Neutral Ground- The Role of the International Zone in the Battle of Shanghai

by M. Stock 

The International Zone, a neutral zone in the port city of Shanghai during the 1930s-1940s, played an important strategic role in the Battle of Shanghai. The International Zone, also known as the International Settlement, was a key factor in diplomatic and military tactics. Multiple perspectives shaped Shanghai and influenced the trajectory of the battle. The Imperial Japanese Army,  the Nationalist and Communist Chinese Army forces, and the civilians of the International Zone all contributed to the aftermath of the war and the ruins the city was left in. 

During the Battle of Shanghai (which occurred from August to November of 1937), the International Zone served as a neutral zone and was divided up among foreign powers, with the goal of being a safe haven amidst a battle that would devastate the rest of the city. Within the broader International Zone, there was the International Settlement administered by the British with its municipal council and the French Concession.[1] Before the reorganization of the various international regions in the mid-19th century by the British (who had formed the unified International Zone), the American Concession was also present. The American Concession was an area of the Hongkew district that existed from the mid-1840s until September 21st, 1863, when it was unified with the British section of Shanghai to form the International Settlement. At one point, there was also an area controlled by the Germans, though this did not last beyond the early 1860s.[2] The diverse powers at play that made up the International Zone prior to the war had political influence and increased the zone’s wealth and regional power, therefore making the International Zone a key strategic point that Chinese forces would fight over. The Imperial Japanese Army, and other competing foreign powers also had vested interests in the neutral territory.

Map of Chinese Forces for Nanking, Shanghai, and Hangchow December, circa 1935. [3]

Neutral Ground & Military Tactics

During the Battle of Shanghai, the International Zone suffered minimal damage inflicted by the Imperial Japanese, who focused more on capturing the rest of Shanghai after the Marco Polo Bridge Incident (July 1937). This was done in an attempt to gain a foothold on their way to the cities of Nanking(Nanjing) and Peking (Beijing).[4] Both of these were key cities to the Chinese forces, in addition to Shanghai with its port and long history of both foreign and domestic trade. Shanghai, due to being an international city, was of great strategic importance to the Imperial Japanese Army for those reasons. Furthermore, with Japan’s long-held foothold in the puppet state of Manchukuo in the northern Chinese province of Manchuria (ruled by former Qing emperor Henry Puyi), capturing Shanghai furthered Imperial Japan’s goals of trade and colonial expansion.[5]

The Battle of Shanghai was the outcome of the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, also referred to as the Lugou Bridge Incident. During this skirmish, Imperial Japanese along with Nationalist and Communist Chinese troops clashed on the night of July 7th, 1937, with Japanese victory and a continued push into central China.[6] The International Zone and its special status as a neutral territory prevented its takeover by Imperial Japan after the Marco Polo Bridge Incident. After being captured, the International Zone remained under Imperial Japanese administration until the end of the Asia-Pacific War.[7]

Military tactics within and around the International Zone would vary by the party involved. The American Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) and Marine Intelligence were active in the International Zone and the city of Shanghai in the early 1930s. Detailed documentation of activities and events were kept on both allied forces, such as the British, French, or Chinese, as well as their enemies (including the Imperial Japanese).[8] Chinese police forces, including military police, would operate, sometimes extralegally within the International Zone both as intelligence agents and as peacekeeping forces. This blurring of roles would at times become an issue with the harsh treatment of citizens or foreign officials within the International Zone by the Chinese police forces. These special police forces would be known as the Peace Preservation Corps.[9]

Citizens from Shanghai flee into the International Settlement during the Battle of Shanghai in 1937.[10]

British officials focused more on tactics such as implementing curfews to keep citizens home while carrying out their own intelligence and tactical maneuvers. The Imperial Japanese army, while having no true official presence within the International Zone, would nonetheless operate within Shanghai either covertly or in a diplomatic fashion while carrying out their own agendas. One exception would be the docking of a Japanese light cruiser in Shanghai, which led to the “Bloody Saturday” bombing and the intervention of foreign powers, like American forces, to push the Japanese ship out of Shanghai’s waters.[11]

Diplomatic Maneuvering

While the International Zone was administered by the British and the French had control over the French Concession, foreign powers still maneuvered throughout the International Zone. There were diplomatic missions meant to attempt to lessen tensions. International aid deliveries were made to the cramped and hungry populations that had entered the International Settlement to flee the battle as the Imperial Japanese forces swept through the rest of the city. All the while foreign intelligence were also operating in the city. American Marine Intelligence were highly active in Shanghai before and during the Battle of Shanghai, in the International Zone as well as the rest of the city.[12]

​The British administered the Municipal Council, which ran the International Settlement. The Municipal Council also employed diplomatic tactics in an attempt to keep tensions from rising. They continued to manage the International Zone with as few issues as possible while the battle raged just outside the International Zones borders. Such tactics included curfews for civilians of the British administered International Zone. Additionally attempts were made by the Municipal Council and the French Concession officials to negotiate with Chinese and Japanese diplomats or foreign officials to keep conflict under control. Some Chinese diplomats, such as Ho Feng Shan, (stationed in Vienna) were more helpful than others with dealing with the threat of the Imperial Japanese army and its impact on Shanghai’s diverse population in ways including issuing visas for refugees escaping Germany and Austria, negotiating with the Imperial Japanese, and working with the British to resettle Shanghainese citizens in the International Settlement.

Ho Feng Shan was a Chinese diplomat in Vienna responsible for writing visas allowing thousands of Jews to escape to Shanghai, circa 1938.[13]

Interactions between Chinese and Japanese within the International Zone
​A significant population of Shanghainese citizens initially from outside the International Zone fled to the neutral area when the Battle of Shanghai began. While little fighting went on in the International Settlement during the Battle of Shanghai, there were a series of complex interactions between Chinese and Japanese forces in and around the International Zone, causing military planning to be difficult. After the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, the previously warring Nationalist and Communist Chinese armies put aside their differences and civil war for a brief period of time in order to unite against the common enemy of Imperial Japan. This led to a period of unification among the Chinese as well as a rise in Anti-Japanese sentiment in Shanghai and the rest of China as a whole. 

A German immigrant named Gerda Schwerin shops in the Shanghai marketplace. The Hongkou district would house primarily the German and Austrian Jewish refugee population, as well as Japanese civilians, and was known as both “Little Vienna” and “Little Tokyo”, circa 1930s.[14]

The Marco Polo Bridge Incident caused strain on personal, business, and diplomatic relationships between Chinese, Japanese, and other civilians in the International Zone. Imperial Japan became shunned by the international community and the Battle of Shanghai put Japanese citizens living in the city at risk. Their neighbors were suspicious of the Japanese civilians living in China of being spies for their motherland. There was disagreement regarding the tactics to infiltrate China beyond Manchukuo among the Japanese military command. This caused further confusion and complexity regarding civilian and military interactions within the International Zone.[15]

Conclusion
Due to the neutral status of the International Zone in Shanghai, the city became an area of strategic importance during the Battle of Shanghai for the Chinese, Imperial Japanese, and foreign powers all concentrated within the large and powerful port city. Given its status as “uninvolved”, officially, the International Zone became a place of refuge for citizens of Shanghai fleeing the battle. Additionally, and more covertly, it became a place of espionage and spying by foreign powers operating in the city such as France, Britain, and America. Such tactics of espionage played out to be a complex and unique political battleground between the Chinese and Imperial Japanese forces. These delicate maneuvers and elusive military tactics complicated interactions between the Chinese and Japanese civilians, diplomats, and military forces until the eventual takeover of the International Zone by Imperial Japan in 1941.

​

Sources: 
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2. Hanchao Lu, Beyond the Neon Lights: Everyday Shanghai in the Early Twentieth Century (Berkeley, Calif: Univ. of California Press, 2008).
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11. Special Collections & Archives, Queen’s University Belfast, and Nihon Gaiji Kyōkai. The Sino-Japanese Conflict: A Short Survey. Pamphlets. The Foreign Affairs Association of Japan; Special Collections & Archives, Queen’s University Belfast, 1937. https://jstor.org/stable/community.29428072.
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