 The 18th Division was resurrected in September 1937 as a square division as a part of general military build-up following the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War.As part of the IJA 10th Army under the overall command of the Japanese Central China Area Army it was deployed to the Chinese mainland, as an emergency reinforcement force to supplement the Japanese Shanghai Expeditionary Army in China after the Second Shanghai Incident.The Japanese "18th division" subsequently participated in the Battle of Nanjing and the subsequent atrocities known as the Nanking Massacre.