Text/Editor: Liuyun
Speaking of the Sixing Warehouse, everyone knows that the battle for the defense of the Sixing Warehouse took place here. At that time, all the officers and men of a battalion fought a bloody battle with the Japanese army here for four days and four nights, repelling many enemy attacks.
But you know what? As Chiang Kai-shek's "protégé of the Son of Heaven", the battalion commander Xie Jinyuan actually threw his pen into Rong, participated in the Northern Expedition, and until the Battle of Songhu began, he was only a lieutenant colonel staff officer. You may not know that the original plan was to stay with a division to cover up, because his immediate boss was afraid of death, so he pushed him out to be cannon fodder.
At the age of 16, Xie Jinyuan was admitted to National Guangdong University, which is today's Sun Yat-sen University. However, 4 years later, after graduating from college, he did not look for a stable job, but went directly to apply for the Whampoa Military Academy a few streets away. In 1925, 20-year-old Xie Jinyuan was admitted to the Whampoa Military Academy and became a cadet of the fourth phase of the Whampoa Military Academy. He first studied in the infantry section, and then transferred to the political section. That year, the director of the political department of the Whampoa Military Academy was Zhou Enlai, and the teacher who mainly taught in political classes was Ye Jianying.
Eight months after entering the Whampoa Military Academy, Xie Jinyuan "successfully" graduated. According to the normal study time, the students in this period should have to study for one year, but because of the start of the Northern Expedition and the lack of grassroots commanders in the Northern Expedition troops, Xie Jinyuan and his students were able to graduate ahead of schedule. Although it is a bit of a duck to be put on the shelves, the starting point of Xie Jinyuan's military career is not low. The 4th issue of Huangpu, where he is located, is a bright star in China's military history. Only the students of the first 4 phases of Huangpu are qualified to be called the "protégés of the Son of Heaven" who will be introduced.
Most of them were in high positions in the later period, but Xie Jinyuan began to charge all the way from the Northern Expedition as a platoon commander. But until the Battle of Songhu began, he was only a lieutenant colonel staff officer.
Xie Jinyuan's military position is not high because he is not "gregarious" in the eyes of everyone. He is not good at integrating into the "sauce jar" culture in the Kuomintang army, nor does he have any family background, so he has been promoted without a way.
There is a good contrast, that is, his immediate boss, Sun Yuanliang, the commander of the 88th Division. Although Sun Yuanliang graduated from the first phase of Huangpu, he was also well-known in the Kuomintang army, and he was the "flying general" who was the best at escaping from the battle. During the Battle of Songhu, he forcibly kept female students who came to the labor army to spend the night, and even led his troops to loot factories and resell materials. But such a character, because he is good at playing up and down, and his uncle is the boss of the Sichuan army, he has a smooth career all the way and rises steadily.
However, it was Xie Jinyuan's unsociability that allowed him to receive that special task, the task that made him go down in history.
In the Battle of Songhu, China successively invested more than 70 divisions of troops in a bloody battle with the invading Japanese army in Shanghai, guarding every inch of land in Shanghai. After more than two months of fierce fighting, the situation on the Songhu battlefield began to become increasingly unfavorable to the Kuomintang army, and the main defense line was broken through by the Japanese army one after another, and the main forces were divided and surrounded. At this critical juncture, the 88th Division of the Kuomintang Army, which was also in the central position of Shanghai and to which Xie Jinyuan belonged, received an order to "stay with the whole division and defend Shanghai".
The 88th Division was one of the only three "German Armament Divisions" in Chiang Kai-shek's troops at that time. Everyone knows what the final outcome of staying in Shanghai will be. After Sun Yuanliang received the order, he immediately pleaded with Chiang Kai-shek: "Holding on alone is tantamount to sending death in vain, the whole division stays, and the sacrifice is too great." After some haggling, Chiang Kai-shek finally agreed, leaving a battalion behind.
Which troops will be arranged to stay as cannon fodder? Sun Yuanliang chose a team of newly recruited soldiers, some of whom didn't even know how to shoot guns. is such a unit, even if it is sacrificed, Sun Yuanliang will not feel distressed. So who is left to command this force? Sun Yuanliang immediately thought of his junior brother Xie Jinyuan, who was not "gregarious" and did not have the slightest family background.
Xie Jinyuan is resourceful, brave and good at fighting, and most importantly, he has a strong sense of honor as a soldier, and he has always obeyed orders and does not care about life and death. Sun Yuanliang also grasped this point and gave him this special task, and handed over this new team of recruits who were not very good at shooting.
When Xie Jinyuan received this order, he didn't say a word, as if he wanted to speak but was unspeakable. After being silent for more than 20 minutes, Xie Jinyuan accepted the task as if he had accepted his fate, and informed Yang Ruifu and other subordinates. At the same time, he personally wrote down the reply that "Yu will fight with the Japanese to the end with one shot and one bullet". In the afternoon of the same day, Sun Yuanliang called from the division headquarters again, asking Xie Jinyuan to hold on until November 3, which was the earliest deadline, and he could hold it for as long as he could.
Why November 3rd? Because at this time, Chiang Kai-shek was still pinning his hopes on international mediation. He filed a complaint with the League of Nations, requesting international arbitration of the so-called "military conflict in the Far East", and on November 3 the Standing Committee of the League of Nations held an international conference in Belgium to discuss the Sino-Japanese war situation. But he withdrew the 88th Division, leaving only 400 Chinese defenders, could they hold out until that time? This is yet another political battle that has attracted international attention.
From October 27, the Japanese army began to attack the Sixing warehouse. Under the command of Xie Jinyuan, the fighters condescended and tacitly cooperated, and built an insurmountable firepower network with rifles, grenades, and mortars. More than 10 Japanese charges to the warehouses were repulsed. When the attack failed, the Japanese changed their strategy and tried to take advantage of the cover of night to sneak attack the warehouse. At one point, a small group of Japanese troops successfully infiltrated through the windows on the second floor on the south side in the early morning of the 28th. But at the critical moment, Xie Jinyuan led the death squad to arrive, closed the door and beat the dogs, and eliminated all the enemies who entered the warehouse. After several encounters, the Japanese army did not take advantage of anything. On the 29th, the Japanese army transferred planes and attempted to bomb them at low flying. However, the machine gun company on the roof of the building was on high alert, aiming and firing with anti-aircraft machine guns, and the Japanese planes approached several times and were repulsed. On the 30th, the most tragic day, the Japanese attack wave after wave, and the defenders fought fiercely all day.
But at this time, Chiang Kai-shek sent another secret telegram, asking Xie Jinyuan and them to withdraw into the concession. Because Chiang Kai-shek couldn't stand the pressure anymore. The Sihang warehouse was very close to the concession, and the British and French governments were worried that the flames of war would burn to the concession, so they strongly demanded that Chiang Kai-shek ensure that "the flames of war were far away from the concession".
At 12 o'clock in the evening, Xie Jinyuan issued an order to Yang Ruifu, asking the troops to retreat to the concession on the east side of Renxi Road at 12 o'clock, and to withdraw into the public concession at 2 o'clock in the morning of the 31st, and the four-day and four-night battle to defend the Sixing warehouse was over. However, when they entered the concession, the British army, who had promised to cover Xie Jinyuan's retreat until they returned, changed their minds, confiscated the weapons of the Chinese army, and forcibly detained them in a vacant camp on Jiaozhou Road.
In this way, Xie Jinyuan and the others had no choice but to start their four-year captivity in the concession. The Japanese puppets conspired to kidnap and assassinate Xie Jinyuan many times, intending to murder Xie Jinyuan, but they did not succeed. On April 24, 1941, Xie Jinyuan led the officers and soldiers to conduct morning drills as usual. Wang pseudo-traitor Hao Dingcheng, Long Yaoliang, Zhang Wenqing, Zhang Guoshun and other 4 people, taking advantage of Xie Jinyuan's unpreparedness, suddenly took out the murder weapon, swarmed up, and stabbed Xie Jinyuan. Xie Jinyuan was seriously injured in many places, bleeding incessantly, and died tragically at the age of 36.
The venerable national hero, who did not die at the hands of the enemy, ended up at the hands of traitors. It's ironic and sad!