After the September 18th Incident, Japan occupied a large amount of land in Northeast China and tried to support the former Qing Emperor Puyi to establish Manchukuo. However, this action was generally opposed by the international community represented by the League of Nations from the beginning, so Japan
It was decided to create trouble in Shanghai, an international metropolis, to divert international attention so that Japan's invasion and control of Northeast China could proceed smoothly.
In addition to Colonel Seishiro Itagaki, a senior staff officer of the Japanese Kwantung Army and one of the planners of the September 18th Incident, the "Eleventh Club" (members of the Emperor's civil servants in Tokyo include Kido Koichi, Konoe Fumimaro, and Makino Akira)
Voice, etc.), also participated in the planning of the "December 28th Incident". This organization advocates that Japan needs a "thinking pause" period before completing its conquest of Northeast China to deal with many domestic and foreign problems. For this reason, here
During this period, Japan needed to launch a "fake war" in Shanghai.
The planned incident caused the great powers to turn their attention to Shanghai."
After receiving the call, Tanaka Takayoshi from Shanghai handed over 20,000 yen to the Japanese female spy Yoshiko Kawashima (aka Jin Bihui) and asked her to plan and implement it.
On the afternoon of January 18, 1932, Kawashima Yoshiko instigated two Japanese Nichiren sect monks and three Japanese believers to cause trouble at the Sanyou Industrial Co., Ltd. headquarters on Mayushan Road, Huajie, adjacent to the East District (Yangshupu) of the Shanghai Public Settlement.
Five Japanese people watched the workers' volunteer army drill outside the factory and threw stones to provoke the conflict. Kawashima Yoshiko had already hired thugs to dress up as workers and blend into the crowd. During the conflict, the five Japanese people were attacked by unknown persons.
One person died and another was seriously injured. However, the police failed to arrest any criminals, so Japan accused the Chinese factory pickets of the attack. This became the so-called "Japanese Monk Incident."
After the Japanese monk incident broke out, in order to further expand the trouble, Japan's Consul General in Shanghai Murai Kuramatsu made four unreasonable tough demands to the Chinese side: 1. The mayor of Shanghai issued a public apology for the Japanese monk incident; 2. Arrest and punish the perpetrators.
; 3. Provide financial compensation to the victims; 4. Ban and dissolve all anti-Japanese organizations and groups in Shanghai headed by the Anti-Japanese Salvation Association.
The commander of Japan's 1st Foreign Expedition Fleet in Shanghai, Koichi Shiozawa, issued a threatening statement, claiming that if the mayor of Shanghai did not respond to Murai's request to the satisfaction of Japan, the Japanese Navy would take "appropriate action."
To this end, the Japanese army assembled 24 warships, more than 40 aircraft, more than 1,830 Marines and three to four thousand armed Japanese overseas Chinese in Shanghai, which were distributed in the Japanese Concession and the Huangpu River.
On January 24, 1932, the Japanese secret service sent people to set fire to the residence of Aoi Shigemitsu, the Japanese Minister to China, in Shanghai, falsely claiming that it was the Chinese.
On January 27, Murai issued an ultimatum to the Shanghai municipal authorities, requiring satisfactory responses to the four demands before 18:00 on the 28th, otherwise necessary actions would be taken.
At the request of the Nanjing National Government and all walks of life in Shanghai, the Mayor of Shanghai responded to Wen Murai at 13:45 on the 28th, accepting all the unreasonable demands made by Japan.
However, the Japanese aimed to launch a local war to divert international attention and achieve the purpose of establishing the puppet Manchukuo in the Northeast. On January 28, they once again dispatched the aircraft carriers "Kaga", "Hongxiang", and the cruiser "
Three ships, "Naka", "Yura" and "Abukuma", and four mine ships departed from the mainland for Shanghai.
The process of waging war by the Japanese has already begun. How could they ignore Nanjing's repeated concessions?
At 11:05 p.m. on January 28, the Shanghai Municipal Public Security Bureau received a reply from the Japanese side Murai to the Mayor of Shanghai and the Director of the Shanghai Municipal Public Security Bureau, expressing "satisfaction" with Shanghai's acceptance of Japan's four demands, but in the name of protection
On the grounds of expatriates, the Chinese army must withdraw from Zhabei. It was already 11:25 when the Shanghai mayor received the reply.
At 11:30 at night, without waiting for a reply from China, the Japanese army launched an attack on the Chinese garrison in Zhabei. The 156th Brigade of the 78th Division of the 19th Route Army immediately rose up to resist, and the Songhu War broke out.
When the January 28th Incident occurred, the Chinese army stationed in the Beijing-Shanghai area was the 19th Route Army. The entire army had the 60th Division, which was stationed in Suzhou and Changzhou.
The 61st Division is stationed in Nanjing and Zhenjiang.
The 78th Division is stationed in Shanghai, Wusong, Kunshan and Jiading.
There are more than 33,000 people in the army.
After the headquarters of the 19th Route Army received a report about the Japanese attack, Commander-in-Chief Jiang Jinran and Commander Cai Xianchu rushed to Zhenru Station on foot and set up a temporary headquarters. In accordance with the previously estimated pre-war deployment, they ordered the rear troops to quickly move to Shanghai.
Advance.
After dawn on the 29th, the Japanese army launched continuous fierce attacks under the cover of armored vehicles. Japanese aircraft also took off from the aircraft carrier "Notoro" and bombed the Zhabei and Nanshi areas indiscriminately, and the war quickly spread.
The garrison's 156th Brigade fought tenaciously against the Japanese attack, using cluster grenades to deal with Japanese armored vehicles, organizing death squads to blow up enemy armored vehicles using covert means, holding on to every position, and launching counterattacks against the enemy in a timely manner under the cover of artillery fire.
, repulsed the continuous attacks of the Japanese army.
The Japanese army's dream that once an attack was launched, the Chinese army would retreat without a fight was shattered. The bravery and tenacity of the soldiers of our 156th Brigade made the Japanese army suffer enough.
The Japanese commander realized that it was impossible to defeat the strong Chinese army on the opposite side with only thousands of troops. The arrogance of his previous threats to "occupy Zhabei in three hours" and "conquer Shanghai in twelve hours" had become a joke, so
So we asked for reinforcements from home.
At 17:00 on the 29th, the main force of the 156th Brigade arrived. Taking advantage of the frustration of the Japanese attack on the opposite side and the lack of troops, they immediately joined the battle, launched a counterattack, recaptured the North Station and Tiantong'an Station, and pursued the victory, once capturing the Japanese Shanghai Marine Corps.
headquarters, forcing the Japanese army to retreat to the east of North Sichuan Road and south of Target Road. The Japanese army's first attack ended in failure.
After the Japanese attack was thwarted, the British and American consuls came forward to mediate on the afternoon of the 29th, and the Chinese and Japanese armies reached an agreement to stop fighting at 20:00 on the night of the 29th.
The 19th Route Army knew full well that it was a strategy to delay the troops and wait for reinforcements, and agreed to a ceasefire just because its own army also needed to adjust its deployment.
However, the Japanese army despicably took advantage of the break in the armistice and began to reinforce the army, with the purpose of continuing to expand the scale of the war.
As early as when the situation in Shanghai was tense, Japan had planned to send the army, but the navy refused. However, as the war went unfavorably, the navy had to ask for help from the army.
On February 2, the Japanese cabinet decided to officially dispatch the Army. Due to the emergency situation in Shanghai, it decided to dispatch a mixed brigade (brigade commander Major General Shimomoto) and the Ninth Division (division commander Lieutenant General Ueda) to Shanghai, and transport them first.
Shanghai dispatched the Mixed Brigade and the Second Independent Tank Squadron (hereinafter referred to as the 24th Mixed Brigade).
At the same time, the Japanese Navy also dispatched additional Yokosuka 2nd Special Marine Corps to assist Shanghai. The 24th Mixed Brigade landed in Wusong on the afternoon of February 7. By this time, the Japanese Navy, Army and Air Force had increased to more than 10,000 people.