Defense of Sihang Warehouse Part 5: October 30th (Day 4)

this video is part five of these warehouse series if you haven't watched the previous videos i highly recommend you watch them first i have included the links

in the description on the morning of the 30th the japanese launched another assault pouring heavy fire on the warehouse however the fortifications on the first three floors of the warehouse had

already been completed by this point consisting of sandbags piled along the walls extending from the floor to the ceiling and measuring three meters thick these well-constructed fortifications

rendered all japanese attacks even the 75 millimeter shells from their mounting guns ineffective focus was placed on finishing the fortifications on the fifth floor

as from the fifth floor the defenders could fire downwards at the japanese machine gunner stationed on the rooftops of buildings west of the warehouse which were only three or four stories tall

as the chinese had a limited supply of sandbags with much of it being used to fortify the walls of the first three floors as well as the gates it was decided to not construct

fortifications on the fourth floor since this was the same height as the bank of communications building this was the area that the japanese gunners on the rooftop were most likely going to hit

furthermore it would be more advantageous for the defenders to fire downwards towards the japanese instead of simply across as a result no one was stationed on the fourth floor and no fortifications were

built there it was ignored by the defenders and its only purpose was to draw the enemies fire the main problem faced by the chinese on the fifth floor was that there were no

windows or openings on the western wall if the chinese wanted to fire at the japanese troops on the building rooftops west of the warehouse they would have to physically create openings on a thick concrete wall

surprisingly before the chinese troops got to work the japanese mountain guns solved the problem for them japanese fire from the mountain guns were extremely fierce that morning the fiercest of the entire battle for

sahan warehouse these guns were placed west of the warehouse along walton road their 75 millimeter shells were not enough to destroy the walls of the warehouse nor did they cause heavy casualties to

the defenders inside they were however enough to create small holes on the walls just enough for the soldiers on the fifth floor to shoot out of with the openings on the walls created

chinese machine gun fire quickly drove the japanese off the rooftops as the fighting continued into the afternoon important discussions were being carried out in the international settlement

between the chinese and the british throughout the battle for sahang warehouse the western powers had been pressuring the nationalist government to remove its troops from the warehouse as the fighting was putting the safety

of their citizens in the international settlement at risk british soldiers had also tried to persuade those in the warehouse to retreat into the international settlement chiang kai-shek had intended to have the first

battalion hold on to the warehouse during the nine power treaty conference which was to be attended by many members of the league of nations since this conference was to be held in an attempt to end the fighting in china

as quickly as possible it was hoped that having the first battalion stay behind in shanghai would demonstrate china's determination in the war and hopefully gain more international support and aid

the conference was originally scheduled to be held in brussels belgium on this day october 30th however a political situation developing belgium had led to the resignation of the then premier

paul van zeeland as well as the cabinet a fact that most of the world found out about on the 26th which happens to be the day that the first battalion had set out towards the home warehouse over the following days

the political chaos that resulted from van zeeland's resignation caused the conference to be pushed back until november 3rd faced with a postponed conference as well as increased pressure from the

british and americans chang finally agreed for the first battalion to retreat into the international settlement and the order to retreat was formally sent on the morning of the 30th

to the 88th division which the defenders belonged to that afternoon around 2pm general alexander telfer smallett personally met with chinese officials in the french concession

the details of the meeting were written down in the memoirs of jampuatin the chief of staff of the 88th who also attended the meeting the other officials present included general feng shunfa

the deputy commander of the 88th division yu honjun mayor of shanghai general yanghu chief of the shanghai garrison command as well as one of general young's

assistants sunu lupin who acted as the interpreter the group met at general young's private residence in the french concession to discuss the details of the first battalion's retreat from the warehouse

such as how they were going to get across the british lines how they were going to deal with the japanese machine guns and searchlights as well as other important details the chinese also requested that the

troops be provided with transportation within the international settlement once they've successfully retreated general telfer smallitz promised that the chinese troops will have his full support

during their withdrawal jumboteen spoke very fondly of general telfer's smallet in his memoirs remembering that he was a humorous middle-aged man with distinct british characteristics he also stated that the general even

complemented the 88th division on their actions during the battle of shanghai which is interesting due to great britain's officially neutral stance after the meeting was over

general sunyu liang commander of the 88th division was informed of the details of the discussion however it was not until the evening that the troops in the warehouse were

informed of the order to retreat lieutenant colonel xietin yun and major young reifu were ordered to prepare the troops for withdrawal from the warehouse and that they were to enter the

international settlement at 12 am the soldiers there had finally completed the fortifications on the fifth floor around 8 pm with firing between the two sides continuing into the night

the japanese used searchlights to illuminate the darkness and continued to fire shells at the warehouse around 11 pm british troops retreated from the new lati bridge and north tibet road

as the chinese got ready to leave the warehouse the british soldiers likely retreated in order to prevent themselves from being injured by japanese fire as the japanese would likely be firing at the retreating

chinese troops directly into the international settlement an opening was likely made in the british fortifications at the intersection of north sudo creek road and north tibet road

to make it easier for the chinese to enter the international settlement major young decided not to inform his men of the order to withdraw until the very end and instead told them to bring all their weapons

ammunition and equipment with them to their original defensive positions in order to prepare for a japanese attack as the time for the withdrawal drew closer all the defenders were informed of the order to retreat into the international

settlement the goal of the defenders was to make it into the warehouse of the bank of china located east of zahem warehouse on the other side of north tibet road first company's

first platoon under the command of yandere was given one of the heavy machine guns and told to provide cover for the withdrawing troops the wounded were the first to leave when things were still quiet

and the japanese were unaware of the defender's movements next lieutenant colonel sia retreated with the machine gun company and the other platoons of first company

lastly the second company third company as well as the platoon from first company that was providing cover retreated from the warehouse as well major young left the warehouse positioned between second and third

company the entire retreat took around two hours with the last troops entering the international settlement around 2 am on october 31st japanese machine gun fire was fierce

forcing the chinese troops to wait for a break in the firing before charging out still a few of the men were wounded by enemy fire during the retreat including major yang whose left leg was

pierced by a bullet however the retreat was a success as everyone managed to get out of the warehouse once in the international settlement the wounded retreated

with the more serious ones being taken to the hospital the soldiers also had to turn over their weapons to the british now is a good time to address the many misconceptions regarding the retreat

some sources have stated that some of the wounded chinese troops stayed behind to cover the retreat of the defenders sacrificing themselves in the process to find the answer to whether this

really happened all we have to do is analyze major young refuge memoirs he stated that the wounded were the first to withdraw from the warehouse before the main force he also mentioned

his relief after finding out the fact that all the wounded had safely made it into the international settlement as for first companies first platoon that provided covering fire during the retreat

although major young never specifically talked about when they were treated they did not stay behind and sacrifice themselves either the commander of first platoon young dua you would later change his

name to yang yang zhang he was seriously wounded while providing covering fire and was unconscious by the time he made it inside the international settlement due to the severity of his wound his

left eye had to be surgically removed and replaced with a ceramic one however he survived the battle suggesting that the rest of his platoon made it out as well yaya zhong would be

the last living member of the original defenders of sit-home warehouse and passed away in 2010 at the age of 96.

the next major misconception is that during the retreat chinese troops had to charge across the new latte bridge to reach the international settlement taking casualties in the process this

misconception is likely due to inaccurate period reports of the battle the memoirs written by jumboteen also contains this inaccurate information

in his memoirs he repeatedly stated that the warehouse was surrounded on three sides by the japanese and that to retreat they had to get across suzhou creek in reality they only faced the japanese

on the north and west sides with the east side being under british control there was no need to cross the creek in order to reach the safety of the international settlement some other misconceptions can also be

attributed to jumbo team's memoirs such as the british providing covering fire for the chinese young reifu had stated that the british troops had pulled back from their positions on the border around 11 pm

that night furthermore there's no reason why troops from a neutral nation would participate in the battle especially since the japanese were not planning on invading the international settlement

another common misconception that is echoed in jumbo team's memoirs is the date of the retreat he stated that the retreats commenced on the evening of october 31st causing some to believe that early on

november 1st was when the battle truly ended in fact everyone from the 1st battalion made it into the international settlement by 2 am on october 31st

the reason for the many inaccuracies in jumbo team's memoirs is likely due to the fact that he wrote it 45 years after the events in shanghai unlike hyundai fu who had his memoirs published in 1939

less than two years after the battle jumbo team could easily have forgotten about some of the details of the events over the years resulting in the mistakes that we talked about as dawn broke on the morning of october 31st

the japanese had already raised their flags over the home warehouse the building was by now burning as a fire had broken out as the defenders retreated with the exception of those who were in the

hospital the disarmed chinese troops were initially under british guard taken to the shanghai race club and later on transferred to a former shanghai volunteer corps barracks

located at the intersection of singapore road and tjojo road where they will stay for many years along the way their trucks were swarmed by crowds of cheering chinese civilians

celebrating their victory these were the same men and women who gathered in the international settlement to watch the defender's flag racing ceremony the same ones who despite the risk of

being hit by a stray bullet chose to stay and cheer on the troops even if that meant taking cover behind walls and buildings when the shooting started after years of being shoved around by

foreign nations they were proud that chinese soldiers were finally able to take a stand against foreign aggression although the defense of sahan warehouse helped very little strategic value it proved to be a huge morale boost for

chinese soldiers and civilians alike much bigger than anyone could have initially imagined although this brings us to the end of the battle there's still one more video in this series the final video will talk about what the

soldiers experienced while confined in the international settlement and we'll also take a look at what happened to the officers of the 1st battalion thanks for watching and i hope you enjoyed this video