Shanghai 1937: Stalingrad on the Yangtze

This is the fourth book I’ve read from Peter Harmsen and he hasn’t disappointed me. This book covers the battle of Shanghai in 1937, which some may consider the first major battle of WWII and perhaps first major instance of modern combat of the time hitting a major urban environment. Hence the nickname Stalingrad on the Yangtze.With this book you get a nice concise telling of the battle. The lead up, the battle operations, and the aftermath. I think it’s well researched and it helps that there was plenty of eye witness accounts from various parties to off of. Plus I like that Harmsen shows the perspectives from everyone involved to varying degrees. The Chinese, Japanese, and foreigners living in Shanghai. Also I have to give Harmsen credit for detailing the horrors of war. War sucks. There is nothing glorious about it. From fighting between armies. Harrying of the land. To atrocities committed on civilians and seemingly no regard for life. Harmsen doesn’t shy away and reading some of stuff described could be quite stomach turning.This is a fine book and I recommend it to anyone interested in WWII history especially if wanting to learn more about the Far Eastern theater which is Harmsen’s specialty. As an American having learned about WWII from a more “American-centric” standpoint, I’ve learned a lot from Harmsen’s books about this theater. So if you pick up this and like it, check out his others especially Nanjing 1937 which I suppose can be considered a follow up to this and his far east trilogy.

I should have given it 5 -stars for merely being written, but there are some small flaws that detract ever so little from this wonderful book. I want to congratulate Harmsen for compiling a book on vital and largely forgotten history in the west from original sources in Japanese and Chinese - a rare event indeed.If you are looking for a victimised China in this edition Harmsen will dissapoint. With the willful and rampant advances of the Japanese Kwantung army in the north and growing pressure internally for pan-China unity in the face of Japanese aggression. Chiang Kai-Shek undertook a bold plan to draw Japan into a fight in an area of China's own choosing where Japanese armour would largely be irrelevant and where the raw numbers of Chinese infantry would be able to fight more-or-less fair battle against the Japanese.That is not quite how the battle went. Chiang's army was defeated after a bloody four-month battle and eventually pushed back up the Yangtze to Nanjing. But for 4 months the world held its breath. Harmsen is clear that the battle was Chaing's idea and totally dictated by him, until he lost control of events after the Japanese landed from Yangtze in the North flanking the Chinese lines and relieving pressure on Japanese marines inside Shanghai. Chaing's bid to stabilise the northern Yangtze front eventually ground down both the crack Chinese divisions of Chaing's army and let to bloody battles of attrition along Souzhou Creek before a southern sea landing from Japan eventually forced the collapse Chiang's army at Shanghai.The tenor of the battle is well described. The absolute brutality which each side afforded each other - neither side took prisoners and the spirit of death in battle animated China as much as Japan. Japan was operating in a foreign land however and their treatment of the Chinese civilians is well described as brutal, wastelands being created of areas - mostly described from Japanese battle dairies.All of this happened in sight of the international settlements where reporters from all the newspapers flocked eager to post their stories. They could literally watch the fighting from their living quarters, sometimes whilst partying or shopping on the Bund. It makes for strange reading. It is clear that most western sympathies were for underdog China.As is becoming apparent, the role of the communist party was, along with most of the fighting against Japan, nonexistetnt. There is a sort of contemporary "Glasnost" in China with the original Chinese sources coming out and largely defending the notion that the Nationalists did most of the fighting. This book buttresses that growing understanding and underwrites a larger pan-China nationalism that the commmunist party is trying to build at present. While still perhaps guided by the state to some degree it is still a much, much more open and honest interpretation of Chinese history. A book for any serious scholar of the Pacific War / Greater East Asian War.

A very interesting study of the complexities of the Battle for Shanghai. I'm not sure if the comparison with Stalingrad is apt because of the shorter time frame and that the Nationalists retreated within a few months (actually made strategic retreats quite early) and that the International Settlement and French Concession were such an anomalies to the strategic situation.What I found most interesting and dumbfounding is that the Japanese had large battleships and multiple smaller craft in the Yangtze and Huangpo rivers in the heart of Shanghai early on and were able to use them with such deadly accuracy. I wonder, from seeing more modern combat conditions, where there is a large discrepancy between a technologically advanced armed force and a less advanced force, why there was not any use made of guerilla warfare and tactics. It seems those ships at anchor in the river in the heart of the city would have been incredibly vulnerable to all kinds of tactics that could have disabled them. I'm assuming that both rivers would have been filled with all manner of small Chinese watercraft and those could have been used very effectively ( a la USS Cole in Yemen) to harass or disable the much larger Japanese ships. I did read somewhere in the book that the Chinese had water mines but I never got any sense they were ever used.It also seems that there could have been concerted efforts made to destroy or damage the Japanese landing strips and thereby cripple the very devastating superior air force.The more I read I was amazed that the Japanese had a significant "beachhead" already in Shanghai and that the Chinese did little to stem the flow of arriving troops and materiel. The Chinese had an awesome amount of troops available and almost inexhaustible supply from which to draw on from the provinces. It seems to me that there were an incredible number of opportunities lost or not exploited.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I felt it was well written and easy to read. It had just the right amount of detail so it didn't become too academic and boring. There were also plenty of maps so you could follow events as they unfolded. Anyone interested in the start of the Second World War should read this.

Like other reviewers, I thought this book long overdue. It is immensely well researched, and clearly explains the background and the difficulties faced by both sides. It cleverly combines narrative history with eye witness accounts, to give as clear an account of often confused, brutal fighting,as is possible. Matters of strategy and higher command are given good coverage. My only criticism is the lack of any accounts of the actual combat - especially in the early stages of the battle, when the Chinese were held up by dogged Japanese resistance, allowing the battle to widen, and become prolonged in the favour of the Japanese. A very good, long overdue introduction to an important battle at what many people now see as the beginning of the Second World War.

Well written. Informative, well researched, captures the dynamics of the struggle therefore makes interesting reading.

Very well written and gives a comprehansive account of events.

Harrowing.