JAPANESE ATTACK AT SHANGHAI

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22196, 13 September 1937, Page 9

JAPANESE ATTACK AT SHANGHAI

REPORTED CAPTURE OF YANCHING SUPREME WAR COUNCIL AT NANKING (Received September 12, 11 p.m.) LONDON, September 11. The Domei News Agency states that a Supreme War Council, with General Chiang Kai-shek as dictator, has been formed in Nanking as a resutt of a joint decision by the Central Political Council and the Central Standing Committee. The Japanese claim that they have captured Machang and that the Chinese are retreating southwards in confusion. Apart from the fact that the Eighth Route Army has not yet been encountered in force, the defeated Chinese habitually become bandits, for which reason the Japanese victory may leave the rear seething with guerrilla bands, .which it would be tedious to exterminate. The Chinese fiercely attacked Japanese blue-jackets at Shanghai: Using tanks, the Japanese captured Yanching, in the Woosung sector. They are now entrenching themselves, and the Chinese are preparing to counter-attack. The Japanese attempted in an air j raid to blow up the historic Langhua pagoda, built in the year 250 A.D. They failed, and succeeded only in shaking down 500 Buddhas inside from their niches. The bombs, however, destroyed 40 neighbouring houses. The Japanese allege that the Chinese are using germ warfare, which a Chinese spokesman denies. Cholera has broken out in the Japanese garrison at Paoshan, where 300 cases are reported. Twenty are dead and 80 dying. An eerie feature of the conflict is the nocturnal evacuation of Chinese wounded. Secrecy of movement has been made necessary by the Japanese bombing of Red Cross lorries. A skeleton line of unlighted trucks moves to safety each night, with boy scouts acting as drivers and escorts.

BOMBING OF RAILWAY STATION CIVILIAN CASUALTIES INCREASED U'UESSi ASSOCIATION TEUCO RAM.) WELLINGTON, September 11. The Chinese Consul has received the following cablegram from Nanking;— “The number of civilian casualties far beyond the fighting front has increased considerably as a result of the Japanese bombing Sunkiang, 25 miles from Shanghai. “Raining bombs on the Sunkiang station, the raiders wrecked five passenger coaches full of refugees from Shanghai. The station office, water lower, overhead bridge, and a section of track were also destroyed. “More than 300, mostly women and children, were killed outright, and 400 injured, of whom 50 later succumbed. Littered with mutilated bodies and debris, the station presented a ghastly scene. An emergency corps was occupied with the task of attending to the wounded and extricating bodies from the debris. “Two Japanese aeroplanes were brought down in the vicinity of Swatow yesterday, and another was damaged by Chinese anti-aircraft guns.”