Evening star., 1937-11-02
DEATH BATTALION
RECEIVES TRIBUTE
Nine. Chang Halls Valiant
Stand of Soldiers in
Japanese Path.
BY NINE. CHANG KAI-SHEX,

NANKING, Nov. 2-As write,
there is spread out on my desk mes
sage which will be one of the most
important documents of Chinese his
tory. 1t is from those inspiring de-
tenders of the Chapel warehouse
whom we have named the Death
Battalion" 1t is the message which
the valiant Col Hsieh Chang Yuan
had dispatched to Generalissimo
Kai-shek during the defense. 1t
reads:
Unless fate pleases otherwise we
shall not have the honor OF seeing
your excellency again, but on behalf
of myself and my men, I ask you to
tell the people of China that we today
are the happiest men in all China
for to us has been given the honor
and privilege of showing the enemy
the real Chinese spirit toward their
invasion of our beloved. country. We
would ask your excellency to convey
to the commander-in -in-chief of the
British forces in the international
settlement our deepest appreciation
of their help and inspiration in our
ordeal. We feel sure that were the
British forces in our place they would
as willingly die for their country. For
our generalissimo's and your excel
lency's cause We humbly offer our
lives"
Save Lives and Honor.
am only too thankful that these
brave men were enabled to prove their
valor and live through their ordeal
due to the Intervention of my hus-
band, who was unwilling to waste the
lives of such devoted men.
From participant of this battle
I am able to reveal this first-hand
account of this historic incident:
Last Thursday, some 500 of us
were isolated from the main body of
the Chinese troops retiring from
Shanghai We were in the vicinity
Of the Chapel warehouse which was
used previously as depot for am
munition and stores. We decided to
Withstand the advance of the Jap
anese. We quickly entered the ware
house and began construction of bar
ricades with loopholes for the ma
| chine guns. Quickly Col Hsieh
Ching Yuan distributed us around
the various posts.
"In the early hours of Thursday
morning We observed the first Japanese
soldiers cautiously advancing up the
street toward us. We opened up fire
on them with our machine gun rifles.
After pause, succession of Japanese
infantry was hurled against us. We
were constantly harassed during the
day and night by Japanese snipers
Our own casualties were small until
they opened their heavy artillery on
us. We received occasional reinforce
ments of Chinese soldiers who man.
aged to reach us and enter the ware
house alive
Forced to Crawl.
"The atmosphere was sitting owing
to the dust and gas from the bursting
shells and also the fumes of cordite
| from our own firing. Finally we were
unable to stand up and forced to crawl
on all fours from the place as a
steady rain of bullets entered the
windows and the holes torn in the
walls by shrapnell.
Our casualties were heavy from
| ricochet bullets and from the direct
| hits OF the enemy. There was .
tragic lack of medical supplies for
our wounded.
We were grateful for the co-opera-
ffpr nf the british u,ko Aid
| their utmost to relieve our suffering,
dispatching food and bandages to us
at grave risk of their lives Through
| Friday and Saturday the firing be-
came intense and the shelling was so
great that the heavy walls of the
warehouse were threatening to COL
| lapse. Fortunately the Japanese gum
merry was faulty. probably due to the
constant fire from our machine guns
| on crews working trench mortars and
light field guns.
"On Saturday morning, incendiary
shells commenced bursting around us.
The position rapidly became untsn-
able owing to the heat, fumes and
| scorching flames. We were obliged
| to evacuate part OF the building, which
caused blind spot in our defenses
Thirst also. proved serious problem.
On Saturday afternoon a message was
received from the generalissimo
| ordering us to evacuate the ware
house and proceed to the Interna-
tional Settlement. This was impos-
| sible during the daylight. We de-
cided to retire by nightfall Search
lights from the Japanese lines made
this difficult and they attacked us
more fiercely under the cover of a
heavy barrage. Midnight brought a
slight lull and the evacuation COM
menced while the remainder Of the
defenders covered their retreating
compatriots.
Copyright. 1879