August 13, 1937 · Central China — Shanghai Theater
August 13, 1937
Chiang Kai-shek deployed China's best German-trained divisions to hold Shanghai against the Japanese, calculating that fighting in the international settlement would bring Western intervention. Three months of brutal urban combat in the streets and rice paddies of Shanghai destroyed the cream of China's modern army. Japan prevailed but at enormous cost — losses that shocked Tokyo and shattered the illusion of a quick victory.
Commanders