Below are photos and excerpts from an article about the 1938 battle of Taierzhuang, based on a visit to the Chinese city. Written by G. Joekull Gislason, a Sinophile from Iceland, it first appeared on the website www.flamesofwar.com. The Battle of Taierzhuang is important in the annals of the Second Sino-Japanese War. It was here…
What kind of political prisoners were incarcerated in Shanghai in the 1930s? What nationalities were they? Why were they jailed? These are questions that Australian historian Anne Atkinson has started asking herself as she transcribes her mother’s notes from her childhood in Shanghai and comes across surprising historical facts. The questions are linked to one…
Shanghai 1937: Stalingrad on the Yangtze by Peter Harmsen is “a moving and fluent narrative which describes a desperate and bitter battle in vivid prose.” That’s according to the influential Journal of Studies of China’s Resistance War Against Japan, which carries a seven-page review article in its most recent issue. The article is written by…
Song Meiling, China’s First Lady during the war, was her country’s best ambassador by far. “China’s Joan of Arc,” she was called, and “the most powerful woman in the world.” Mme Chiang Kai-shek spoke fluent, flawless English, as she had been taught in that language for her entire life and spent her adolescence in the…
“Launch the assault.” This was in essence the message sent from supreme Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek to his frontline commanders near Shanghai during the night between August 13 and 14. A small Japanese garrison was holed up inside China’s largest city, and Chiang hoped a decisive blow by his elite 87th and 88thdivisions could wipe them…
Friday, August 13, 1937 marked the start of the epic, three-month battle of Shanghai, at least according to official Chinese historiography, where the date is so widely accepted that a frequently used alternative name for the entire struggle is “August 13.” Chinese historians have also conventionally agreed on the place where they believed the battle started:…
This article about a new project to chronicle World War Two in Asia in real time was first published on the website of the Danish Broadcasting Corp. It was written by long-time Asia hand Asger Rojle. See his website here. Every day for the next 11 years Facebook and Twitter users can follow news about…
Read how the discovery in a military file of a scrap of silk, a “blood chit” of the kind that saved numerous lives in the China theatre, led to the tragic story of a young life cut short by war. This remarkable article, first carried by the US National Archives’ blog Prologue, was written by…
Wargaming is a method for historians, professionals and hobbyists alike, to get inside the minds of the actors of past conflicts. The games, or simulations, can take place at the grand strategic level, as described in a previous post about the game Dai Senso. They can also offer a more intimate look at combat, putting…
On July 29, 1937, China’s old imperial capital Beijing fell to Japanese forces. The image above shows the emperor’s troops marching through Qianmen gate into the city, officially called Beiping at the time. It was yet another sign that the confrontation between China and Japan, which had started three weeks earlier at Marco Polo Bridge…
