Peter Harmsen, "Shanghai 1937: Stalingrad on the Yangtze" (Casemate, 2015)

Feb 26, 2024

The podcast discusses the forgotten Battle of Shanghai in 1937, involving a million soldiers and 3 million civilians. Key figures like Chiang Kai-shek, Matsui Iwane, Claire Chennault, and Alexander von Falkenhausen emerge. It explores Japan's imperial ambitions, the intense battle in Shanghai, and the evolving treatment of prisoners of war. The horrors of the Nanjing Massacre and the myth of Japanese soldiers' discipline are also discussed.

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Introduction

00:00 • 2min

Exploring China's History through the Lens of World War II

01:37 • 10min

Japan's Imperialist Ambitions in China

11:46 • 6min

Intense Battle Between Japanese and Chinese Forces in Shanghai, 1937

17:55 • 2min

Evolution of Japanese Treatment of Prisoners of War

20:16 • 14min

Unraveling Complexities of War Reporting in 1937 China

34:23 • 18min

The Horrors of the Nanjing Massacre

51:59 • 18min

Unveiling Japanese Soldiers' Discipline in the Battle of Shanghai

01:09:59 • 8min

Exploring 'Shanghai 1937: Stalingrad on the Yangtze'

01:17:49 • 2min

Peter Harmsen's book Shanghai 1937: Stalingrad on the Yangtze (Casemate, 2015) describes one of the great forgotten battles of the 20th century. At its height it involved nearly a million Chinese and Japanese soldiers while sucking in three million civilians as unwilling spectators and victims. It turned what had been a Japanese adventure in China into a general war between the two oldest and proudest civilizations of the Far East. Ultimately, it led to Pearl Harbor and to seven decades of tumultuous history in Asia. The Battle of Shanghai was a pivotal event that helped define and shape the modern world.

Actors from a variety of nations were present in Shanghai during the three fateful autumn months when the battle raged. The rich cast included China's ascetic Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek and his Japanese adversary, General Matsui Iwane, who wanted Asia to rise from disunity, but ultimately pushed it toward its deadliest conflict ever. Claire Chennault, later of "Flying Tiger" fame, was among the figures emerging in the course of the campaign, as was First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. In an ironic twist, Alexander von Falkenhausen, a stern German veteran of the Great War, abandoned his role as a mere advisor to the Chinese army and led it into battle against the Japanese invaders.

In its sheer scale, the struggle for China's largest city was a sinister forewarning of what was in store for the rest of mankind only a few years hence. It demonstrated how technology had given rise to new forms of warfare, or had made old forms even more lethal. Amphibious landings, tank assaults, aerial dogfights and most importantly, urban combat, all happened in Shanghai in 1937. It was a dress rehearsal for World War II--or perhaps more correctly it was the inaugural act in the war--the first major battle in the global conflict.

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