On August 9, 1937, Japanese Navy Lieutenant Yuo Oyama, who was dressed in civilian clothes, drove a military vehicle and forcibly crossed the Hongqiao military airport cordon, only to be shot dead by Chinese security forces.
This incident became the fuse for the Battle of Songhu, when the Japanese side blamed the Chinese side and demanded that the Chinese side withdraw the security team and dismantle the fortifications, but the Chinese side sternly refused. Therefore, the Japanese army used this as an excuse to shell the downtown area of Shanghai on August 13.
In response to the unreasonable provocation of the Japanese army, the Chinese side also fought back at the first time and launched a siege on the Hongkou base of the Japanese Marine Corps in Shanghai. The air force was even dispatched to bomb the docks and surface ships controlled by the Japanese army.
The Battle of Songhu broke out!
The Battle of Songhu was the first large-scale battle between China and Japan in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and it was also the largest battle during the entire War of Resistance Against Japan.
At that time, a total of about 1 million troops from China and Japan were engaged in the battle, of which more than 700,000 troops were mobilized to participate in the Battle of Songhu, and most of them were elite. For example, the 87th and 88th Divisions, which were the first to participate in the battle, were originally the guard units of the national **, and the equipment of the German system of Yishui belonged to the German armor division.
Another example is the ** Military Academy Teaching Corps, which fought a bloody battle with the Japanese army on the bank of the Suzhou River, and is the most well-equipped and regularly trained unit among the German divisions, which can be called the elite of the elite.
In addition, there is the well-known tax police corps of the Ministry of Finance, although it bears the name of private armed forces, but it is more elite than the regular army. Whether it is the quality of officers or the best equipment, it can be called the top level of the domestic army at that time.
However, it is a pity that although the Kuomintang army at that time was extremely brave in battle, there was still a large gap between it and the Japanese army in terms of overall strength. This is the crushing of an industrial country against an agricultural country, and its equipment level, personnel quality, and logistics support cannot be compared with the Japanese army.
Therefore, after almost three months of fighting, the Battle of Songhu finally ended with the retreat of the Chinese army on all fronts. But it's still a battle to be affirmed. More than 700,000 Chinese people fought a bloody battle with the Japanese invaders in Shanghai for March, which not only shattered the delusion that the Japanese invaders would die in March, but also expressed to the world the determination of the Chinese nation to resolutely resist Japan, and also bought time for a large number of factories, mines, machinery and strategic materials to move out of Shanghai and other places, which played an important role in persisting in the long-term war of resistance against Japanese aggression, and the impact was not far-reaching.
Therefore, in the history of China's Anti-Japanese War, the Battle of Songhu has a very important position. So much so that when it comes to the Songhu War of Resistance, many people think of the "August 13 Incident" in 1937, which is also what we often call the Battle of Songhu.
It is worth mentioning that the Battle of Songhu was not the first duel between China and Japan in Shanghai. Prior to this, Shanghai had also played a battlefield role in the Sino-Japanese showdown.
It was at midnight on January 28, 1932, that the Japanese army attacked the Chinese garrison in Zhabei, Shanghai, and the Chinese garrison immediately fought back, and the first Songhu War of Resistance broke out, known as the "128 Incident".
Regarding the cause of the Songhu Anti-Japanese War, we have to start with a Japanese female spy named Yoshiko Kawashima.
Kawashima Yoshiko's original name was Aisin Jueluo Xianyu, who was originally the fourteenth daughter of Shanqi, Prince Su of the Qing Dynasty, and was later given to the Japanese ronin Kawashima Naniwa as an adopted daughter, and was taken to Japan by her adoptive father at the age of 6 to be trained.
When she grew up, Yoshiko Kawashima returned to her homeland and was sent by Japan to spy in China. She participated in the planning of events such as the Huanggutun Incident and the September 18 Incident in Northeast China, and was one of the main culprits in Japan's invasion and occupation of the three eastern provinces.
At the beginning of 1932, Yoshiko Kawashima came to Shanghai again to prepare to direct a new conspiracy.
She first found two Japanese Nichiren monks and instigated them to take people to the main factory of Sanyou Industrial Society to provoke the Chinese workers there. Then he secretly sent killers dressed as workers to blend in with the crowd, and attacked the Japanese monks in the process of fighting between the two sides, resulting in the death of one person and the serious injury of one person on the Japanese side, which is the so-called "Japanese monk incident".
Due to Kawashima Yoshiko's deliberate calculations, the responsibility for the Japanese monk incident naturally fell on the heads of the Chinese workers, which led to the escalation of the contradictions between China and Japan. At that time, the Japanese side took advantage of the Japanese monk incident to continuously exert pressure on Shanghai and put forward many unreasonable demands. He also made blatant threats of cruel remarks, claiming that China would use force if it could not meet Japan's demands.
Blindly making concessions and asking for peace will not get anything in exchange, and in exchange you can only be beaten. Despite the pressing steps of the Japanese side, the people at that time adopted a compromise attitude and avoided conflict with Japan as much as possible. However, the Japanese side had no choice but to pay attention to martial virtues, and before the results of the negotiations between the two sides were agreed, they had already launched an impatient attack, which triggered the 128th Shanghai War of Resistance.
At that time, the 19th Route Army, which was responsible for garrisoning Shanghai, was in charge of the entire 128th Shanghai Anti-Japanese War, and this miscellaneous local army from Guangdong vividly interpreted the bloody nature of the Guangdong Army. In the face of the righteousness of their family and country, they did not choose to protect themselves because they were from other provinces, but went desperately to fight the Japanese.
At that time, the 19th Route Army shouted, "The resistance against Japan does not distinguish between north and south, people do not distinguish between old and young, and we Cantonese people are the first to go up." slogan. Jiang Guangnai, Cai Tingkai and other generals of the 19th Route Army sent a telegram to the whole country, saying that they had the responsibility to defend the land, and they could not give up, and they would resist Japan in order to save the country and protect their families.
Of course, the 19th Route Army not only shouted slogans, but also had real things under them. On the battlefield, in the face of the Japanese army, which occupied superior forces and was equipped with advanced aircraft and tanks, the 19th Route Army held on for more than a month without retreating, forcing the Japanese army to change commanders four times, and finally had no choice but to stop fighting and retreat.
To sum up, the scale of the 128th Songhu War of Resistance was far inferior to the Battle of Songhu five years later, and the number of Chinese and Japanese troops participating in the war was less than 100,000. However, in the history of China's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, it also left a strong mark.
You must know that it was at the beginning of 1932, only a few months after the September 18 Incident, and the whole country was shrouded in the shadow of the fall of the Northeast. The heroic performance of the 19th Route Army on the battlefield of Songhu was undoubtedly a great inspiration to the Chinese people at that time.
Therefore, when it comes to the Songhu War of Resistance, in addition to remembering the "August 13 Incident" in 1937, we should also remember the "128 Incident" that occurred in 1932. It was the first time since the First Sino-Japanese War that China did not fall behind in the face of Japan, and it was an exciting battle.