Defense of Sihang Warehouse - 28 October

28 October

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.

The location of the warehouse, 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.

It started to drizzle 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 cannon to the north of the warehouse. The cannon were unable to heavily damage the 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.

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 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. 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 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. 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.

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.