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In 1937, on the north bank of Suzhou Creek in Shanghai, the once feasting was covered by war and smoke, and the singing and dancing was replaced by endless gunfire. Once the most prosperous ten-mile foreign exchange, it has now become a purgatory on earth. The whole city was in flames, and all it saw was ruins.

In 2020, on the north bank of Suzhou Creek in Shanghai, high-rise buildings are bustling with cars coming and going, which is even more lively than the once Shili Yangchang. However, the wall full of bullet holes in the four-row warehouse is still striking. "China will not die, China will not die, you see that national hero Xie Tuanchang; China will not die, China will not die, you see that eight hundred heroes is fighting alone to defend the battlefield. " The lyrics of this song "eight hundred heroes" desperate against the enemy in the four-row warehouse still make people excited.

With the popularity of the film The Eight Hundred, the story of "eight hundred heroes" once again returned to the public eye.

On September 3rd, it was the 75th anniversary of the victory of Chinese citizen War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War. The reporter from the upstream news (reporting micro-signal: shangyounws) walked into the Anti-Japanese War Memorial Hall of Shanghai Sixiang Warehouse, and approached the defense war that had been broadcast live to the whole world.

▲ On September 3, Shanghai, the four-row warehouse in the war shot by Hailan Lyon was exhibited in the Anti-Japanese War Memorial Hall of Shanghai Four-row Warehouse. Image source/Shanghai Sixing Warehouse Anti-Japanese War Memorial Hall

Defend the four-line warehouse

"In 1937, I was 14 years old, a middle school student, and my family lived at Xinzha intersection, across the Suzhou River is a four-row warehouse. I climbed the wall and watched through a telescope. I witnessed a soldier, covered in grenades, jumping from the air and killing the Japanese army. I also saw the top floor of the warehouse, and the lonely soldiers sacrificed heroically to protect the flag. These tragic battle scenes will never be forgotten by me. " In 2015, shen ji, an old man who witnessed the defending war of Sihe Warehouse, wrote the situation in calligraphy. This historical record is still preserved in the Anti-Japanese War Memorial Hall of Sihou Warehouse.

That war-torn era came before us.

Founded in 1931, Sihang Warehouse was the stack of savings associations of Jincheng, Mainland, Salt Industry and Zhongnan, and it was also the tallest and largest building in Zhabei, Shanghai at that time. On August 13, 1937, the Japanese invaders attacked Shanghai on a large scale, and the "August 13" Sino-Japanese War broke out in an all-round way. On October 26th, the stadium fell, and China’s army line north of Suzhou River collapsed. The high command of Nanjing National Government decided to evacuate the Central Operation Group originally stationed in Zhabei, Jiangwan and Miaohang to the south bank of Suzhou River in western Shanghai. At this time, the meeting of signatories to the nine-nation convention is just around the corner. In order to swear the confidence and determination to fight the war to the end at home and abroad and win the support of the international community, the high command department of the National Government issued the order of "retaining the main force and persisting in fighting in Zhabei".

Late at night on October 26th, 524, 262nd Brigade, 88th Division, accompanied by Xie Jinyuan, was ordered to go to the "four-line warehouse" where HQ was located, and accepted the order to stick to it for defense handover. In the middle of the night, Xie Jinyuan, attached to the Lieutenant Colonel Regiment of the 524th Regiment of the 262nd Brigade of the 88th Division, who graduated from the fourth phase of the Whampoa Military Academy, was in danger, and led more than 420 officers and men of the 1st Battalion of the 524th Regiment to enter the four-line warehouse to hold on.

In order to confuse the enemy and strengthen the momentum of the four-line garrison at the same time, the four-line garrison unified its caliber, saying that there were 800 people in the four-line warehouse, so the outside world honored it as "eight hundred heroes".

On the morning of the 27th, the Japanese army found that there were still China defenders in the four-row warehouse and launched an attack, which was violently blocked by the "eight hundred heroes". On the evening of October 28th, Xie Jinyuan conveyed to the soldiers who fought fiercely with the Japanese army for two days the command of "defending the four-row warehouse and surviving with the last position".

At that time, the London News Chronicle published an editorial saying: "The Chinese army’s battle against the Japanese attack in Shanghai was indeed the most heroic page in the history of any country. The loyal and brave resistance of the Chinese army in Shanghai should move the delegates attending the nine-nation convention meeting."

▲ On September 3rd, Shanghai, the war situation written by the witnesses in 2015 was preserved in the memorial hall, among which the little soldier was Shusheng Chen. Photo/upstream journalist Shi Tingting

A letter from home is a suicide note

In the Anti-Japanese War Memorial Hall of Sihu Warehouse, the scene of eight hundred heroes writing a suicide note was restored. In the scene, a soldier was sitting at a table, writing a letter from home seriously, while the soldiers next to him were dictating, while others were watching and some were sitting by waiting.

"My father asked the soldiers, what is this place? Some people say that this is a four-row warehouse, and some people say that this is the headquarters of the 88th Division. My father said no, this is not a four-row warehouse, nor is it the headquarters of the 88 th Division. This is the grave of more than 400 of us. " Xie Jimin recalled in his book My Father, General Xie Jinyuan that many soldiers could not write or never wrote a letter from home. Xie Jinyuan asked every soldier left behind to write a letter to his family, but in fact this letter from home was the soldiers’ suicide note. These soldiers are as young as 16 or 17, and as old as 20.

"Qiao Ying, my wife loves to learn: I will soon lead my troops into the war in Songhu in a few days, and I will specially repair the inch notes to comfort my distant thoughts. Half of China’s rivers and mountains are being eaten away by the sun, and the disaster of national subjugation and extinction is caused by others, and it is my fault. If I don’t pay attention, my descendants will have no class. Killing the enemy for the country is a revolutionary soldier’s ambition; Soldiers should not have a family, but I have it now, and my family is thin, and my relatives are thin. My heart is not stone, so I can call without care! But the duty is to be a country and not to take care of the family. Lao Qing takes full responsibility for the comfort of old relatives, the upbringing of children and all the measures of housework, so as to avoid the distraction of travelers. ….. "Xie Jinyuan wrote in his letter.

At dawn on October 27, the war was just around the corner. At this time, the wall between the four-row warehouse in the west and the warehouse in the mainland bank in the east has been opened, and the soldiers carried bags of wheat, soybeans and cotton, bundles of cowhide, silk cocoons and cloth, and tubes of white newspapers to block doors and windows. At 7: 30, the battle started. Enemy soldiers searching from east to west have entered the building of the Second Road Bureau of North Station. At the same time of head-on engagement, the Japanese army sent three planes to scout around and bombed when they found the target. At 1 o’clock in the afternoon, the Japanese army began to attack the defenders of the warehouse, and the four-line warehouse defense war started from then on.

Xie Jimin wrote in My Father, General Xie Jinyuan: A Japanese team set off from the Bank of Communications in the west and swaggered eastward along Guangfu Road. Enemy mortars around the Bank of Communications also bombarded our position. Chen Qifan, the platoon leader of the third company and three rows, commanded two classes of soldiers to hide behind sandbags. When the enemy soldiers approached the entrance of Manchuria Road (now Jinyuan Road), he commanded that seventeen grenades would go to Qi Fei, and then the machine guns and rifles swept away, causing the enemy to flee back quickly. Jiang Jingban, who was ambushing in the house, threw another batch of grenades. The enemy left seven bodies and left in a mess.

On the 27th, more than 20 people were wiped out in the dry bridge blocking war and subsequent battles, and all the 88th Division, 524th Regiment, 1st battalion, 2nd company, 1st platoon and 1st class were sacrificed.

▲ On September 3rd, Shanghai, Xie Jinyuan’s photos were exhibited in the Anti-Japanese War Memorial Hall of Shanghai Sihang Warehouse. Image source/Shanghai Sixing Warehouse Anti-Japanese War Memorial Hall

Give one’s life to bomb the enemy Shusheng Chen

At 1: 30 a.m. on the 28th, the Japanese gunfire gradually became silent and the night became calm. But the Japanese attack did not stop. Unable to break through the wall, the Japanese army shifted its target to the warehouse gate, trying to blow up the warehouse gate and enter the four-row warehouse.

"The light and heavy machine guns fired violently, hitting the east wall of each window like a honeycomb. Cement fragments and soil ash flew with the bullets, making people’s faces and eyes full of cement powder ash." Xie Jimin wrote in "My Father General Xie Jinyuan" that suddenly, a gunshot sounded on the second floor, which was particularly crisp in the silent night. Soon I heard the deafening explosion of grenades. Xie Jinyuan quickly called around the guards and fighters, a total of more than 10 people, like flying to the downstairs. At this point, the northwest corner window on the second floor rang with the explosion of a Grenade.

At 3 o’clock in the morning, more than 40 enemy troops sneaked under the northwest corner wall of the warehouse from Guoqing Road to the east, and then climbed to the second floor window along the downspout and corner projection of the building. Zhang Aolin, a soldier of two companies and three rows guarding the place, stood by the window with a gun. Guo Xingfa, who came up to support in a row, leaned against the low wall built with coarse grains and hemp bags two meters away, staring at the little light from half a window. Zhang Aolin shot at the window. When Xie Jinyuan led the fighters to arrive, the enemy had climbed into more than 20 people from the window one after another, and more than 20 enemies were all wiped out after a fight.

Before dawn on the 28th, the soldiers found that there were enemy soldiers playing flags on the Suzhou River in the west block of the new garbage bridge to recruit infantry and tanks to attack. More than 20 enemy soldiers have sneaked under the warehouse wall before dawn, with steel plates blocking their heads. Several engineers are desperately digging holes in the wall, and several others are ready to install explosives in the holes for blasting. Tanks and infantry will attack only when the iron gate is damaged or the wall is blasted.

At this point, Xie Jinyuan is preparing to take drastic measures to send death squads to drill holes in the wall. When attacking the enemy’s rear road from the cigarette paper shop, Shusheng Chen, a member of the death squad on the fifth floor, tied several grenades to his body, pulled the fuse, and suddenly jumped to the enemy from the fifth floor window. The grenades exploded under the steel plate, and all more than 20 enemy soldiers were killed or shocked. Shusheng Chen, who was only 21 years old, died heroically. He was the soldier covered with grenades that shen ji saw from the other side.

▲ On September 3rd, Shanghai, the scene of Shusheng Chen’s "Sacrificing his life for righteousness" in the Anti-Japanese War Memorial Hall of Shanghai Four Stores. Image source/Shanghai Sixing Warehouse Anti-Japanese War Memorial Hall

Live broadcast to the whole world

The particularity of the four-line warehouse is not the sturdy and durable military attribute of the bank warehouse, but the public concessions of Britain, France, the United States, Italy and other countries are separated by a water on the southeast side. After the war broke out, most people entered the concession to escape the war. As described in the movie The Eight Hundred, every battle in the four-row warehouse is like a live broadcast.

Xie Jimin wrote in My Father, General Xie Jinyuan: "The morning (October 27th, 1937) blockade war attracted some people’s attention, while the fierce gunfire in the afternoon attracted more and more people to watch the war. When hundreds of enemy troops were defeated and fled under the attack of our army, the people across the river were delighted. "

The gunfire of "eight hundred heroes" sticking to Zhabei No.4 warehouse alone touched the mood of more and more people. From the afternoon of October 27, 1937, people began to gather on the south bank of Suzhou River to look at the fighting on the other side. Now, standing on the other side of Suzhou Creek and seeing the devastated walls, we can still feel the tragic war and the people’s anger.

With the battle for the four-line warehouse entering a white-hot stage, more and more media came to the concession to report the war "live". Shen Bao, News, Ta Kung Pao and Li Bao all reported the war information at the fastest speed. According to statistics, the daily sales volume of newspapers at that time was as high as 200,000. On October 28th, all kinds of newspapers in Shanghai and all over the country published the news of "Four Lines Alone eight hundred heroes Heroically Killed the Enemy" on the front page. At the same time, English Zilinxi Newspaper, Beihua Jiebao, French Times Youth, and Russian Pravda reported the battle situation of the four-line warehouse defense.

At that time, the media reported that since 8: 00 a.m. on the 27th, a fire broke out in Jiangwan, Zhabei district and the west of Maigen Road Station in Shanghai, with smoke covering the sky and flames flying. The fierceness of the fire is unprecedented in Shanghai. Although the army has retreated safely, there are still a few officers and men in many high-rise buildings who refused to be ordered to retreat and would rather spill the last drop of blood and fight the enemy to the death. At noon on the 27th, the reporter went to a place on the south bank of Suzhou River to observe the situation on the other side, and witnessed an earth-shattering scene amid the scattered gunfire. More than 800 people from the 1st Battalion of the 88th Division, led by Xie Jinyuan, the head of the division, and Yang Ruifu, the battalion commander, are still surrounded by flames and the enemy. With their last drop of blood and the last bullet, they demand the price from the enemy, and are performing a heroic drama that will make the world cry and make the gods cry, and will last forever in history.

▲ On September 3rd, Shanghai, a large number of news reports on the four-line defense war were kept in the Anti-Japanese War Memorial Hall of Shanghai Four-line Warehouse. Photo/upstream journalist Shi Tingting

Defence war with participation of the whole people

As the headquarters of the 88th Division, Sihang Warehouse has plenty of ammunition and a lot of miscellaneous grains, such as soybeans, wheat and corn, but there is no salt. Soldiers can only rely on boiled soybeans to satisfy their hunger. Cooking soybeans and wheat rice takes a break from the battle. When the battle is tense, they don’t have time to eat when they are cooked, and they often get a meal one day and one night. On the evening of October 27th, some soldiers discovered that there were radishes, so they used tung oil for cooking, and many soldiers suffered from food poisoning. Xie Jinyuan immediately called the medics, tried to make the soldiers vomit, and asked them to drink more water and excrete more.

Xie Jimin wrote in "My Father General Xie Jinyuan" that Xie Jinyuan, through the British troops guarding the new garbage bridge (now Xizang Road and Bridge), sent a letter to the then Shanghai Mayor Yu Hung chun, asking for support of 500 pounds of salt and sugar and 50,000 cakes. However, the news was learned by the reporters waiting at the bridgehead and immediately published in the newspaper. The radio station made a broadcast on the evening of the 27th, which suddenly became an open letter, causing great shock in the hearts of the people in the concession.

According to witnesses’ memories, the south bank of Suzhou River stretches from Xizang Road in the east to Wuzhen Road Bridge and Xinzha Road in the west, and the gaps between roads, open spaces and buildings are crowded with people wherever you can see the four-row warehouse across the river. After learning the news, people and people from all walks of life sent all kinds of materials to the south bank of Suzhou River, asking the British troops guarding the bridge to let them cross the bridge and send food to the warehouse, but they were all rejected by the British army. Many people are so anxious that they can’t wait to throw their materials across the river, but the river is wide and everything falls into it. Not only people from all walks of life donated money and materials, but also coolies and rickshaw pullers joined the donation team.

Xie Jimin wrote in "My Father General Xie Jinyuan" that 244 refugees in No.80 Refugee Shelter on Yu Qiaqing Road went on a diet for half a day, saving 9 yuan 22 cents, and 712 people in No.101 Refugee Shelter on Guangdong Road went on a hunger strike for one day, saving 65 yuan, and sent them to local associations one after another, and entrusted them with the goods to help the lonely people in the four-line warehouse. Three pie vendors on Xinzha Road closed for one day and made 600 or 700 pies as gifts to eight hundred heroes.

Knowing that light cakes are the most popular military food for soldiers, Shanghai citizens put 10,000 light cakes and cooked beef into round iron drums, welded the drum cover firmly, and rolled them with bamboo poles from the east side of Xizang Luqiao North Road to the small cigarette paper shop next to the four-row warehouse (when the four-row warehouse was stationed alone, it was specially communicated with the small cigarette paper shop next to it). After receiving the "eight hundred heroes", just pry open the drum cover with a bayonet. At the same time, all kinds of medicines, ambulance supplies and newspapers and publications were also sent to the four-row warehouse, which inspired the soldiers’ fighting spirit. Affected by public sentiment, the defenders in the concession can only turn a blind eye to the default rescue behavior.

On October 29th, when the flag sent by Yang Huimin, a patriotic boy scout wartime service group of the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce, was raised on the roof of the four-row warehouse, the people watching the battle across the river cheered. According to a reporter from the East China News Agency at that time, "There are two flags hanging from the south window of the four-row warehouse, and the roof of Chonglou is about six feet long and four feet wide, which floats with the wind. Among several enemy flags nearby, it is awe-inspiring to show that it is inviolable. The people looked up at it and were also excited. They resolutely respected eight hundred heroes’s spirit of loyalty and courage. "

▲ On September 3, Shanghai, the lonely army who was evacuated from the four-row warehouse was exhibited in the Anti-Japanese War Memorial Hall of Shanghai Four-row Warehouse. Image source/Shanghai Sixing Warehouse Anti-Japanese War Memorial Hall

Retreat under fire

October 30 is the fourth day of the four-row warehouse battle. Japanese diplomats and military leaders in trouble made explicit remarks one after another, threatening and intimidating the concession authorities to take immediate measures to eliminate the resistance of "eight hundred heroes" in the four-row warehouse. The Japanese naval attache in China, Major General Honda Fu, and the commander of the Japanese Third Fleet, Lieutenant General Tanigawa Kiyoshi, successively spoke, threatening that the Japanese army would resort to extreme measures to deal with the Japanese defenders regardless of the consequences. This means that heavy bombs will be dropped by planes and bombarded with long-range heavy guns. If bombs and shells deviate from the direction and blow into the gas tank on the south bank of Suzhou River, it will cause very serious consequences. Under the pressure of all parties, Xie Jinyuan received an order to retreat. The retreat that night was violently attacked by the Japanese army.

Xie Jimin described in "My Father General Xie Jinyuan" that the Japanese army may find out from various signs that the defenders are going to retreat. The number of light and heavy machine guns erected in and around the semi-underground bunker of the new building at Qufu intersection of North Xizang Road has increased to four, and two searchlights have been installed, which will shine like day in the area of Luqiao block in North Xizang. Under the irradiation of searchlights, enemy machine guns rained down, and enemy tanks also bombarded them constantly, tightly sealing off the road sections that the troops had to pass through. The enemy’s three-inch flat-fire guns placed at the intersection of Kaifeng also fired from time to time.

The witness recalled that at that time, the British army laid a big English Mitzi flag on the land near the bridge block on the east side of Xizang Road, indicating that it was a public concession. A section of the barbed wire shelf in the middle of the road was also removed. The British troops evacuated from the bridgehead bunker guarded the windows and walls upstairs of the Bank of China warehouse. The British squad leader was ordered by his superiors to open one of the two iron gates along Xizang Road, which was opposite to the cigarette and paper shop outside the four-row warehouse, and was ready to enter when he retreated alone.

That night, the Japanese artillery fire was more violent than usual, not only shooting at the four-row warehouse area, but also shooting at the Ludong concession and the new garbage bridge. A total of 89 shells were dropped in the public concession on the south bank of Suzhou River. Shells rained on the 200-meter-long new garbage bridge, and the whole retreat process touched everyone’s hearts.

After repeated offensives and defenses, personnel, firearms and ammunition were safely transported out.

▲ On September 3rd, Shanghai, the four-line warehouse was converted into the Anti-Japanese War Memorial Hall of Shanghai Four-line Warehouse. Photo/upstream journalist Shi Tingting

Rebuild the four-line warehouse

In the Battle of Songhu, even in War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, the battle of defending the four-line warehouse left a deep impression in history. Today’s four-row warehouse has faded from the shadow of war, and the Suzhou River with rippling blue waves has also returned to calm. Standing on the Xizang Road and Bridge, you can’t see the bullet holes in the wall, but the gray wall is even more vicissitudes in the twilight.

After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, in memory of the anti-Japanese hero Xie Jinyuan, the road from Shanghai North Railway Station to the west side of Sixiang Warehouse (formerly known as Manzhou Road) was renamed Jinyuan Road, and Jiaozhou Park, which is separated from the solitary military camp, was renamed Jinyuan Park. In 1983, Xie Jinyuan’s tomb was moved to the celebrity cemetery of Shanghai Wanguo Cemetery. In 2014, "Xie Jinyuan and other eight hundred heroes" was listed in the first batch of 300 famous anti-Japanese heroes and heros published by the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

In 2015, the Shanghai Municipal Government renovated the Sihang Warehouse and built the Anti-Japanese War Memorial Hall of Shanghai Sihang Warehouse on the 1st-3rd floors in the west of Sihang Warehouse. It is understood that the anti-Japanese war memorial wall on the west facade of the warehouse has retained its original appearance, and the eight bullet holes and 430 bullet holes on the wall have all been restored according to their original appearance and actual position. In the memorial hall, in the form of reliefs, sculptures, plastic figures, oil paintings, etc., the battle scenes of that year are reproduced, and the historical facts of Xie Jinyuan and "eight hundred heroes" sticking to the four-row warehouse are restored.

"Four lines of warehouses fought for four days and four nights, and’ eight hundred heroes’ fought bloody battles, conveying the firm will of the people of China to the end of the war of resistance. Under the banner of the Anti-Japanese National United Front, the heroic feat of "eight hundred heroes" in resisting foreign aggression has further inspired the patriotic spirit and national spirit of the people of the whole country to unite and devote themselves to the flood of anti-Japanese war, defend the country and save the nation. Under the banner of the anti-Japanese national United front, the heroic defense of the four-line warehouse and the courage and firmness of’ eight hundred heroes’ also established the national confidence that’ China will not die’. " Zhong Ye, a librarian of the Anti-Japanese War Memorial Hall of Shanghai Sixiang Warehouse, said that under the banner of the anti-Japanese national United front, China soldiers fought in Shanghai on August 13th, and fought bloody battles for more than three months. The vast number of patriotic officers and men courageously fought against China in three months, crushing the Japanese invaders’ arrogant attempt to "destroy in three months". "eight hundred heroes" stuck to the four-line warehouse and the people actively supported the four-line army, thus the whole world witnessed the national salvation plan of the Chinese nation.

Source of this article/My Father General Xie Jinyuan by Xie Jimin

Thank you for providing interview support to the Anti-Japanese War Memorial Hall of Shanghai Sixiang Warehouse.

Upstream journalist Shi Tingting

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