warehouse (built in 1931) jointly funded by four banks (namely Jincheng Bank, Zhongnan Bank, Continental Bank, and Salt Industry Bank) (built in 1931, covers an area of ​​0.3 hectares, with a construction area of ​​20,000 square meters, a house width of 64 meters, a depth of 54 meters, and a height of 25 meters, it is a six-storey building with reinforced concrete structure, and it is also a high-rise building on this plot, which is very strong). The battalion commander of the 1st Battalion of the 524th Regiment is Yang Ruifu, and Xie Jinyuan is the regiment attache (referred to externally as the regiment commander, the former commander was Han Xianyuan, who later died in the defense of Nanjing), and they led the troops immediately after receiving the order 411 officers and soldiers were stationed in the Sixing Warehouse and covered the retreat of the large troops.After all the troops were withdrawn, the west and north of the Sixing Warehouse were occupied by the Japanese army, while the east and south were the public concessions. A veritable lone army. Soon after the "Eight Hundred Heroes" entered the warehouse, the Japanese army dispatched planes and tanks to launch a fierce attack on the Sixing Warehouse. Xie Jinyuan and Yang Ruifu led the officers and soldiers to resist tenaciously and hit the Japanese army repeatedly.On the side of the public concession, tens of thousands of people disregarded the stray bullets from the Japanese army on the north bank, and gathered on the south bank of the Suzhou River. They continued to cheer for the officers and soldiers, and sent food and other items there at night. They provided information on the Japanese military. At dawn on October 28, Girl Scout Yang Huimin risked his life by wrapping a national flag around his body and rushing across the line of fire, dedicating it to the "Eight Hundred Heroes" to show his high respect for the heroes.At dawn the next day, a national flag was hoisted high on the roof of the Sixing Warehouse, and the people watching across the river were so excited that they burst into tears and clapped their hands and cheered. The spirit of the "Eight Hundred Heroes" quickly spread at home and abroad, and some well-known international newspapers have reported the heroic deeds of the Chinese army represented by the "Eight Hundred Heroes" in the War of Resistance, which won a great victory for China's Anti-Japanese War. The support of international public opinion.Soon, "Song of Eight Hundred Heroes" (lyricist: Gui Taosheng, composer: Xia Zhiqiu) was also created very quickly: "China will not perish, China will not perish, look at the national hero, Commander Xie; China will not perish, China will not perish, look at the eight hundred strong men standing alone on the Eastern battlefield. There are artillery fires all around, all four sides are Jackals. I would rather die than give in. I would rather die than surrender. Eight hundred strong men are of one mind, and a hundred thousand strong enemies dare not be. Our actions are heroic, and our integrity is heroic. Compatriots, get up! Compatriots, get up! Hurry up On the battlefield, take the eight hundred heroes as an example. China will not perish, China will not perish, and will not perish!" Due to the prior warning by the concession authorities, the Japanese army did not dare to use heavy weapons excessively in the attack on the Sixing Warehouse, but they must not tolerate this situation continuing.At this time, the concession authorities were also afraid of harming themselves. With the coordination of all parties, the "eight hundred heroes" were finally ordered to withdraw from the Sixing Warehouse.After four days and nights of bloody battle, Xie Jinyuan and Yang Ruifu led the remaining more than 300 officers and soldiers to withdraw into the public concession on November 31.But what made the warriors very angry was that they were disarmed after entering the concession, and then detained in a camp on Jiaozhou Road. Detained in the concession. In April 1941, several rebels bribed by the enemy stabbed Xie Jinyuan to death during morning exercises. The bad news came and shocked the whole country.General Xie Jinyuan is now buried in the Soong Ching Ling Cemetery. Every Qingming Festival, there is an endless stream of people who go to express their condolences. After the Chinese army withdrew to the outskirts of Shanghai, the Japanese base camp changed its strategy. It tried to capture the national capital Nanjing in a quick way, forcing the Nationalist government to surrender, so as to end the entire war as soon as possible. From November 5th to 11th, the Japanese army mobilized a large number of troops from the mainland, North China, and Northeast China to land in Hangzhou Bay, trying to detour to the side of the Chinese army and form an encirclement with the Japanese army in the Songhu area, annihilating the main force of the Chinese army in one fell swoop.Under such circumstances, Chiang Kai-shek ordered all troops in the Songhu theater to retreat quickly, and all Chinese troops in Pudong, Songjiang and other places also retreated to the rear.As a result, all Shanghai except the public concession fell, and the Battle of Songhu ended. The Battle of Songhu lasted 3 months. In a narrow Jiangnan water network area, the two sides invested nearly one million troops to fight. Among them, the Japanese army had more than 200,000 troops and more than 40,000 casualties; the Chinese army had more than 600,000 troops. There were nearly 160,000 casualties, and the casualty ratio of the two sides was 1:4. This is directly related to the Chinese army's weapons and equipment, training and command.At that time, the most elite units of the Chinese army (such as the 87th and 88th divisions) may only be equivalent to a second-rate division in Japan. In terms of overall strength, the Chinese army is obviously inferior to the Japanese army. However, the patriotic enthusiasm and indomitable spirit of the soldiers of the Chinese army in the face of national disasters are enough to set an example through the ages. It is precisely because of their bloody battles that they finally forced the Japanese army to shift the main strategic direction of attack. A dream. From a historical point of view, if a strong enemy is allowed to attack the south from the north and the established strategy is calmly implemented, the southern regime will have little chance of victory. For example, the Mongols' destruction of the Song Dynasty and the entry of Qing soldiers into the customs have proved this point.From the perspective of strategic intentions, Chiang Kai-shek placed the main force of the Chinese army in the Jiangnan (Shanghai) area where the water network intersects to contain the enemy and drag them into the quagmire. In such an open area, the Chinese army has no advantage in the face of the mechanized field troops of the Japanese army. The initiative to open up the Songhu battlefield disrupted Japan's established plans and forced it to change its strategy. It was a miscalculation, and thus completely fell into a long and protracted war from which he could not extricate himself.Most of the time, strategy is not omnipotent, but without strategy it is absolutely impossible. This is the main reason for Japan's failure. After the Chinese army withdrew from the Songhu Theater, Shanghai also became a real isolated island.Without hearing the gunshots of the Chinese army, the once passionate enthusiasm of the people in the concession began to fade, and the entertainment venues in the foreign market flourished instead, the most notable being the dance hall. There were only a dozen in the concession originally, and the Battle of Songhu After the end, it increased to dozens, and many people relied on "tent cha cha" to relieve their depression.Although the war has subsided for the time being, the people are very confused about the future, and some people who have the means left Shanghai through various channels (at that time, the British Swire and Jardine Steamship Company were still in use), but for the majority of the people , they have nowhere to go. But the public concession cannot last long. After the "Pearl Harbor" incident broke out in 1941, Japan declared war on the United Kingdom and the United States, and then sent troops into the International Settlement. Shanghai fell completely and became the world of the Japanese.During this period, the Japanese used a large number of rogue spies to carry out an extremely dark rule in Shanghai. Killing, kidnapping, assassination and robbery in broad daylight almost became commonplace. However, the tragedy of the last scene of the Shanghai Anti-Japanese War did not happen to the Chinese, but to the Japanese themselves.According to Chen Cunren, a Shanghai doctor who stayed behind in the concession, he witnessed the tragedy right after Japan announced its unconditional surrender when he was forced to see a groom for a Japanese horseman in a racetrack.According to him, at that time, "the main entrance of the racetrack was opened, and countless large troop trucks came one after another. Two lines of military police stood at the entrance, and when they saw a car driving in, they shouted loudly and raised their guns in salute...to the east. Looking west, there are endless military vehicles entering one after another. Looking west, there are also countless military vehicles waiting. After the military vehicles enter the racetrack, the soldiers get off and line up separately, standing in a fixed place, while the navy and air force also drive to the designated place, lined up It was very neat, military vehicles entered one by one, and the stream continued... In the farthest corner, there were countless people in white clothes standing in line. These people were all handcuffed and fettered. strung..." Surprisingly, when all the senior military officers arrived, "the Japanese flag was hoisted in a moment, and the soldiers present sang the national anthem together. , a row of uncountable number of machine guns was placed, facing the prisoners in white clothes, under the waving of the flag, there was a burst of machine guns, and countless white-clothed prisoners fell to death, and they didn't know they were dead. How many people. Afterwards, a man who looked like an officer spoke a few words into the microphone, and the remaining white-clothed prisoners immediately knelt down on the ground, wearing handcuffs, expressing their surrender. These prisoners finally escaped from hell .” Doctor Chen later found out that these white-clothed prisoners were Japanese anti-war soldiers who were imprisoned. The number was about 1,000 to 2,000. After returning home, they made trouble, because the Japanese were going to use the gramophone to play the emperor's truce, so these anti-war soldiers were executed early.According to Dr. Chen, he was not the only one who saw the tragedy at that time, because the high-rise buildings around the racetrack (now Shanghai People's Park) include the International Hotel, Jinmen Hotel, etc., and the roofs were crowded with people at that time, and he witnessed it with his own eyes. This horrible scene. Afterwards, the Japanese set up a bonfire to destroy the corpses of the anti-war soldiers who were killed. It is said that the stench of burning corpses disappeared after a long time.The war is so cruel, but anyway, it is finally over, and the Chinese people finally won a just victory.