Description

1937 (Sep 12) Plain stampless envelope with contents & handstamped unframed red Military Mail tied by Military (12 Sep) cds with 3 stars at bottom & without as usual year slug but has to be 1937 as content of letters state writer was with Shanghai invasion force 10th Battalion, 2nd Company, 3rd Platoon who says reached Shanghai 19 August & went first to battle line 22 Aug where we had casualties of 11 dead plus 15 injured some with heavy wounds. Clearly the writer’s earliest opportunity to write was 12 Sept when he was away from the front & the Military Post was functioning………The battle of Shanghai was the first of the 22 major engagements fought against the Chinese and was one of the longest and bloodiest battles of the war lasting from 13 Aug to 26 Nov 1937 with total casualties to Nov 1937 of 270,000 + dead or wounded (China) against 68500 + on the Japanese side. …See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Shanghai#Order_of_battle