"One-two-eight" Songhu War of Resistance
At 11:50 p.m. on January 28, 1932, under the cover of armored vehicles, more than 4,000 Japanese Kou brazenly launched an attack on the 19th Route Army of the Nationalist Government, which was stationed at Zhabei Tiantong'an Road, Qiujiang Road, and Hongkou Yokohama Bridge. The officers of the Nineteenth Route Army fought back. This is the "one-two-eight" Songhu War of Resistance!
The war's explosives were packed at the junction of Zhabei and Hongkou, but the fuse was at Yangshupu Yingxiang Port (present-day Shuangyang Road), which was a long way from Zhabei and Hongkou. The incident occurred on January 18 of that year, when a Japanese monk was beaten in front of the towel factory of the Mitomo Industrial Society. In fact, this incident was planned by Takayoshi Tanaka, the military attaché of the Japanese Army in Shanghai, and Yoshiko Kawashima, a Japanese secret agent. The beaters and beaters were all instigated by Tian Zhong, with the intention of blaming the workers of the Sanyou Towel Factory.
After the incident, the Japanese side immediately used this as an excuse to make a big fuss and expand the situation. On the 19th, the Japanese consul general in Shanghai lodged a serious protest with the Shanghai Municipal Government and threatened that if the Chinese side did not have the ability to protect overseas Chinese, the Japanese side would send out marines. In the early morning of the 20th, Tanaka planned a group of Japanese hooligans to rely on the support of the Japanese Marines to rush into the Sanyou Factory and set fire to the plant. On the afternoon of the same day, more than 1,000 Japanese expatriates gathered on Peng Road (present-day Tanggu Road) to demand that the Japanese government send more naval and army troops to suppress the so-called "Shanghai Anti-Japanese Movement." After the meeting, there was a disturbance, smashing the number of shop windows in the Chinese area of North Sichuan Road (now North Sichuan Road).
On January 21, the Japanese consul general in Shanghai beat a rake and made four written demands to the Shanghai Municipal Government on the "Japanese monk incident": 1. The mayor of Shanghai must apologize to the Japanese side for this; 2. Punish the murderer; 3. Compensate for medical expenses and consolation money; 4. Ban the illegal deviant action of the Japanese insults, especially the immediate dissolution of various anti-Japanese groups in Shanghai. Meanwhile, the Japanese Navy can't wait to get ready to go. On the 22nd, Yukiichi Shiozawa, commander of the First Foreign Fleet of the Japanese Navy, issued a statement threatening to take action if the mayor of Shanghai did not satisfactorily respond to the request of the Japanese consul general in Shanghai. On the 26th, the Japanese government not only made a formal written statement, but also made frequent moves, dispatching more aircraft carriers and other warships to carry bulk ordnance to Shanghai. So far, there are 24 Japanese naval warships anchored in the Huangpu River, and more than 10 in the Yangtze River near Shanghai. At that time, the Japanese were already militaryly prepared to start a war in Shanghai. The Japanese Consul General in Shanghai gave an ultimatum to the Shanghai Municipal Government, claiming that it must respond satisfactorily to the four demands by 6 p.m. on the 28th at the latest, or the Japanese Navy would "move freely."
In the face of the Japanese side's step-by-step pressing and provocation, the Shanghai municipal authorities were very embarrassed. Wu Tiecheng, then mayor of Shanghai, like his predecessor Huang Gao, was unwilling to compromise his sovereignty and feared the consequences of a conflict with Japan. In particular, after the "918" incident, the Nationalist government only wanted to rely on the mediation of the League of Nations and adopted a policy of non-resistance. Therefore, at a time when the situation in Shanghai was becoming increasingly tense, the Nationalist government was worried that in the event of war, Shanghai would lose too much and even lose control of Shanghai. On January 23, the Nationalist government held an emergency meeting to discuss its policy toward Japan, and Chiang Kai-shek and Wang Jingwei continued to advocate that "the outside world must be at home" and made two decisions: one was to order the mayor of Shanghai to stop the people's anti-Japanese activities; the other was to transfer the Nineteenth Route Army out of Shanghai within 5 days and send the Sixth Regiment of the Gendarmerie to take over the defense. He also sent Kuomintang officials to Shanghai one after another to convey the principle of "forbearance and avoidance of conflict." On the 26th, after consulting with the Kuomintang Central Committee in Shanghai, Wu Tiecheng decided to adopt an attitude of compromise and concession to Japan. On the night of the 27th, the Shanghai Municipal Government disregarded the wishes and demands of citizens from all walks of life in Shanghai and ordered the Social Security Bureau and the Public Security Bureau to seal the Anti-Japanese Salvation Congress from all walks of life. At 1:45 p.m. on the 28th, Wu Tiecheng sent a letter to the Japanese consul general in Shanghai, expressing full acceptance of the four requests made by the Japanese side's ultimatum.
In the view of the National Government in Nanjing and the Shanghai Municipal Government, blindly compromising and forbearing can avoid the scourge of war in exchange for temporary peace. However, I did not expect that the arrogance of the Japanese side would be even more arrogant. Because the Japanese were originally looking for trouble, they refused to stop there. At 11:25 p.m. that night, Yanze handed the Shanghai municipal government an official document ordering the Chinese troops to withdraw from Zhabei and dismantle the fortifications. Less than half an hour later, at 11:50 a.m., without waiting for a reply from the Chinese side, Little Japan followed the example of the "918" incident and launched a surprise attack. The "128" Songhu War of Resistance broke out.
The 19th Route Army stationed in Shanghai was formerly known as the 11th Army of the National Revolutionary Army. At that time, he was the commander of the army, Cai Tingkai, and the commander-in-chief Jiang Guangnai. After 30,000 officers and men were transferred from Jiangxi to defend Songhu, they witnessed all kinds of atrocities committed by the Japanese aggressors, and under the encouragement and encouragement of the people of the whole country to resist Japan and save the country, their national consciousness was constantly enhanced, and they had a strong desire to resist Japan. After the Sanyou Industrial Society incident, in the face of the aggressive provocation of little Japan, all the officers and men of the Nineteenth Route Army unanimously expressed their "determination to stick to Shanghai." On the night of the 28th, when the Japanese army attacked the Chinese army garrison in Zhabei, the Weng Zhaoyuan Brigade of the Seventy-eighth Division stationed in Zhabei immediately rose up to resist, and the two sides fought for several hours. In the early morning of the 29th, the Japanese troops sent out aircraft to bomb in turn, and the Japanese warships on the Huangpu River also fired artillery to cooperate with the ground attack. Factories, shops and houses were destroyed in the Zhabei area, and the North Station and China's largest publishing institution, the Commercial Press, and its Affiliated Oriental Library were all destroyed.
After the battle broke out, Jiang Guangnai, Cai Tingkai, and others set up a command headquarters in Zhenru, saying that they would not give up on every inch of land and grass" and that "resisting in order to save the country and protect the seed will never shrink back even though sacrificed to one person and one bullet." The Japanese army originally thought that the Chinese army would not resist as it did in 918, and even if it resisted, it could not withstand the fierce attack of the Japanese army, and the Japanese commander-in-chief Shiozawa even expected that "4 hours will be enough". I didn't expect to be met with stubborn resistance from the Chinese army. By the afternoon of the 29th, the Japanese army had not been able to advance one step. In order to prepare for a larger-scale attack, the Japanese army ostensibly accepted the mediation of the British and American consuls on the same day and temporarily ceased fire, but in fact stepped up the transfer of troops to Shanghai. On the 30th, Little Japan sent 4 more destroyers and more than 7,000 Marines to Shanghai.
On February 1, 1932, the Japanese army disregarded the temporary armistice agreement and attacked the Chinese army along the North Sichuan Road (now North Sichuan Road). In the first 3 days, the Japanese army launched successive attacks at Zhabei, Zhenru, and Wusong, all of which were repelled by the 19th Route Army. On the 6th, the Japanese army changed horses and sent Vice Admiral Nomura to replace the incompetent Shiozawa as the commander-in-chief of the Shanghai War, and sent army units to Shanghai to participate in the war. From the 7th to the 12th, the front moved to Wusong and Jiangwan, and the Nineteenth Route Army repeatedly repelled the Japanese attack.
During the war, the local organizations in Shanghai mobilized the broad masses to hold anti-Japanese activities in solidarity with the Nineteenth Route Army and offered condolences to the soldiers at the front; donated grain, cotton clothes, means of transportation, and other materials; also set up hospitals for wounded soldiers to treat the wounded and sick; and organized workers, students, and citizens to join the anti-Japanese volunteer brigade and rush to the front to participate in the war, which greatly encouraged the fighting spirit of the officers and men of the Nineteenth Route Army.
On February 14, Zhang Zhizhong led the Fifth Army to Shanghai to fight alongside the 19th Route Army. The new commander-in-chief of the Japanese invasion of Shanghai, Ueda, also led more than 20,000 people including the Ninth Division of the Japanese Army to Shanghai, and the scale of the war expanded. From the 20th, the Japanese army launched a full-line attack on Wusong, Jiangwan and Zhabei, and the Chinese army counterattacked, and fierce fighting lasted for several days.
By the end of the month, the Japanese army saw that the long attack had not been successful, and once again increased its troops and changed the commander. On the 28th, General Shirakawa led 40,000 reinforcements to Shanghai. At this point, the total number of troops invested by the Japanese army in Shanghai was almost twice that of the Chinese army, and it was greatly superior to our side in equipment. On March 1, the Japanese raided the Yanglin Pass of the Liuhe River on the flank of the Chinese defensive line and landed successfully. The Nineteenth Route Army, after a month of bitter fighting, no support, and flank attacks, ordered it to retreat to the second line of defense around Jiading.
On March 3, the League of Nations resolution called for an armistice between China and Japan. On the 4th, after the Japanese attack was blocked, an armistice was expressed. On the 6th, the Nineteenth Route Army electrified the League of Nations to resolve an armistice. The Battle of Songhu ended in 36 days. But it caused great disasters to the city of Shanghai and the people of Shanghai.