37 days after the "July 7 Incident", Chiang Kai-shek launched the first active counterattack of the Chinese army in Shanghai in order to change the direction of the Japanese invasion from north to south to east to west, so as to facilitate long-term combat. A total of about 800,000 troops were put into battle between China and Japan.
The Battle of Songhu broke out in August 1937, and the entire campaign lasted for three months, with the Nationalist army investing 800,000 troops and the Japanese army investing 8 divisions and regiments totaling 200,000 people. Among the 800,000 Chinese troops was the most elite central teaching corps, the 87th and 88th divisions of all German weapons.
At the beginning of the battle, the Chinese army besieged the Japanese troops stationed in Shanghai, and only 3,000 Japanese troops relied on strong fortifications to resist, and the Chinese army was unable to break through. After that, the Japanese army quickly formed the Shanghai Dispatch Army, and successively sent 8 divisions and regiments with a total of 200,000 people, and the Nationalist army has also been increasing its troops, and the total number of battles between the two sides has reached 1 million. The Japanese frontal line has been unable to break through the Nationalist defenses, so on October 20, the Japanese secretly landed at Jinshanwei in an attempt to encircle the Chinese army.
The battle lasted for three months, and in order to seize the initiative in the war and eliminate the Japanese troops stationed in Shanghai before the Arrival of Japanese reinforcements, the Chinese organized the 9th Army of zhangzhi Central, a combat unit in Songhu, to prepare to besiege the Japanese army. When the War broke out on the 13th, the Chinese army launched an all-out attack on the enemy in downtown Shanghai, and at the same time dispatched the air force to bomb the Japanese Marine Corps Headquarters, Huishan Wharf and sea surface ships.
Overall, the Battle of Songhu was a battle that the government had to fight. Although there were initial deployment mistakes, there were extenuating circumstances. However, in the later period, in order to win the support of international public opinion that was ultimately useless, the retreat was postponed too much, which led to a total collapse of the whole line, the surrender of the national defense fortifications to the people, and the premature start of the defense of Nanjing. Therefore, from a strategic point of view, if not a failure, there is a very big mistake.
As for "forcing the Japanese army to divide its troops" and "changing the direction of the Japanese army's attack", they are all quite ridiculous. The only thing that can be established is that the Battle of Songhu turned Japan from constantly "conquering" and eroding China to full mobilization and all-round invasion of China.
In this Battle of Songhu, Chiang Kai-shek exchanged the elite sacrifices of 300,000 Nationalist troops for 40,000 casualties of the Japanese army, causing serious losses to Japan's troops in the early stage of its invasion of China. Although the battle ended with a crushing defeat on the Chinese side, the will to fight shown by the Chinese soldiers in this battle made the onlookers of the world see China's bloodiness, and also let the Japanese see China's determination to resist the war.