Shanghai Expeditionary Army

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Shanghai Expeditionary Army

JapaneseStormNanjing.jpg

Soldiers of the Shanghai Expeditionary Army march into Nanking, December 1937
active 1932, 1937 to 1938
Country JapanJapan Japanese Empire
Armed forces JapanJapan (war flag) Japanese armed forces
Armed forces JapanJapan (war flag) Japanese army
Branch of service infantry
Type corps
Strength 1932: about 75,000
1937: about 70,000
1938: about 200,000
Insinuation 1932: Daihon'ei
1937: Central China Regional Army
Location Shanghai
Butcher Shanghai incident

Second Sino-Japanese War

Supreme command
list of Commander in chief

The Shanghai Expeditionary Army ( Japanese 上海 派遣 軍 , Shanhai hakengun ) was a major unit of the Imperial Japanese Army in 1932 and from 1937 to 1938 .

history

1932

Japanese defensive position near Shanghai North Railway Station with Vickers Crossley armored car.

In 1931 the so-called Manchurian Crisis occurred , during which Japan occupied Manchuria and established the puppet state of Manchukuo. The tensions resulting from the Manchurian Crisis led to the outbreak of fighting between Chinese and Japanese troops in Shanghai on January 28, 1932 . To support the few Japanese troops on site, the Shanghai Expeditionary Army (SEA for short) was set up on February 25, 1932 , and General Shirakawa Yoshinori was appointed its commander. Just four days later, Shiraka landed with his troops near the city. In the first battle of Shanghai , which lasted from January to March , the Japanese were finally able to force the Chinese to the negotiating table. On April 29, a bomb explosion occurred in the Hongkou district of Shanghai , injuring General Shirakawa and other high-ranking military officers, some seriously. On May 26, Shirakawa died from his injuries.

A ceasefire agreement was finally signed on May 5, and the SEA was dissolved in June 1932.

1937-1938

Japanese soldiers in the ruins of Shanghai. To avoid self- fire, the Japanese flag is attached to some rifle barrels in order to identify one's own troops.

After the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out on July 7, 1937, the first major battle began on August 13, 1937, the second battle for Shanghai . At the beginning of the fighting, around 5,000 Navy men (Navy Special Landing Forces and reservists) defended the line of defense on the edge of the Shanghai International Security Zone . On August 15, the Shanghai Expeditionary Army was re -established under the command of Lieutenant General Matsui Iwane and initially consisted mainly of the 3rd and 11th Divisions . In the further course of the fighting, the SEA was supplemented by the 101st , 9th and 13th Divisions , whereby it swelled to around 200,000 men, including other smaller units. Since the resistance of the more than 500,000 Chinese defenders was more stubborn than expected, the SEA was supported from November 5, 1937 by the 10th Army (about 100,000 men), which landed in the Hangzhou Bay southeast of Shanghai . Both armies were merged on November 7th to form the Central China Regional Army . The Chinese defenders were threatened with encirclement, whereupon the Chinese commander-in-chief Chiang Kai-shek ordered the withdrawal from Shanghai on November 8th. The fighting over Shanghai had cost the SEA and 10th Army around 40,000 dead and 50,000 wounded.

After the end of the fighting for Shanghai at the end of November 1937, the SEA advanced 300 km in the direction of Nanking , the capital of the Republic of China. Even before the battle for Shanghai, Lieutenant General Matsui, who had meanwhile become commander in chief of the Central China Regional Army, announced his intention to advance to Nanking immediately after the capture of Shanghai in order to solve the "Chinese problem". The advancing Japanese soldiers were only equipped with light packs, weapons and ammunition and had to "get supplies from the land " during the march .

From December 1, she attacked the suburbs of the city and henceforth took part in the Battle of Nanking . Due to illness, Lieutenant General Matsui had to hand over command to Lieutenant General Prince Asaka Yasuhiko on December 2nd . He issued the order to “get rid of all prisoners”, which gave the basis for the murders during the following Nanking massacre .

The Chinese defenders had strongly fortified Nanking thanks to the 36 km long medieval ramparts as well as additional trenches, minefields and concrete defensive positions. Nevertheless, the SEA and the 10th Army were able to take the city on December 13th. After taking the city, units of the army took part in the Nanking massacre .

The Shanghai Expeditionary Army was disbanded in Nanking on February 14, 1938. The units subordinate to her were divided between the Northern China Regional Army under Terauchi Hisaichi and the Central China Expedition Army under Hata Shunroku, which was newly formed from the Central China Regional Army .

Army command

Commander in chief

Surname From To
General Shirakawa Yoshinori February 25, 1932 April 29, 1932
Unity dissolved
Lieutenant General Matsui Iwane August 15, 1937 December 2, 1937
Lieutenant General Prince Asaka Yasuhiko December 2, 1937 February 14, 1938

Chiefs of Staff

Surname From To
Lieutenant General Kanichiro Tashiro February 25, 1932 April 29, 1932
Unity dissolved
Lieutenant General Iinuma Mamoru August 15, 1937 February 12, 1938

Subordinate units

1932

  • Army units:
  • Army Air Force:
    • 3 × bomber squadrons
    • 1 × hunting squadron
    • 1 × reconnaissance relay
  • Marine units
    • Shanghai SLKM (2000 men)
      • 1st Battalion (1st Sasebo SLKM)
      • 2nd Battalion (1st Kure SLKM)
      • 3rd Battalion (2nd Sasebo SLKM)
      • 4th Battalion (3rd Sasebo SLKM)
      • 5th Battalion (1st Yokosuka SLKM)
      • 7th Battalion (2nd Yokosuka SLKM)
    • Armed reservists and ronins , about 3,000 men

1937-1938

In the further course of the battle for Shanghai they joined:

literature

  • Victor Madej: Japanese Armed Forces Order of Battle, 1937-1945. Game Publishing, 1981, OCLC 833591372 , OCLC 833591376 (English).
  • Bill Yenne: The Imperial Japanese Army: The Invincible Years 1941-42 Osprey Publishing, Oxford 2014, ISBN 978-1-7820-0932-0 (English).
  • Philip Jowett: The Japanese Army 1931-45 (Part 1) . Osprey Publishing, Oxford 2002, ISBN 978-1-84176-353-8 (English).
  • Benjamin Lai: Shanghai and Nanjing 1937 . Osprey Publishing, Oxford 2017, ISBN 978-1-47281-749-5 (English).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Chŏng-sik Lee: The Politics of Korean Nationalism. 1963, p. 185.
  2. ↑ Lai, p. 25
  3. ↑ 第 10 軍. (No longer available online.) Organization of IJA, archived from the original on April 20, 2015 ; accessed on December 30, 2014 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / homepage1.nifty.com
  4. ↑ Yenne, p. 54
  5. ↑ Lai, p. 59
  6. ↑ Marco Polo Bridge. Quingdao News, accessed December 30, 2014 .
  7. ↑ Lai, p. 64
  8. ↑ a b Lai, p. 68
  9. ↑ Lai, p. 16
Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus Shirakawa is the family name, Yoshinori the first name.