Broadway Mansions
From 25 May 1949, during the Chinese Civil War, one of the few significant battles in Shanghai was, what foreign residents called, "The Battle of Broadway Mansions", where for two days there was fierce fighting in the vicinity of the Broadway Mansions between the forces of the Kuomintang and the People's Liberation Army. From 30 April 1949 retreating Nationalist soldiers took possession of the Broadway Mansions, the nearby Central Post Office and the Embankment apartment complex. One hundred regulars from the army of the Republic of China commanded by a major, occupied the Broadway Mansions, as part of the Kuomintang's defense of Shanghai against the invading People's Liberation Army. Eventually, just over one thousand Nationalists defended the Broadway Mansions, where they had entrenched themselves on the upper floors, where they could shoot from the windows and from the roof. From the roof of Broadway Mansions, just above the Foreign Press Club, the Kuomintang snipers could rake the approaches to the Waibaidu Bridge by the advancing Communist forces. There about two hundred foreigners trapped within the Mansions during the battle, who were terrified for their safety. Peter Townsend recalls: "When you go out on the parapet of Broadway Mansions a bullet whistles above your head and you duck and crawl back on your hands and knees."