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▲ From Jin Yuan Memorial Square to the Sihang Warehouse Anti-Japanese War Memorial Hall.


▲ The exhibition hall recreates the scene of letter writing during the 1937 Battle of Sihang Warehouse, displaying 21 original family letters from officers and soldiers including Xie Jinyuan and Yang Ruifu, five of which are precious cultural relics. The handwriting on the yellowed paper vividly conveys the wartime reality of "three months of continuous warfare make a letter from home as valuable as gold."

▲ The name explanation of Sihang Warehouse.


▲ On October 30 at around 11 AM, Japanese forces violated international conventions by launching poison gas attacks on the warehouse, causing many defenders to exhibit poisoning symptoms. Tang Pinxin stepped up during the crisis, providing emergency treatment that saved most victims from critical condition, becoming a key figure in maintaining combat effectiveness during the battle. During the four-day intense combat, he led the medical team in continuously treating gunshot wounds, blast injuries, and burns, ensuring a high survival rate among the wounded. His heroic deeds are now recreated in the "Wounded Rescue" exhibit at the Shanghai Sihang Warehouse Battle Memorial.

▲ During the defense of Sihang Warehouse, two massive gas storage tanks of the British Commercial Gas Company stood on the south bank of Suzhou Creek (located on the southern shore), with a straight-line distance of only about 50 meters from the warehouse. Fearing that errant shells might hit the gas tanks and trigger chain explosions affecting the south bank, Japanese forces were forced to abandon heavy artillery and aerial bombardment, resorting only to infantry assaults from the west and north—significantly limiting their firepower advantage. These gas tanks were facilities of the 19th-century British Commercial Gas Company in Shanghai (formerly the "Shanghai Gas Company"), making Shanghai the first city in Asia to use gas. Though built by colonial powers, they inadvertently became a "natural shield" for the defenders—the Japanese command explicitly prohibited firing toward the gas tanks to avoid international disputes.


▲ Introduction to the west wall of Sihang Warehouse.

▲ Sihang Warehouse Anti-Japanese War Memorial Site inscription.

▲ Children stopped in front of the oil painting depicting the defense of Sihang Warehouse amidst the smoke of battle.

▲ The defenders at Sihang Warehouse stubbornly resisted on the second floor by leveraging the building's structure and tactical deployment. Their core defensive strategies were as follows: 1. Cross-configured firing points - Fortified windows and doors: Half of the second-floor windows and doors were barricaded, leaving shooting ports to create "semi-bunkered" fortifications that concealed soldiers while maintaining fire coverage. - Suppression from elevated positions: Machine gunners were positioned on the rooftop to fire downward, coordinating with second-floor firepower to create a three-dimensional crossfire network that suppressed climbing Japanese troops. - Grenade deployment: Against dense Japanese charges, defenders concentrated grenade throws from windows to disrupt enemy offensives (e.g., over 70 Japanese soldiers were killed in the southwest corner explosion). 2. Spatial constraints and countermeasures - Holding narrow choke points: Heavy forces were deployed at stairwells and corridors, using sandbag barricades for close-quarters combat to block enemy breakthroughs.

▲ The footage hastily shot on the battlefield became invaluable material for reconstructing the war situation; visitors stopped to watch.

▲ German-style helmets! Why did the Nationalist Army wear German-style helmets.

▲ Sihang Warehouse Anti-Japanese War Memorial exit.