As a response to the threat posed by the advancing Guomindang army, the concession powers chose to heavily reinforce Shanghai in spring 1927 in hope of keeping their privileges even in a unified China.

1. Modern French tanks rolling through a street in the French Concession.

2. British armored cars on the outskirts of the International Settlement in Shanghai.

3. The Shanghai Volunteer Corps and auxiliaries used sandbags to construct reinforced defensive positions across he concessions.

4. Hundreds of military vessels from the concession powers moored off the Shanghai promenade, the Bund. The British cruiser HMS Hawkins was the largest of them.