[32] Chinese defenders continued developing defenses by sealing the warehouse's doors, windows and entry points, as well as constructing makeshift dummy positions on the perimeter to draw Japanese fire and waste ammunition.

[44] At one point during the battle, foreign correspondents witnessed a group of Japanese soldiers slowly approaching the warehouse through the rubble, taking 50 minutes to cover 50 yards.

However, the Chinese defenders, who had been watching the Japanese approach from hidden vantage points the entire time, rained hand grenades down on the group the moment they were close enough.

[53] The Chinese retaliated with machine gun fire of their own and showered hand grenades onto Japanese soldiers attempting to approach the warehouse, which was reported on by the English newspaper North China Daily News.

[56] The combat was witnessed by thousands of Chinese and foreigners who had gathered across the Suzhou Creek, who relayed enemy assembly locations and operations to the defenders using large blackboards.

[58] As the fighting continued, the crowds watching the battle across the Creek were forced to relocate to the rooftops of nearby buildings after machine gun bullets began to land in the Settlement.

[38] By the evening of October 28, Chinese civilians inside the Settlement had organized a large collection of food, clothing, medicine and other supplies via the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce.

[61] The defenders were also facing a problem in the growing number of wounded soldiers, who were unable to receive adequate medical treatment whilst stranded in the warehouse.

As word spread about the fighting near Sihang Warehouse, international newspapers began to report on the battalion's defense, including the New York Times, The Guardian, and the Sydney Morning Herald.

As the combat around Sihang Warehouse had been unfolding, Chinese girl guide Yang Huimin had been watching the fighting from a British bunker near the Lese Bridge.

Instead, he asked someone to write down around the eight hundred names from the original roster of the 524th Regiment, imitating Yang Ruifu's earlier decision to conceal their true strength.

[72] American reporter Keane Arundel who witnessed the event compared the situation to the Alamo, and described the scene as "a symbol of China's heroic resolution to accept annihilation than Japanese conquest.

One Chinese observer, a 31-year old Shanghai City Government employee, was mistaken for a Japanese spy because of his Manchurian accent and lynched by a mob before authorities could rescue him.

[72] The Japanese, angered by the display, began harassing the defenders by shooting from the Bank of Communications building, and also reportedly sent several aircraft to attack the flag.

The Japanese intensified their efforts to captured the warehouse, peppering the building with bullets and rifle-grenade fire while reinforcing their machine gun positions on North Suzhou Road.

Groups of Japanese soldiers then tried to scale the warehouse's walls to the second floor with ladders, but Chinese defenders pushed them over and returned fire with rifles and machine guns.

[49] Historian Stephen Robinson argues that account's accuracy was plausible, noting that the Chinese had used suicide attacks many times before during the Battle of Shanghai, such as the case of a soldier in the 36th Division destroying a Japanese tank with an explosive belt, killing himself in the process.

[82] At around 3 p.m., two Japanese pinnaces carrying some 30 marines attempted to flank the warehouse from the river, but were stopped by a makeshift boom fashioned out of Chinese junks at the Zhejiang(North Chekiang) Road Bridge.

Ricocheting shells and shrapnel caused a number of casualties among the defenders, with the warehouse walls inside showing signs of an imminent collapse under the Japanese artillery.

Major Harrison of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers declared that he had "offered to allow them sanctuary in the settlement provided that they laid down their arms," and stated "they replied that they preferred to die."

By October 30, Chiang had decided that the 1st Battalion was "too valuable to spare," and because he considered the objectives of the defenders fulfilled, formally authorized a withdrawal through the 88th Division chief-of-staff officer Zhang Boting.

Because the Japanese were firing towards the south, several shells missed and landed into the Settlement, one hitting the North-China Daily News building and injuring three Chinese civilians.

[97] Similarly, Zhang Boting and Major Shangguan Zhibiao claimed the British had assisted in eliminating one of the four Japanese machine guns near the North Railway Station.

[98] Stephen Robinson claims that British soldiers probably did open fire, citing their obvious sympathies with the Chinese defenders and their anger over the deaths of four Royal Ulster Riflemen killed by Japanese shelling two days prior.

Platoon commander Yang Yangzheng attacked the column with a machine gun, but was wounded when the tank fired a shell at him, destroying his left eye with shrapnel.

[103] The American Consul General at Shanghai reported some 300 Chinese survivors had crossed to the British lines and laid down their arms and that several buildings in the downtown district were hit by Japanese shells during the fighting.

On October 31 at 0115 hours the Imperial Japanese Navy confirmed sightings of Chinese troops evacuating into the International Settlement and began to bombard the warehouse with artillery fire from the Shanghai SNLF's 8th and 9th Companies thirty minutes later.

[11] 88th Division commander Sun Yuanliang who was not present during the battle stated that "enemy corpses in the vicinity of Sihang Warehouse totaled over two hundred approximately.

[33] The November 2 edition of the West Australian newspaper, using mail received from employees on leave in Shanghai, also reported the Japanese attackers had suffered heavy losses attempting to capture the warehouse, primarily from rifles, machine guns, grenades and mortars.

[8][9][10][Note 1] Chiang Kai-shek promoted every defender by a rank and awarded Xie Jinyuan and Yang Ruifu the Order of Blue Sky and White Sun.