800 Heroes

To demonstrate to the West that the Nationalist Army’s morale was intact, a battalion of the German-trained 88th Division had been fighting off the Japanese 3rd Infantry Division for two days. The site of the Chinese stand was a six-story concrete structure at the south end of Zhabei known …

1937-10-29

AP054

To demonstrate to the West that the Nationalist Army’s morale was intact, a battalion of the German-trained 88th Division had been fighting off the Japanese 3rd Infantry Division for two days. The site of the Chinese stand was a six-story concrete structure at the south end of Zhabei known as the Sihang (“Four-Bank”) Warehouse, so-called because it was built and jointly operated by four Shanghai banks. Throughout the 27th and 28th the over-strength battalion withstood everything the Japanese could throw at them, while ever-increasing crowds of Chinese and westerners stood on the opposite bank cheering on the defenders. On the 29th, with a Chinese flag now flying atop the warehouse, the “lost battalion” as it was dubbed by the international press, stood firm in its resolve to fight to the death.

Shanghai, China

The Battle of Shanghai was the first of the twenty-two major engagements fought between the National Revolutionary Army (NRA) of the Republic of China (ROC) and the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) of the Empire of Japan at the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War. It lasted from August 13, 1937, to November 26, 1937, and was one of the largest and bloodiest battles of the entire war, later described as "Stalingrad on the Yangtze", and is often regarded as the battle where World War II started. After over three months of extensive fighting on land, in the air and at sea, the battle concluded with a victory for Japan. Since the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931 followed by the Japanese attack of Shanghai in 1932, there had been ongoing armed conflicts between China and Japan without an official declaration of war. These conflicts finally escalated in July 1937, when the Marco Polo Bridge Incident triggered the full advance from Japan. Dogged Chinese resistance at Shanghai was aimed at stalling Japanese advance, giving much needed time for the Chinese government to move vital industries to the interior, while at the same time attempting to bring sympathetic Western powers to China's side. During the fierce three-month battle, Chinese and Japanese troops fought in downtown Shanghai, in the outlying towns, and on the beaches of the Yangtze River and Hangzhou Bay, where the Japanese had made amphibious landings.

Japanese

Chinese

Scenario Type = Standard