Led by Colonel Xie Jinyuan, the Heroes holed themselves up in a warehouse with the simple aim of holding off the advancing army as long as possible. Thanks to conditions on the ground, Jinyuan could only recruit 450 men and had to publicly inflate the number to 800 to try to deter the enemy. Not that this helped. On October 27, 1937, the Imperial Army flooded into Shanghai, bringing with them tanks, rockets, and heavy artillery. The so-called 800 Heroes managed to hold them off for four whole days.

Nearly all of the Heroes died when the Japanese finally overran the warehouse. But while they defended it, 500,000 Chinese soldiers and civilians escaped the city.