In China's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, countless people with lofty ideals emerged, who sacrificed their young lives for the safety of the country and the survival of the nation. Xie Jinyuan is one of them!
Commander Xie Jinyuan led eight hundred heroes "In fact, there are only more than four hundred" heroic and lonely troops to defend the Sihang warehouse on the banks of the Suzhou River, covering the retreat of 500,000 Chinese troops, and the Battle of Shanghai, which completely shattered Japan's dream of "march death".
Following the Lugou Bridge Incident on July 7, 1937 and the war against Japan, the first large-scale Sino-Japanese battle, the "Battle of Songhu", was launched on August 13. At that time, Shanghai was a port in East Asia, and it was also the most important place in China's economic and cultural transportation, with many concessions and mixed places in China and foreign countries, so Chairman Chiang Kai-shek, commander-in-chief of the Republic of China, decided to show the international community China's determination to resist the war in Shanghai.
The main battlefield of the Battle of Songhu is only a few tens of kilometers, the Japanese army has reinforced 300,000 troops, the two sides in three months of bloody battle, more than half a million casualties, an inch of mountains and rivers and an inch of blood tragic degree, by the international media described as "flesh and blood mill."
The war lasted until the end of October, the Japanese army landed in Hangzhou Bay, and all of Greater Shanghai was surrounded by enemy fire, and the Chinese high command had achieved its strategic goal of delaying time, and decided to make a strategic shift for the sake of long-term planning. On the 26th, half a million nationalist troops were ordered to withdraw from the Shanghai battlefield. Commander Xie Jinyuan was ordered to hold the Sihang Warehouse in Zhabei to continue the battle, taking on the arduous task of covering the retreat of the large army.
Xie Jinyuan, a native of Jiaoling County, Guangdong Province, and a student of the fourth phase of the Huangpu Military Academy, was ordered to lead his troops to guard the north bank of the Suzhou River, and selected the Sihang Warehouse as a stronghold, fought on a single line, and led more than 400 officers and men to swear to die. Sihang Warehouse is actually a joint warehouse of four banks such as Jincheng, Yanye, Zhongnan and Mainland, located on the north bank of the Suzhou River, the warehouse building is six stories high, the building is strong, and it is a relatively strong building in Zhabei.
In the early morning of October 27, the Japanese army found that our army was completely retreating and immediately followed up in pursuit. When the Japanese army was searching forward in Zhabei, it was unexpectedly swept away by the rain of bullets on the roof of the four-line warehouse, and the Japanese army was turned over on their horses for a while, and the chaos was chaotic, at this time the Japanese army did not know where the bullet rain came from. Later, it was found that there were nationalist troops left in the Sihang warehouse, so the warehouse was attacked on three sides, and the two sides charged and fought hand-to-hand, and the battle was fierce. Under the personal leadership of The Commander of the Regiment of Xie Jinyuan, he deployed a battle outside the Sihang Warehouse to meet the battle, annihilated the Japanese army, and killed countless enemies.
For a time, the enemy troops in all parts of the north of the gate concentrated on the Sihang warehouse, and more than 20 Japanese troops were preparing to blow up the wall with explosives under the sihang warehouse. At this time, a soldier watching from the sixth floor saw it, immediately tied his whole body with grenades, and suddenly jumped from the platform on the sixth floor to the enemy, a large bomb fell from the sky and exploded, and in the smoke and smoke flew, more than twenty enemy soldiers turned into mud and meat sauce, and our brave soldiers were also bloody and bloody, loyal and martyred. When the people on the other side saw this scene, on the one hand, they applauded and applauded, but they also wept bitterly for this heroic man.
Yang Huimin, a Girl Scout in Shanghai, saw that the Japanese flags on the other side of the bank were all over the suzhou river, and the roof of the Dusihang warehouse had not been erected with the national flag, so she was determined to send the Qingtian White Sun Flag to the Sihang warehouse. On the twenty-ninth day, before dawn broke, Xie Jinyuan, the leader of the regiment, led his subordinate to the Solemn Heavenly Terrace to raise the flag, and the citizens of Shanghai, in a sea of smoke and fire, competed to see the huge blue sky and white sky flag, waving in the wind, all of them wept with joy and felt very excited. On the same day, the afternoon evening newspapers of major cities around the world reported the details of the four-line lone army struggle and the girl scout Yang Huimin, on behalf of all the citizens, ventured into the warehouse to present the flag to the lone army.
Since the flag was hoisted on the roof of the Sihang warehouse, the people of the whole country have been excited and sensationalized the world. Seeing that global public opinion praised the Nationalist army, the Japanese army was extremely indignant, so it made a serious threat to the public concession, demanding that all the defenders of Xie Jinyuan's army surrender, or withdraw into the concession to surrender their weapons. On the one hand, it launched a fierce attack on the Sihang Warehouse, from morning to night, four consecutive attacks, but all of them were repelled by the Nationalist army, and the enemy suffered heavy casualties.
On October 30, the enemy attacked again, firing heavily at the Sihang warehouse with small steel cannons and machine guns. There were also several enemy planes assisting in the battle over the air. The nationalist army calmly responded to the battle and annihilated them one by one. Major General, commander of the British army in the Shanghai Public Concession, was deeply touched by seeing our army fighting bravely; in addition to purchasing grain for the eight hundred brave men to fill their hunger, he also personally went into the Sihang warehouse to meet Xie Jinyuan and suggested that the Nationalist troops withdraw from the concession, and the British consul in Shanghai was willing to give assistance, but Xie Jinyuan replied: "Our soldiers regard obeying orders as their duty, and even if they withdraw, they must also have the orders of chairman Chiang Kai-shek, otherwise we would rather die in battle."
Subsequently, through diplomatic relations, the envoys of various countries formally submitted a note requesting our Government to order the withdrawal of the defenders so as to prevent heavy artillery from the Japanese army from shooting into the public concession and endangering the overseas Chinese of all countries. Chairman Chiang Kai-shek thought twice, and with eight hundred strong men having completed the task of covering the retreat of the main force of the Nationalist army, decided to order the warehouse defenders to withdraw and transfer into the concession, and the defenders of the four-line warehouse had to obey the order and withdraw with tears.
In the early morning of the thirty-first day, Xie Jinyuan led his troops to break through the siege with death, the Japanese army fired on land and water, eight hundred brave men fought and walked, the British commander received at the bridgehead, tens of thousands of citizens crossed the shore to support, the mood boiled, fortunately, The commander of the Xie regiment calmly responded, and quickly rushed over the bridgehead in the dense artillery fire, although there were casualties, but there were still more than 370 people who arrived safely in the British concession. The defenders successfully held the Sihang warehouse and completed the task of covering the retreat of half a million nationalist troops.
On April 24, 1941, Xie Jinyuan was suddenly stabbed by four traitors with knives in the Shanghai Concession barracks, and fell to the ground and was martyred on the spot. A generation of national heroes passed away, but the glorious battle record of him and eight hundred heroes who died in the Sihang Warehouse shocked China and foreign countries and made his name immortal.