Japanese Special Naval Landing Forces holding a position behind the corner of a building with a Type 11 light machine gun, equipped with Type 99 gas masks, in Shanghai, China, August-November 1937. The Special Naval Landing Forces were the marine troops of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Initially, the SNLF were not a marine force, but was instead sailors who had basic infantry training and were employed in landings during the Russo-Japanese War and the Boxer Rebellion. The unit was formed in 1928 and saw extensive service in the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Pacific theatre of WW2. The Battle of Shanghai was the first of the twenty-two major engagements fought between the National Revolutionary Army (Chinese nationalists) and the Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War, it was one of the largest and bloodiest battles of the Second Sino-Japanese War.