The Skies of China (Part 2): The Shanghai Clashes (1932)
The conflict in Shanghai served to distract global attention from the Japanese advance in Manchuria. The naval operation marked the first combat deployment of the Japanese aircraft carriers Kaga and Hosho against the emerging Chinese air force.
Battles in ShanghaiAt the beginning of 1932, the anti-Japanese passions sparked by the occupation ofManchuriapeaked, as the attacks on Japanese citizens and the boycott of Japanese goods became a convenient pretext for justifying intervention in various regions of China, which diverted the international community's attention from the advance of theKanto Gunin Manchuria. On January 19, 1932, a Japanese towel factory in Shanghai was set on fire. In the morning, Japanese settlers staged a demonstration and requested protection from the Imperial Army. A biased telegram from the Mitsui corporation was sent to Tokyo, colorfully depicting the bloody rampages of Chinese gangs. Independently of this, a Chinese mob attacked five Japanese Buddhist monks. One of the Japanese men died, and several hundred members of the Japanese Youth League subsequently poured into the streets. One of them was shot dead by a Chinese policeman, who was subsequently stabbed to death. Diplomatic negotiations proceeded in a tense atmosphere. Japanese Consul General Kuramatsu Murai presented Shanghai Mayor Wu Tiecheng with an ultimatum demanding the imprisonment of all instigators of anti-Japanese actions, an official apology, and financial compensation for the "committed injustices". The mayor succumbed to the pressure and agreed to the conditions, and the Chinese police began to disperse anti-Japanese demonstrations, but this only further escalated the situation. Following a bomb attack on the Japanese consulate in the French Concession, the administrative authorities of the International Settlement declared martial law and assigned Japanese, British, and French detachments to protect designated sectors against anticipated attacks by Chinese mobs. Meanwhile, the seaplane tender *Notoro* anchored off the coast of Shanghai with eightYokosuka E1Y1 Type 14andAichi E3A1 Type 90reconnaissance aircraft, and Vice Admiral Shiozawa's cruiser *Yura* dropped anchor in sight of the city. The mayor immediately sent a telegram assuring loyalty and compliance with the Japanese demands. Yokosuka E1Y1 Type 14Aichi E3A1 Type 90In the late night hours, naval infantry landed and advanced into the Zhabei district, where they encountered surprisingly strong resistance from the 78th Division of the elite 19th Route Army, whose local garrison refused the government's order to retreat inland without a fight and instead launched a counterattack. They halted the initial onslaught and slowly seized the initiative, pushing the Japanese back. At dawn on January 29, the Chinese even threatened Japanese positions on the approaches to their assigned sector of the International Settlement. Dozens of corpses in blue naval uniforms lay in the streets, and the Japanese operation was on the verge of collapse. Shiozawa therefore deployed floatplanes from the *Notoro* and one Type 90 machine from the cruiser's complement. Throughout the day, the aircraft took off a total of ten times, dropping anti-personnel bombs on the enemy's advancing columns. The counteroffensive began to falter, and Chinese casualties mounted. There were increasingly more casualties among the civilian population. There was no anti-aircraft defense or air cover in Shanghai. Nevertheless, General Cai Tingkai resolutely declared that "the 19th Army will fight the Japanese to the last man". In the afternoon, the 1st Koku Sentai (Carrier Division), with the aircraft carriersKagaandHosho, escorted by the 3rd Destroyer Division, approached Shanghai to become part of the 3rd Kantai (Fleet) for the duration of the conflict. Aboard the *Kaga*, the flagship of Rear Admiral Takayoshi Kato, were 12Nakajima A1N1 Type 3-2fighters (+ 3 in reserve), 18Mitsubishi Type 13bombers (+ 6 in reserve), and 6 Mitsubishi Type 13s (+ 2 in reserve) for reconnaissance purposes. The *Hosho* possessed 10 Type 3-2 fighters and 9 Type 13 bombers. From January 31, both vessels operated at the mouth of the Yangtze River and along the entire coast. Shiozawa utilized the air forces primarily in direct cooperation with the ground troops. Aircraft carrier Kaga in Yokosuka, November 20, 1928The early 1930s were marked by a crisis in the Chinese Air Force, which manifested itself most significantly in its utter failure during the Manchurian Incident. The situation forced Chiang Kai-shek to make an urgent plea for help to Great Britain and the USA. Washington reacted first, and a semi-official military mission evaluated the situation directly on the spot and proposed a solution. The core of the "recovery program" consisted of ten US Army Air Corps instructors, who also brought material equipment with them in the form of collapsible field hangars and essential airfield facilities. They established their main base near the city of Hangzhou. Gradually, they gathered the remaining obsolete aircraft there and, under the grandiose name of the Central Aviation Academy, initiated an accelerated yet systematic training of three hundred and fifty pilots. The demanding task was accomplished thanks to the delivery of two hundred and fifty American aircraft, the most valuable of which wereBoeing 218fighter biplanes (the export version of theBoeing P-12) and Vought V-80 Corsairs. The Japanese reacted irritably and in a series of diplomatic notes demanded their recall, until Washington backed down. The return of the instructors, however, proceeded very slowly; many of them terminated their employment with the USA, entered the service of the Nanking Government as private citizens, and continued training Chinese pilots. The newly erupted conflict caught the Chinese Air Force on alert. Units hastily relocated from the Central Aviation Academy base to airfields in Xuzhou and Hongqiao. On Friday, February 5, a pair of bombers piloted by Lt. Nagamoto Hirabayashi took off from the *Hosho*, escorted by three fighters under Lt. Shigeichiro Tokoro, tasked with attacking Chinese defensive lines in the Xingu area. Contrary to expectations, the Japanese encountered nine Chinese fighters here, who not only did not flee but initiated combat themselves. The bomber Shotai quickly jettisoned its bombs and fled the engagement area. In the ensuing aerial dogfight between the fighters, Japanese pilots damaged one of the enemy machines. The pilot made an emergency landing in a nearby field, waited for the Japanese to clear the sky, then attempted to take off, but lost control, crashed into the ground, and was killed. The intensive air raids only slowed down the advance of the 19th Route Army. The failure subsequently forced Admiral Shiozawa to request assistance from the army. On February 7, naval boats landed a mixed brigade consisting of 10,000 men, who immediately joined the fighting. At the same time, engineers put the Shanghai Kunda airfield into operation, and a part of the 1st Koku Sentai formation relocated to the mainland. Simultaneously, the naval aviation sent reinforcements consisting of five Chutais composed of: 2 reconnaissance (Salmson 2 A-2), 1 fighter (Nakajima Ko-4andType 91), and 2 light bomber (Type 87and Type 88). On Friday, February 19, Lt. Tokoro led threeB1M3 Type 13son a routine patrol in the area between Shanghai and Nanking. At an altitude of around 3,000 meters (9,840 feet), he suddenly spotted a biplane that he identified as a Boeing 218. The lieutenant gave the order, and the trio of bombers attacked the Chinese fighter. At the controls of the Boeing, however, sat a civilian employee of the L. E. Gale Company, Robert McCawley Short – an American. No one had asked him to fight, but after the attack on Shanghai, he requested live ammunition from his Chinese friends so he could defend himself in case of an attack. On February 19, he was en route to Nanking when he encountered the trio of Japanese bombers, so he decided to engage. Mitsubishi B1M3Lt. Tokoro broke formation and arranged the machines into a line. He feigned fleeing, thereby provoking Short into action. As soon as the Boeing closed in on the last machine in the formation, they transitioned into a circular defense, trapping the Boeing between the fixed forward-firing machine guns of his aircraft and the flexible machine gun of the trailing bomber's gunner. Five minutes of aerial gunnery yielded no results, and upon exhausting their ammunition, the aircraft disengaged. The next clash occurred on February 22 at 16:20, when Short took off to intercept a formation flying toward Xuzhou. Three Mitsubishi B1M3 Type 13s of Lt. Suemu Kotani were escorted by a fighter Shotai led by Lt. Nokio Ikuta at an altitude of 1,500 meters (4,920 feet). Short likely mistook the formation for unescorted bombers, and by the time he identified the fighters, it was too late to retreat. Nevertheless, he attacked the bomber Shotai; his first burst hit the cockpit of the lead machine, killing Lt. Kotani sitting in the gunner's seat. The second burst hit the adjacent Mitsubishi, severely wounding Airman 1st Class Setsuro Sasaki in the left leg. Meanwhile, the Japanese fighters closed to firing range. Ikuta fired from a distance of 150 meters (490 feet) and hit the tail surfaces, leaving shreds of the fabric covering fluttering in the slipstream. He fired a second burst from a distance of 50 meters (160 feet), and simultaneously, his wingman, Petty Officer Toshio Kuroiwa (a future ace with an eventual total of 13 aerial victories achieved over China), opened fire. The bullets raked the entire length of the Boeing's fuselage and ended up in the cockpit. Ikuta saw the pilot throw his hands up and fall face down onto the lower edge of the windscreen. The uncontrollable aircraft stalled over its wing and plummeted to the ground in a left-hand spin, trailing white smoke. Before impacting near the Wusong fortress zone, the smoke turned into flames. Robert McCawley Short was posthumously promoted to the rank of colonel in the Chinese Air Force, and his funeral became a Chinese national ceremony. On the Japanese side, the engagement made national heroes of the aviators, and the commander of the 3rd Kantai, Vice Admiral Nomura, sent Lt. Ikuta a special commendation. By the end of February, the Japanese had nearly 40,000 soldiers in Shanghai, yet they were unable to bring the conflict to a victorious conclusion. On the contrary, the activity of the 19th Route Army intensified, and intelligence warned of the movement of three of Chiang Kai-shek's guards divisions, numbering over 40,000 men, toward the front line area. Between February 23 and 26, Japanese aviation units launched extensive bombing raids on the main pockets of resistance. Bombs fell on both military targets and urban residential areas. The heavy civilian casualties provoked outrage in the International Settlement, which local diplomats conveyed to their governments. This time, the West's reaction differed from the Manchurian operation, as the fighting was taking place in the immediate vicinity of the center of European and American economic and political interests in the Far East. Protests in Tokyo were lodged by both the American and British ambassadors, as well as by the League of Nations. The operation had served its purpose. It diverted attention from Manchuria, and now all that remained was to end the conflict in a way that Japan would not lose face. A Chinese capitulation would have been ideal, but the 19th Route Army continued to resist. In less than a month of fighting, nearly 13,000 men had fallen, yet the expeditionary corps was still marking time. At the end of February, the 11th and 14th Divisions were deployed, bringing the total number of Japanese infantry to 70,000 men. The overwhelming superiority of the Japanese air force was somewhat diluted by the dispersion of part of its deployment further inland and over cities along the Yangtze River. On February 26, Lt. Tokoro escorted nine bomber aircraft from the *Kaga* squadron with six fighters over Hangzhou, 160 kilometers (99. 4 miles) away. On the return journey, the formation was attacked by five Chinese fighters. In the ensuing dogfight, Lt. Atsumi's Shotai shot down one aircraft, while Lt. Tokoro and Airman 1st Class Saito each achieved one victory. The air raid on the Central Aviation Academy base was repeated on February 29, but by then, the decimated 19th Route Army had begun to retreat from the encirclement toward the southeast. On March 3, the aviation of the 1st Koku Sentai ceased its operations, and the following day, Shiozawa issued an order to halt the advance and cease fire. Within two weeks, as a gesture of "goodwill", the Japanese began the evacuation of their armed forces from the Shanghai area. The entire incident brought the Japanese a wealth of valuable experience and lessons in the military-political sphere. It allowed the armed forces to review their overall readiness, tested the capabilities of the command cadres, and, above all, led to the irreversible conviction that absolute air superiority was a prerequisite for success. The political conclusion implied that the world democracies lacked sufficient will, resolve, and means to stop a potential aggressor. Following the conclusions of the League of Nations' investigative commission, the Japanese, after raising protests against the commission, walked out of the negotiations. Following this incident, China embarked on a thorough rearmament. In addition to the USA and Great Britain, Italy and Germany also joined in. In 1935, the Italians built a factory in China for the assembly of combat aircraft (CR. 32and others). Many German advisors participated in the training of Chiang Kai-shek's nationalist army, eventually building a force of eighty thousand men for him, who wore German helmets and even learned the Prussian goose-step. Over thirty German advisors remained in China until 1938. The presence of the advisors was naturally accompanied by deliveries of military hardware from their respective countries. If we understand the Manchurian operation as an exclusively army affair, the responsibility for managing the armed actions around Shanghai was assumed by the navy. Initial failures revealed a number of weaknesses in the tactical execution of combat operations, affecting virtually all levels of command. Rectification occurred within a short time, and even the inter-service rivalry between the navy and the army faded into the background; in the closing stages of the campaign, troops of all branches advanced in close cooperation. The conflict allowed staff officers to test various tactical maneuver variants, naval commanders rehearsed procedures for managing amphibious landing operations, and new weapons were tested in demanding combat conditions. . . etc. The command corps' confidence in the air force was significantly strengthened, as it had proven its all-round reliability and effectiveness. The loss of three machines, caused by random anti-aircraft fire, represented a negligible toll for the invaluable experience gained. The conflict also served as an impetus for the modernization of the Japanese naval aviation's aircraft fleet, which yielded positive results in the subsequent conflict withChina. Sources:Josef Novotný, Kanto Gun (History of the Kwantung Army)Henry Sakaida, Aces of the Rising Sun 1937-1945Robert B. Edgerton, Warriors of the Rising SunLubomír Vejřík, Rise and Fall of the Eagles of Nippon 1931-1941