The Shanghai Special Naval Landing Force (SNLF) was a corps of the Imperial Japanese Navy that was active from 20 August 1927 to August 1945, stationed in Shanghai, China. The corps was formed to protect Japan's residents in the Shanghai International Settlement, and it was attached to the fleet stationed in the harbor. The unit would be deployed to Shanghai whenever infighting between warlords affected Japanese citizens, including during the 1927 Shanghai massacre and the 1932 January 28 incident. The Shanghai SNLF suffered heavy losses during the battle with the Chinese, and the Japanese used the ensuing armistice to separate the Shanghai garrison from the local town guard and upgrade it to an SNLF unit of 2,000 men. In 1937, the Shanghai SNLF fought in the Battle of Shanghai and later cooperated with the Japanese advance into central China amid the Second Sino-Japanese War. The SNLF served as a garrison unit on the mainland and as a reserve unit for the rest of the war, and it was the only permanent land combat unit of the IJN from 1932 until the end of World War II in 1945.