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The Japanese Army swept across North China after the 1937 Marco Polo Bridge Incident, capturing Beiping (北平) and Tianjin (天津) in quick succession on 29 July and 30 July. Before that, the Deputy Commander Tong Linge (佟麟閣) and Division Commander Zhao Dengyu (趙登禹) were sacrificed. On 13 August, Japan mobilised dozens of warships, and more than ten thousand troops to attack Shanghai (上海), China’s largest city of industry and commerce. This sparked off the Battle of Shanghai (also known as the August 13th Incident). This three-month-long combat (13 August to 12 November) was the first major battle in the Total War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.

Shanghai’s centre region was the major battlefield in the first two weeks of the battle, with the Japanese forces bombarding the districts of Zhabei (閘北) and Jiangwan (江灣). The National Revolutionary Army (or NRA for short, an army commanded by the Chiang Kai-shek-led﹝蔣介石﹞Nationalist Government) engaged in a brutal and bloody fight with the Japanese forces, with both sides continuing to send more troops into the fray. As the battle continued, the NRA had a harder time to deal with Japan’s superior firepower and eventually transitioned tactics to defend and even retreat. To waylay the Japanese forces long enough for the NRA’s main force to retreat safely, Xie Jinyuan (謝晉元) led the “Eight Hundred Heroes” in the Defence of Sihang Warehouse (四行倉庫) that later became an overnight sensation. The NRA fully retreated on 12 November and Shanghai fell.

The battle cost more than 250,000 casualties from the 750,000 NRA soldiers when every single one of them fought to the death in the war. The tremendous number of lost brave warriors included two lieutenant generals Zhu Yaohua (朱耀華) and Wu Keren (吳克仁), and 14 major generals. Japan committed 300,000 soldiers to the fight and caused around 100,000 casualties. Although China lost the battle, it smashed Japan’s attempt to “conquer China in three months”.

What did the “Eight Hundred Heroes” do in the Defence the Sihang Warehouse during the Battle of Shanghai? Was it really eight hundred of them in the defence?

See answer below.

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The Japanese forces attacked Shanghai on 8 August 1937, and the Battle of Shanghai began. The photo shows a position of the Japanese Special Naval Landing Forces in downtown Shanghai that day.

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On 9 August 1937, Lieutenant Oyama Isao of the Japanese Special Naval Landing Forces based in western Shanghai forced his way towards the military cordon of Hongqiao Airport (虹橋機場) in a car, where he was stopped by the Chinese guard and shot dead. The Japanese forces then used this as a pretext to attack Shanghai on 13 August.

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The Japanese forces mobilised massive numbers of tanks, warships, and warplanes in the 1937 Battle of Shanghai. They declared to conquer China in just three months as the weaponry, equipment, and resources of the NRA were no match to theirs.

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The NRA struggled to resist the Japanese forces who were equipped with more superior firepower in the 1937 Battle of Shanghai. Left: the NRA building a barricade at a strategically important intersection. Right: the NRA fighting in a circular fortification.

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China deployed naval and air forces in the 1937 Battle of Shanghai. Although China’s naval and air forces were far inferior than that of Japan, it managed to strike a significant blow to the enemy. Left: Chinese warplanes deployed in the Battle of Shanghai. Right: A Japanese warship catching fire when the Chinese air force bombarded the Japanese naval force in Huangpu River (黃浦江) of Shanghai on 14 August.

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The Japanese forces employed poison gas during the 1937 Battle of Shanghai. Left: the NRA donning gas masks and firing at the enemy. Right: the soldiers of the Japanese Special Naval Landing Force fighting in the streets in downtown Shanghai with gas masks on.

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The Chinese machine gun unit (left) and the Japanese machine gun unit (right) engaging in the Battle of Shanghai.

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China deployed its elite army, including armoured troops, in the ferocious 1937 Battle of Shanghai. Left: the NRA armoured troop attacking a Japanese position. The Japanese troops used sandbags for cover and fired at the Chinese armoured vehicle. Right picture: the NRA firing at the Japanese troops.

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After landing at Hangzhou Bay (杭州灣), the Japanese forces entered Jinshanwei (金山衛), a town in Shanghai, and outflanked Shanghai on 5 November. To prevent Shanghai from encirclement and extermination, Chiang Kai-shek had no choice but to order the NRA to retreat on 8 November, and Shanghai fell on 12 November. During the strenuous defence of Shanghai for three months in 1937, the NRA suffered unimaginable losses. Nonetheless, its perseverance smashed Japan’s ambition to conquer China in just three months.

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Left: Xie Jinyuan, the commander who led the “Eight Hundred Heroes” to defend Sihang Warehouse. Middle: the national flag of the Republic of China flying atop Sihang Warehouse. Right: the photo of the girl scout Yang Huimin (楊惠敏) taken before she delivered the national flag to Sihang Warehouse.

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Xie Jinyuan commanded over 400 soldiers in the Defence of Sihang Warehouse, covering for the retreat of the NRA and repelling repeated attacks from the Japanese forces. Xie and his men refused to abandon their post and resolved to die fulfilling their duty even after the NRA fully retreated, which caused a sensation. It was believed there were 800 soldiers defending Sihang Warehouse, and they thus became known as the “Eight Hundred Heroes”. While the “Eight Hundred Heroes” fought against the Japanese forces, a girl scout named Yang Huimin risked her life to deliver a flag of the Republic of China to Xie. Those who saw the flag flying atop the building were galvanised. The heroic accomplishments of the “Eight Hundred Heroes” were commemorated in the song Ode to the Eight Hundred Heroes (lyrics by Gui Taosheng﹝桂濤聲﹞and music by Xia Zhiqiu﹝夏之秋﹞). This song was widely circulated during the War of Resistance.

China will not perish, China will not perish,

Look at our national hero Commander Xie.

China will not perish, China will not perish,

Watch the eight hundred heroes of the lone battalion fight for every inch of land,

From four sides come the gunfire, from four sides come the wolves,

They would rather die than retreat, they would rather die than surrender.

Amidst the sea of chaos our nation’s flag flies proudly, flies proudly, flies proudly, flies proudly.

Eight hundred heroic hearts all beat as one, unstoppable to the thousands of enemies,

Our actions are mighty, our integrity heroic.

Compatriots, arise! Compatriots, arise!

Let’s answer the call to arms, and follow the example of the eight hundred heroes.

China will not perish, China will not perish!

Will not perish! Will not perish! Will not perish!

In 1975, 30 years after winning the War of Resistance, the film Eight Hundred Heroes was released. Xie Jinyuan was played by Ko Chun-hsiung (柯俊雄) and Yang Huimin by Brigitte Lin (林青霞). Ode to the Eight Hundred Heroes was played in the film.

 

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Chinese civilians suffered greatly during the Japanese attack on Shanghai. The photos show the bomb-out Shanghai South Railway Station.

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Left: Japan air attacked the Shanghai South Railway Station on 28 August 1937 noon, killing over 200 passengers and injuring numerous. An injured child was sitting on the floor weeping bitterly. This photo A Chinese Baby Amid the Wreckage (or Bloody Saturday) was taken by photographer Wang Xiaoting (王小亭). The photo was published in the US weekly magazine Life two weeks after it was taken, and eventually it was seen all around the world, sparking outraged discussion in the US and internationally. This photo, earning significant international sympathy for China, was one of the most representative of its kind of the Total War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, as it was a strong demonstration of unimaginable hardship that Chinese civilians underwent during the Japanese invasion.

Right : a man rushing to help the two injured children, including the one in the photo A Chinese Baby Amid the Wreckage after the Japanese air bombed the Shanghai South Railway Station.

What did the “Eight Hundred Heroes” do in the Defence the Sihang Warehouse during the Battle of Shanghai? Was it really eight hundred of them in the defence?

More than 400 soldiers from the 2nd Battalion of the 524th Regiment of the 88th Division of the NRA were led by the Deputy Staff Officer and Acting Deputy Commander Xie Jinyuan and Battalion Commander Yang Ruifu (楊瑞符) to lurk inside Sihang Warehouse on the northern bank of Suzhou River (蘇州河). They were to cover for the rest of the NRA to retreat on 27 October 1937.

Isolated from the rest of the Army, they still refused to abandon their posts and instead pledged to fight to the death. A girl scout Yang Huimin crossed the zone of active conflict to deliver a flag of the Republic of China to these 400-plus heroes. It was hung atop the warehouse and continued to fly even after Zhabei fell. The British Army persuaded them to retreat to the foreign concessions in Shanghai but they refused. Still, they received constant food supplies from the Shanghai civilians who were in hopes of comforting the soldiers. Once the NRA fully retreated from Shanghai, they mounted a defence in the city’s western outskirts for more than a week, preventing the Japanese from completely besieging the city.

There were only 400-odd soldiers defending Sihang Warehouse, though it was said that 800 names were found on the list. Later, referencing the “Five Hundred Heroes” led by Tian Heng (田橫) of the State of Qi (齊) in the late Qin (秦) and early Han (漢) dynasty from the famous historical work, Records of the Grand Historian (《史記》), newspapers called these soldiers the “Eight Hundred Heroes”.

Sources of most photos used in this feature piece: Fotoe.