Defense of Sihang Warehouse - 29 October

29 October

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 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. In the warehouse, only a small group of soldiers attended the flag-raising ceremony.

The crowd gathered across the river, reportedly thirty thousand strong, was jubilant, shouting "Long live the Republic of China!" while the Japanese were furious and sent aircraft to attack the flag. 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.

At noon the Japanese mounted their largest offensive thus far. Attacking from all directions with cannon fire and tankettes, they pushed the 3rd Company out of their defensive line at the base of the warehouse and forced the 3rd into the warehouse itself. The west side of the warehouse originally lacked windows (as can be seen from the photos above), but the Japanese attacks conveniently opened up firing holes for the defenders. A group of Japanese soldiers tried to scale the walls to the second floor with ladders, and Xie just happened to be at the window they 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.

A private, traumatized by the battle, jumped off the building while strapped with grenades and took out some twenty Japanese soldiers in exchange for his own life. The battle lasted until dark, with Japanese waves now frequently supported by armoured vehicles and cannon fire. Finally, after all else had failed, they used an excavator and tried to dig a tunnel towards the warehouse. During this day's battle, Chinese citizens across the river helped the soldiers by writing on big posters, warning of the Japanese army's movements. One individual even telephoned the warehouse after witnessing the Japanese preparing a new attack.