JAPANESE TROOPS NOW DOMINANT

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXV, Issue 12410, 23 August 1937, Page 3

JAPANESE TROOPS NOW DOMINANT

.- s Lost Chance a Week Too Late. Chinese Thrusts Harassing but Indecisive. Japanese Re--1 suroe Aerial Bombardment at Shanghai.

fierce aerial battle

Washington, Aug. 20 onii-aircraft shell of unknown An a Hod on the deck of the oris* ll la ”J ates flagship Augusta, United Shanghai, killing one *b><* f HinK eighteen men. and W °H«t S Roosevelt announced Fres iHon in the Augusta episode that iH he delegated to American offiffould be cf eg He added Uiat fn occurrence was almost InsUC h au circumstances. E state Department is refusing „S e Js a ‘.o American, goln S to C&i na - Shanghai, Aug. 21 * _ Hme elapses the chance of the Jfese ol dislodging the Japanese Cb Shanghai decreases. Ohservfro” e S Sf the opinion that they have week ?00-late. The Chin--1 tbmsts are harassing but indee?6, o and the systematic bombing C f 3 the railway lines by the Japan.t'wnSrs it. arrival of Chinese "Ji'Cm* land troops freely , the Japanese wharves on the ffbangpoo River, in order to pursue jipr infliß objective. AUneether 20,000 Japanese troops have arrived at Tientsin from Takn, L no rt of that city. h An air base has been established on Tsungming Island, in the Yangestuary, thus increasing the already marked Japanese aerial supenT be Japanese resumed their aeiial bombardment of the Chinese positions near the Shanghai North railway station and of the Chinese artillery forts at Pootung. j Tbe Japanese also have occupied j the heights west of Liang-siang, : south-west of Peking, after an engagement lasting .for three days. The Chinese claim to have repulsed several Japanese attacks on the Nanfcow front, north-west of Peking. Four Japanese aeroplanes were shot j down when raiding Nanking. j At Shanghai new and larger fires, with a front at least of a mile, have j broken out north-west of the Hong- j kew police station, north of the Bata e Shoe Company’s property and behind | Astpr House. Fires in the eastern j commercial district are uncontrol- ! [able and the area north of Soochow i Creek Is an Inferno. ... ’ It has Been ascertained that the' j Anglo-American Oil Company’s installations at Goffe Island were not set alight. The outbreak was at the British-owned Asiatic Petroleum Company’s depot at Yangtse-poo. 3

continue with determinate results. A representative of the British. United Press says it is estimated that the damage by fire to British property in Shanghai is £30,000,000. ■ A number of employees, including a director, fought a lire all night at the warehouses of Mackenzie and Company and succeeded in controlling the flames. Only one building was destroyed. • In the meantime artillery air duels continue wit .hindetermiriate results. The Chinese occupied a dock belonging to a British engineering works and opened fire on Japanese positionswhereupon the Japanese sought permission from the British Consul-Gen-eral to attack them. Officials of the Soviet Consulate’ complain that Japanese arrested andheat Chinese servants when they attempted to enter the Consulate last Tuesday.

Shanghai, Aug. 21. Firing at pciint-blank range the Japanese cruiser Idumo bombarded the Chinese 55th Division at Pootung. In a fierce aerial battle, which lasted all day, over the Soochow area, the Japanese intercepted a Chinese air squadron destined for Shanghai. So far 12,800 foreign refugees have been evacuated from Shanghai. A message from Hongkong says 884 women and 423 children nave arrived, there. They are full of admiration for the way in which the British sailors are handling, the evacuation.