The Battle of Shanghai represented the outbreak of World War II in Asia, and Wusongkou was the scene of an all-out land, sea and air battle, as Imperial Japanese Marines landed here on 23 August 1937, and were attacked by Chinese Air Force Hawk III fighter-attack planes escorted by P-26/281 Peashooters; the intense dogfight between the Chinese fighters and IJN fighters from aircraft carriers "Hōshō" and "Ryūjō" resulted in several Chinese fighters shot down, while the Japanese lost two A4N fighters, each claimed by Capt. and Lt. John Huang, although Capt. Liu's victim managed to nurse his crippled A4N back to "Ryūjō". Wusong was later the site of an internment camp for marines captured on Wake Island after the attack on Pearl Harbor over four years later.