77 years ago today, October 27, 1937, was the first day of the defense of the Sihang Warehouse in Shanghai led by Xie Jinyuan, a famous Chinese anti-Japanese general.
Battle Background: After the "July 7" Lugou Bridge Incident, Japan accelerated the pace of its invasion of China, and the heart of our death has been made public, and the Japanese army in Shanghai has constantly provoked and created incidents, and the war is in a state of imminent outbreak. On August 9, two Japanese Marines stationed in Shanghai drove into Hongqiao Airport for armed provocation and were killed by Chinese security forces. The Japanese used this as an excuse, and on August 13, Japanese Marines opened fire on the Chinese defenders from Tiantongan Station on the Songhu Railway to Yokohama Road, attacked along Baoshan Road with tanks, and were repulsed by the Chinese defenders. On August 14, the Chinese government issued the Declaration of Self-Defense and Resistance. The Battle of Songhu lasted three months from August 13, 1937 to November 12, 1937. The Japanese army invested 280,000 troops in 10 divisions, using more than 30 warships, more than 500 aircraft, and more than 300 tanks; China invested more than 70 divisions, using 40 ships and 250 aircraft. The Chinese officers and men fought with the enemy with high morale, fought with the enemy with inferior equipment, killed and wounded more than 40,000 Japanese troops, and shattered Japan's dream of a quick battle and a quick decision. The Battle of Sihang Warehouse became one of the most touching battles.
Battle history: Before October 25, 1937, the Command commanded the Eighty-eighth Division to select a determined and courageous officer to lead a small force to hold the main points and serve as a cover task, and Sun Yuanliang,The commander of the Division chose Xie Jinyuan to lead the 524th Regiment and a battalion to take cover. After Xie Jinyuan received the order, he was determined to repay the country with his life and swore to die to complete the task. Only the division headquarters can retain more ammunition to facilitate long battles and more annihilation of the enemy. And organized the whole battalion to concentrate on the Sihang warehouse, and all gathered at 2 a.m. on the 27th. At this time, the Sihang Warehouse (the so-called Sihang Warehouse is the warehouse of the joint business office set up by the four banks in Shanghai, such as Jincheng Bank, the Mainland Bank, the Salt Industry Bank, and the Zhongnan Bank), the west and north sides have been occupied by the Japanese army, and the east and south are public concessions, completely isolated from the unoccupied Chinese land boundary, becoming an "isolated island", and entering the Sihang warehouse has become a lone army. Xie Jinyuan arranged for each company to count the number of people and make a roster, so that after the sacrifice, it would be reported according to the roster and the family would be given preferential treatment.
At 6 o'clock on the 27th, the outer combat group found that the enemy was retreating while fighting, retreating to the warehouse, and the Japanese soldiers did not know the truth, did not dare to attack easily, and only swept with machine guns; at 2 p.m., the enemy soldiers poured in in in large numbers, the 524 regiment suddenly dropped bombs, fired, and formed crossfire with the warehouse building, killing and wounding a large number of enemy vehicles, and blowing up two enemy tanks. On the first day of fighting, our army destroyed more than 80 enemy soldiers.
On the morning of the 28th, the Japanese army attempted to blast the warehouse, Xie Jinyuan personally sniped, killing two enemy soldiers and starting a battle. On the same day, he repelled many enemy attacks. The most heroic of these was that Chen Shusheng, a member of the death squad, tied a grenade to himself, pulled the fuse, jumped from the window on the sixth floor into the enemy bush, and died with more than 10 enemy soldiers.
On the 29th, Xie Jinyuan sent a letter saying: "Soldiers take obedience as their duty, defend the country and defend the territory, where their duties lie, sprinkle the last drop of blood, and they will demand a considerable price from the Wokou, and they will fight with the enemy to the end with one shot and one bullet." On this day, he repelled the enemy's land and water attacks, killing more than 40 enemy people.
On the 30th, the Japanese army fired a 37-millimeter caliber flat-fire cannon, poured gasoline, set fire everywhere, turned the surrounding area of the warehouse into a sea of fire, and viciously fired poisonous gas bombs, and threatened: "We will take extreme measures against the Chinese defenders regardless of all consequences." Again, the Japanese offensive was contained. The Sihang Warehouse stood majestically in the midst of the war.
On the evening of October 30, the retreat orders of the supreme authorities were repeatedly conveyed to the warehouse through various channels, and Xie Jinyuan commanded the troops to retreat. After midnight, when the enemy's artillery fire was sparse, our army arranged three machine guns as cover, extinguished the enemy's searchlights, and the companies moved into the concession through the Tibet Road and through the new garbage bridge in an orderly manner. Eight hundred brave men fought against tens of thousands of Japanese troops in the land of bullets, fought fiercely for four days and nights, killed more than 200 enemy people, wounded countless enemies, and won military, political, and moral victories. He killed only nine people and wounded more than twenty people.
According to the soldier Chen Desong's account in "The Four Elements of the Lone Army Of Desperate Retribution to the Nation": "With the first battalion of the regiment as the backbone, a reinforcement battalion was formed, and the regimental number was still used. The whole regiment was about 410 people, one machine gun company, three infantry companies, and one mortar platoon. In order to confuse the enemy, in an interview with reporters, Xie Jinyuan falsely told 800 people. This is why there is the saying of "eight hundred brave men". In fact, only one battalion of troops was holding the Sihang warehouse.
Heroic ending: After four days and nights of bloody fighting at the Sihang Warehouse, the eight hundred brave men were ordered to withdraw into the concession, and the concession authorities succumbed to the pressure of the Japanese army, broke their promises, disarmed the eight hundred brave men, and besieged them with barbed wire on all sides in a 15-acre open space at the intersection of Jiaozhou Road (now Yuyao Road), and sent the White Russian soldiers of the "Merchants of All Nations" to guard and detain them.
After the fall of Shanghai, many citizens often visited the lone army. There are good food, send it to the lone army, and there are happy things to let the lone army share. As the newspaper reported: "Every day people come and go, as if believers are flocking to the Holy Land." At its peak, the Lone Army Camp receives thousands of people a day, and at the very least, there are hundreds of people, and some people simply call the Lone Army Camp the "Chongqing" of Shanghai.
On September 18, 1939, Xie Jinyuan made a will to send to his parents and wife, saying: "The situation in Shanghai is becoming increasingly dangerous, and whether the status of the concession can be maintained for a long time is in doubt. The enemy's attempt to rob a man is, according to recent sources, inevitable. The enemy had unsuccessfully asked the concession authorities for extradition, but his ambitions were still not dead, and he had the idea that "at any cost, Commander Xie would be robbed to Hongkou (the enemy's base area) as long as Commander Xie promised to cooperate, any position could be given to Yunyun. It seems that this robbery is to force the male to bend, and regard death as an enemy as a cow and a horse. The great husband will be born of light, and he will die of light and light. The man is righteous to death and life, seeking benevolence and benevolence, and tarzan Hongmao's will is worried!"
At 5:00 a.m. on April 24, 1941, Xie Jinyuan led the officers and men to exercise early, and the senior soldiers Hao Dingcheng, Long Yaoliang, Zhang Wenqing, Zhang Guoshun and other four people were late, and Xie Jinyuan asked why. Who knew that they had already been bribed by Wang Fei to become traitors, and suddenly took out the dagger and iron pickaxe and other murder weapons that had been brought into the camp in advance, and rushed up, stabbing Xie xie in the chest and left temple. Xie was seriously injured in many places, bleeding non-stop, and died tragically at 6 o'clock, at the age of 37.
At that time, the song and weeping deeds of the eight hundred heroes who fought in bloody battles quickly aroused strong repercussions at home and abroad through news broadcasts. People from all walks of life and all walks of life have made speeches and written articles praising the spirit of sacrifice of our army's loyalty, courage, and patriotism; Shanghai's progressive writers have praised the heroic feats of the warriors one after another; the famous playwrights Tian Han and Chen Baichen have created a stage play "Eight Hundred Heroes" for performance, and the eight hundred heroes and the people of Shanghai have sung "The Song of eight hundred heroes" across the river.
In 2005, in order to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the victory of China's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War, the "Eight Hundred Heroes" led by Xie Jinyuan and the "Five Heroes of Wolf Tooth Mountain" were called "hero groups", and China Telecom issued a set of theme calling cards, one of which was a Sihang warehouse.
On August 13, 2015, on the occasion of the 78th anniversary of the Battle of Songhu, the Sihang Warehouse Anti-Japanese War Memorial Hall, the only patriotic education base in Shanghai, was completed and opened. The Sihang Warehouse Anti-Japanese War Memorial Hall includes six parts, including the preface hall, "Blood Songhu", "Sticking to the Four Elements", "Lone Army Resistance", "Immortal Monument" and tail hall. The memorial hall begins with a letter from Xie Jinyuan to his wife Ling Weicheng before going to the Songhu battlefield, showing the feelings of the "eight hundred heroes" headed by Xie Jinyuan who sacrificed their families for the country at the time of national disaster, and showed their firm determination to win the war. The exhibition uses physical objects, sculptures, modern science and technology and other means to reproduce the battle scenes of that year, and displays the historical facts of the Shanghai people's participation in the national war of resistance and the common defense of foreign insults through graphic exhibition panels and huge paintings, as well as the praise and remembrance of the heroic deeds of the "Eight Hundred Heroes" from all walks of life at home and abroad.
On December 2, 2017, Sihang Warehouse was selected as the "Second Batch of Chinese 20th Century Architectural Heritage".
On August 21, 2020, the movie "Eight Hundred" was released in Chinese mainland, enthusiastically praising the eight hundred heroes for "fighting for glory for Chinese soldiers, defending China's sovereignty, fighting for national survival, fighting for humanity, fighting for civilization, and fighting for peace".
Let's pay tribute to the heroes! Salute to the people's army that still defends the motherland today!
The pictures in this article are quoted from the Internet, and if there is infringement, they will be deleted by themselves.