Defense of Sihang Warehouse

Lieutenant Colonel Xie Jinyuan, commander of the Chinese force

• 524th Regiment, 88th Division: Regimental commander (CO), Army Lieutenant Colonel Xie Jinyuan
  Executive officer (XO), Army Major Shangguan Zhibiao (上官志標)
  • 1st Battalion, 524th Regiment: Battalion Commander, Army Major Yang Ruifu (楊瑞符)
    • 1st Company, 1st Battalion: Company commander, Army Captain Tao Xingchun (陶杏春)
    • 2nd Company, 1st Battalion: Company commander, Army Captain Deng Ying (鄧英)
    • 3rd Company, 1st Battalion: Company commander, Army Captain Shi Meihao (石美豪, wounded), Army Captain Tang Di (唐棣)
    • Machine Gun Company, 1st Battalion: Company commander, Army Captain Lei Xiong (雷雄)

Initially containing around 800 men, the 1st was technically an over-strength battalion, but casualties suffered over the course of the Battle of Shanghai reduced its actual strength just prior to the battle to 452 men (some sources give 423), including officers. Because of the confusion of the general retreat, some units may have failed to make it to the warehouse, which caused a further reduction in strength, down to only 414 men present at the beginning of the battle. Two months of intense fighting had also whittled down the original German-trained troops, and after five rounds of reinforcements, the majority of soldiers and officers in the battalion were garrison troops from the surrounding provinces.[17]

Most of the men were from the 1st Battalion, 5th Regiment of the Hubei Provincial Garrison. Hubei did not want to send its best troops to Shanghai, as these had trained over a decade to fight against the Chinese Communists. Thus, many of the soldiers sent as reinforcements to Shanghai were green recruits, with the latest batch recruited after the outbreak of war on 7 July.[15] Official communications referred to the defenders as the 524th Regiment to mislead the Japanese as to their actual strength, even though only the 1st Battalion took part in this battle, and other elements of the regiment continued to be active well into 1939. Eventually the 1st Battalion came to be equated with the 524th Regiment, even within official documents of the period.

The regiment was assigned used equipment from the front-line troops of the 88th, and was well equipped considering the poor equipment that most Chinese forces had. Photos and records show that soldiers were each issued a rifle, likely a Hanyang 88 or Chiang Kai-shek rifle, 300 rounds of 8 mm Mauser, two crates of grenades, a German-made M1935 helmet, a gas mask, and food pouch.[16] There was a total of 27 light machine guns, mostly Czech ZB vz.26, approximately one for each squad. The four water-cooled Type 24 Maxim guns were the only heavy weapons available to the battalion—a mortar platoon assigned to them was never mentioned by participants of the battle, and was therefore unlikely to have joined the battle.[15]

• Shanghai Special Naval Landing Force: Rear Admiral Okochi Denshichi
  • Shanghai SNLF 10th Battalion: Lieutenant-Commander Haji Kitaro
  • Shanghai SNLF 8th and 9th Companies

Since 1927, the Imperial Japanese Navy had stationed naval landing forces in Shanghai for the protection of Japanese expatriates and their interests in the city. On June 1, 1932, in the aftermath of the January 28th Incident, the naval landing forces in Shanghai were organized into a permanent force protection of the city known as the Shanghai Special Naval Landing Force (Shanghai SNLF).

Captain Okochi Denshichi had been assigned command of the Shanghai SNLF on November 16, 1936, and was promoted to Rear Admiral at the beginning of the following month. Prior to the Battle of Shanghai the Shanghai SNLF had a strength of just over 2300 men, but in response to the Oyama Incident on August 9, 1937, the force would be hastily reinforced with Special Naval Landing Forces and ship crews deployed on land. Reinforcements would continue to arrive throughout the course of the battle, eventually bringing the force to just over 10,000 men in strength by October 1937.[4]

On October 27, 1937, the Shanghai SNLF began their advance on Chapei, organizing their 2nd, 3rd, 6th, 10th, and 12th Battalions into the “Chapei Force” for the operation. The Shanghai SNLF 10th Battalion would be assigned to the Chapei Force’s Southern Section and serve as the main force opposing the defenders of Sihang Warehouse.[18]

The 10th Battalion had been raised in August 1937 from some 520 reservists at the Sasebo and Kure Naval Districts. Lieutenant Commander Haji Kitaro, an instructor at the Naval Gunnery School in Yokosuka was appointed as to the Shanghai SNLF to serve as the battalion's commander.[19] Since landing in Shanghai on August 19, the battalion had engaged in intense urban combat and suffered a number of casualties.

During the assault on Sihang Warehouse, the Shanghai SNLF 10th Battalion would be reinforced by roughly 260 sailors of the Yokosuka 2nd Independent SNLF Company and another 200 sailors from the Kure 1st SNLF 2nd Company. The Shanghai SNLF’s 8th and 9th Companies, originally attached to the 4th Battalion (Artillery Battalion), would also provide support with howitzers and mountain guns.[3][4][20]

Altogether about 980 infantrymen from the Shanghai SNLF’s reinforced 10th Battalion and another 200 artillerymen from the 8th and 9th Companies were involved in the Japanese assault on Sihang Warehouse.

The Shanghai North Railway Station, after months of fighting and bombing.

The various companies of the battalion were spread out across the front lines that night. Yang Ruifu sent the 1st Company to Sihang Warehouse and personally led the 2nd Company. The 3rd Company, Machine Gun Company and part of the 1st Company could not be contacted. What initially seemed a disastrous start to the defense was averted at nine in the morning, when these companies turned up at the warehouse, having heard the orders through word of mouth from other forces that had retreated from Zhabei. That these men essentially volunteered for this suicidal mission was later noted by Chiang Kai-shek as exemplary soldierly conduct.[14]

In early morning, news circulated throughout Shanghai that there were still Chinese forces defending Zhabei at Sihang Warehouse. This piqued the interest of Girl Guide Yang Huimin (楊惠敏), who later played a large part in this battle. At around 4 a.m. she walked to the British guard post at the Chinese end of New Lese Bridge, where she noticed a British soldier throwing a pack of cigarettes into the warehouse.[21]

Yang asked the soldier what he was doing, and he answered that there were Chinese soldiers inside. She wrote a message and asked the British soldier to stuff it in a pack of cigarettes and throw it over. After a while a message was thrown back saying that the soldiers in the warehouse wanted food, ammunition and lubricant for their firearms. She left the bridge and pleaded with the head of the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce, who initially did not believe her story, much to her frustration.[21]

Xie deployed the 1st Company on the right side of the warehouse along Tibet Road, the 3rd Company on the left across from the Bank of Communications building, and the 2nd Company on the other sides. Two heavy machine guns were installed on the roof, and the other machine guns were spread out to each company.[16] Xie noted that the fortifications built by the Nationalist Army before the war in preparation against a European attack from the foreign concessions could be used by the Japanese against the warehouse. Consequently, he ordered these fortifications to be rigged with explosives in case the Japanese tried to occupy them.

Makeshift defenses were constructed from sandbags and the sacks of wheat, corn, beans, and other merchandise stocked within the warehouse. The electric lights in the warehouse were destroyed, and some of the immediate surrounding buildings were razed to clear a killing field.

At 1 p.m. a column of Japanese soldiers were ambushed when trying to secure the outlying fortifications, which had been rigged with explosive booby traps; Chinese gunfire and grenade traps killed eight to ten Japanese soldiers.[22] At 2 p.m. a group of Chinese reconnaissance troops, led by platoon leader Yin Qiucheng (尹求成), exchanged fire with around fifty Japanese soldiers. Chinese defenders continued developing defenses by sealing the warehouse's doors, windows and entry points, as well as constructing makeshift dummy positions on the perimeter to draw Japanese fire and waste ammunition.[23] A short while after, a Japanese company consisting of 194 infantry with machine gun and light artillery support[24] attacked the warehouse from the west, eventually forcing the defenders to retreat inside the warehouse. 3rd Company commander Shi Meihao was shot in the face but continued to command the defense until he was shot again in the leg. About seventy Japanese soldiers had taken cover in a blind spot at the south-west of the warehouse. Chinese troops climbed on the roof and threw mortar rounds and grenades down at the Japanese, killing seven Japanese and wounding between twenty and thirty.[25][26][16][27] A witnessing journalist estimated that around sixty Japanese were killed in total during the assault by machine gun fire and grenades.[28][29] Having failed their first assault, the Japanese set fire to the north-west section of the warehouse, which stored fuel and wood. It was put out by 5 p.m. In their wake the Japanese looted and burned Zhabei.

At 9 p.m. Yang Ruifu concluded that there would be no more Japanese attacks for the day, and ordered meals to be prepared and fortifications repaired. Two defenders were killed and four wounded on this day, whilst the Japanese had suffered several dozen killed or injured in the first assault.

Yang Huimin with the ROC flag.

The defenders rushed to construct fortifications during the night; nobody was given any sleep. In the morning Xie contacted the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce, whose telephone number was provided by Yang Huimin.[21]

The location of the warehouse, which has been chosen mainly for its sturdy structure and availability (already a divisional headquarters), turned out to be a fortunate one for the defenders. It was across from the foreign concessions in Shanghai, and the Japanese did not dare to call naval artillery strikes on the area, since a stray shot might land in the concessions and provoke an incident with the Europeans and Americans, whom the Japanese wanted to keep out of the war. Moreover, the Japanese dared not use mustard gas here as they did elsewhere in Shanghai, in full view of the foreign powers.

At 7 a.m. a flight of Japanese bombers circled the warehouse but did not drop any bombs, for fear of hitting the concessions. They were driven away from the warehouse by anti-aircraft fire. At 8 a.m. Xie gave a pep talk to the defenders and inspected the defenses constructed by the soldiers. While on the roof, he noticed a group of Japanese soldiers along the Suzhou River, which according to Yang Ruifu's memoirs was some 1 km (1,100 yd) away. Xie grabbed a rifle and shot; one of them promptly fell.[16]

It started to rain around 3 p.m., and the fire and screen of smoke around the warehouse were gradually extinguished. The Japanese launched another major attack concentrated in the west, occupying the Bank of Communications building, and deployed machine gun fusilades and cannon to the north of the warehouse. The cannon were unable to heavily damage the thick six-foot thick walls of the warehouse, and Japanese troops in the bank building were easily suppressed by the defenders on the roof of the warehouse, who had a higher vantage point. After two hours the Japanese gave up the attack, but managed to cut electricity and water to the warehouse, forcing the defenders to institute rationing.

Some time in the day, a small group of Chinese soldiers led by the 524th's executive officer Shangguan Zhibiao and battalion Field Surgeon Tang Pinzi (湯聘梓) arrived and joined the battle.

Meanwhile, the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce was overjoyed at the news of Chinese defenders left in Zhabei, and news of this spread quickly through radio. Crowds numbering around thirty thousand gathered on the southern bank of the Suzhou River in the rain, cheering the defenders on. More than ten truckloads of aid were donated by Shanghai's citizens.[21] At night the trucks drove near the warehouse, and the defenders constructed a sandbag wall to the trucks, and then dragged the supplies into the warehouse. The unloading of supplies took four hours, during which time three soldiers were killed by Japanese fire. The defenders received food, fruits, clothing, utensils and letters from the citizens. A couple of journalists arrived at the scene, but the commanding officers were busy, and the journalists ended up only meeting Lei Xiong, the Machine Gun Company commander.

Xie arranged with the British officers in the concessions, via the Chamber of Commerce, to transport around ten heavily wounded soldiers from the battle. The British agreed, and the wounded were carried off under the cover of darkness.

The same night, the Chamber of Commerce decided to send the soldiers a flag of the Republic of China.[21][30] Regiment-sized Chinese units did not carry army or national flags during the war, so when Yang Huimin delivered the flag to the warehouse, Xie had to personally accept the flag as the highest-ranking officer present. Yang Huimin asked for the soldiers' plans, to which the answer "Defend to the death!" was given. Yang Huimin, moved, asked for a list of all the soldiers' names to announce to the entire country.[21]

As doing so would inform the Japanese of their real strength, Xie did not want to release this information. However, he did not want to disappoint Yang Huimin either. Instead, he asked someone to write down around 800 names from the original roster of the 524th Regiment, and this fake name list was given to her. According to Yang Ruifu, the wounded soldiers sent out earlier that night were also ordered to say 800 if questioned about their strength. Thus the story of the "800 Heroes" spread.[16]

Chinese light machine gun position

In the early morning of 29 October, residents of Shanghai found a 4-metre-wide (13 ft) flag of the Republic of China flying atop Sihang warehouse. Yang Huimin had only brought the flag, and the defenders did not have a flag pole in the warehouse. Therefore, the flag was hoisted on a makeshift pole made of two bamboo culms tied together. Only a small group of soldiers attended the flag-raising ceremony.[21]

The crowd gathered across the river, reportedly thirty thousand strong,[31] was jubilant, shouting "Long live the Republic of China!" (Chinese: 中華民國萬歲！; pinyin: Zhōnghuá Mínguó wànsuì！), while the Japanese were furious and sent aircraft to attack the flag.[16] Because of heavy anti-aircraft fire and fear of hitting the foreign concessions, the planes soon left without destroying the flag. Meanwhile, two days of fighting had damaged or destroyed many field fortifications around the warehouse, and the warehouse itself was also damaged.

Sihang Warehouse burns during the battle (Taken by Royal Welsh Fusilier John Montgomery)

At noon the Japanese mounted the largest assault thus far. Hundreds of Japanese infantry attacked the warehouse from all directions with artillery fire and support from Type 94 Te-Ke tankettes.[32] Warned of the attack by spectators, Chinese soldiers resisted the assault from all three sides under intense artillery fire. The Japanese assault pushed the 3rd Company out of their defensive line at the base of the warehouse and forced them into the warehouse itself. The west side of the warehouse originally lacked windows, but the Japanese artillery attacks conveniently opened up firing holes for the defenders. Groups of Japanese soldiers tried to scale the warehouse's walls to the second floor with ladders, but Chinese defenders pushed them over and returned fire with rifles and machine guns.[33] Xie just happened to be at the window where one of the ladders appeared from. He grabbed the first Japanese soldier's rifle, choked him with the other hand, pushed him off, and finally shot another Japanese soldier on the ladder before pushing the ladder off.[27]

During the height of the battle, a group of Japanese soldiers attempted to plant explosives at the base of the West Wall to breach it. Upon noticing this, 21-year old Chinese private Chen Shusheng, strapped grenades to himself and jumped off the building into the group of Japanese soldiers, killing twenty Japanese soldiers in a suicide attack.[16][34][35][36] The fighting lasted until dark, with Japanese waves now frequently supported by armoured fighting vehicles and artillery fire against the fortified Chinese positions, but to no progress and with heavy casualties.[26]

Japanese troops attempted to flank the warehouse from the river, but were stopped by an makeshift boom fashioned out of Chinese junks at the Zhejiang Road Bridge. British troops in the Settlement refused to move the boom due to the violation of the British Settlement sector, and escorted the Japanese sailors back.[37]

Finally, after all else had failed, the Japanese used an excavator and tried to dig a tunnel towards the warehouse. in conjunction with tank assaults. During this day's battle, Chinese citizens across the river helped the soldiers by writing on large posters, warning of the Japanese army's movements.[16]

The Japanese launched a new wave of attack at 7 a.m. on the 30th. There were fewer infantry assaults at the warehouse this time; the Japanese attack was mainly concentrated artillery fire. Because of the sturdy construction and the abundance of sandbags and materials with which to fortify and mend the warehouse, the defenders simply repaired the warehouse while the Japanese tried to destroy it. Artillery fire was so rapid, recalled Yang Ruifu, that there was approximately one shell every second.[16] When night approached, the Japanese deployed several floodlights to illuminate the warehouse for their artillery to strike at. The battle on the 30th lasted the whole day, with the defenders destroying and damaging several armoured cars.

The foreigners in the concessions in Shanghai did not want the site of combat to be so close to them. With that consideration in mind, and faced with pressure from the Japanese, they agreed to try to convince the Chinese to cease resisting. On the 29th the foreigners submitted a petition to the Nationalist Government to stop the fighting "for humanitarian concerns". To Chiang, the battle was already won as most of the Chinese forces in Shanghai had successfully been redeployed to defend more favourable positions, and the defense of the warehouse now had the attention of the western world, so he gave the go-ahead for the regiment to retreat on 31 October. A meeting was arranged with the British general Telfer-Smollett through the commandant of Shanghai Auxiliary Police (上海警備), Yang Hu (楊虎),[15] and it was decided the 524th would retreat to the foreign concessions and then rejoin the rest of the 88th Division, which had been fighting in west Shanghai. The Japanese commander Matsui Iwane also agreed and promised to let the defenders retreat, but later reneged on the deal. Xie, on the other hand, wanted to remain in the warehouse and fight to the last man. Zhang Boting finally convinced Xie to retreat.[15][38]

At midnight, 1 November, Xie led 376 men in small groups toward the British concession across New Lese Bridge. At least ten defenders had died during the battle, and another 27 were too heavily wounded to be moved. Consequently, these men agreed to stay behind to man the machine guns and cover the retreat of the remaining forces.[16] During the crossing, about between two and six soldiers were killed, and ten soldiers were wounded by Japanese machine gun and artillery fire.[39] By 2 a.m. the retreat was complete.

Troops of the Shanghai SNLF 10th Battalion "Haji Unit" celebrate outside of the Shanghai North Railway Station in Chapei.

The Imperial Japanese Navy did not regard the Defense of Sihang Warehouse as a battle, but rather as part of their advance on Chapei conducted from October 27 through October 31, 1937. As a result, Japanese military records on the event are not particularly detailed.

At 0505 hours on October 27, 1937, the Imperial Japanese Navy's Shanghai Special Naval Landing Force (Shanghai SNLF) ordered their forces to launch a general assault on Chapei. With few of Chiang's defenders left in the Chapei, the Shanghai SNLF moved through the district and captured former enemy strongholds with relative ease. By around 1800 hours Chapei had largely fallen to the Japanese, with the exception of the Four Banks' Joint Warehouse (Sihang Warehouse), where the Shanghai SNLF reported approximately 800 enemy troops to still be held up at.[8]

The Japanese initially advised the troops held up in Sihang Warehouse to surrender, but by the early hours of October 31 with their demands still unmet and signs of the defenders making an escape into the British defense sector of the International Settlement, the Japanese decided to attack the warehouse. On October 31 at 0115 hours the Imperial Japanese Navy confirmed sightings of Chinese troops evacuating into the International Settlement and began to bombard the warehouse with artillery fire from the Shanghai SNLF's 8th and 9th Companies thirty minutes later. At 0300 hours, troops from the Shanghai SNLF's 10th Battalion stormed the Sihang Warehouse and within ten minutes had completely cleaned the warehouse of enemy troops and occupied the building.[8][1][7]

After securing the warehouse, the Imperial Japanese Navy reported roughly 80 corpses of fallen Chinese troops and a number of weapons to be inside. The Imperial Japanese Navy's advance on Chapei from October 27 to 31 resulted in a total of 42 wounded, four of which were directly injured during the assault on Sihang Warehouse on October 31. Of the total wounded in the advance on Chapei, two would later succumb from their injuries, including Warrant Officer Tanaka—a platoon leader from the Shanghai SNLF 10th Battalion—who was shot while skirmishing around the warehouse on October 30 and later died on November 2, 1937.[7][8][9]