JAPAN’S PLEDGE

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 71, 17 December 1937, Page 11

JAPAN’S PLEDGE

Air Chief In China Recalled

BOMBING OF PAN AY,

Expected To Be Relieved

Of Post

MOTIVE FOR THE ATTACK

By Telegraph.—Press. Assn. —Copyright.

(Received December 16, 8.10 p.m.)

London, December 16.

A Shanghai message states that Rear-Admiral Neizo Mitsunami, Chief of Aerial Operations in China, has been recalled by the Japanese authorities in “accordance with their pledge to punish the officers responsible for the bombing of the United States gunboat Panay.” It is understood he will be relieved of his post.

The motive for the attack on the Panay, states a New York message, is reported to be Japanese resentment over the oil-tankers carrying petrol for the Chinese, although American sources insist that the vessels at the time were engaged solely in rescue ■work. These disclosures prompted the “New York’ Daily News,” one of the most influential ' newspapers, to counsel: "Scuttle out of China” It said: “The best thing we can do is to pull out our fighters with a view to picking our best battleground, the mid-Paciflc, if (God forbid) wo ever have to light Japan.”

A report being circulated that the United States is preparing a third Note to Japan is considered to be wholly premature.

* High Feeling In Japan.

Reports have arrived in New York of high feelings in the American colony at Shanghai in consequence of revelations by journalist eye-witnesses that the Japanese machine-gunned as well as bombed the Panay. It is noteworthy that the casualty list issued from the United States flagship Augusta specified that three United States naval ratings were wounded by bullets and not by bomb splinters. A United Press message from Shanghai states that the first eye-witnesses of the Panay incident to reach Shanghai, an American, Mr. John L. Hodge, arrived in a Japanese aeroplane from Wuhu.

“I left the Panay at 1 p.m. on Sunday,” he said, “to go to the Standard Oil tanker Meiping. While sitting on the fo’castle I heard a noise, and I said, ‘Do you hear what I hear? Those are planes.’ I went on to the bridge with Captain Jorgenson to get some glasses in order to see what was happening.

“The next thing we knew, hell was loosened. Three planes swooped past and turned and headed toward the Panay, hit it, and then hit the bridge of the Meiping.-, Four of us on the bridge crashed to the deck, and when I arose I found that my head had been gashed. I noticed- that a direct hit had set fire to the ship. The crew got out the hoses, and the captain handed me the wheel and told me to beach the ship. I tried to go to the bank on the north side, but somebody was machine-gunning us from there. I turned the ship and finally beached her on the south side. Bombed Seven Times. “The group of ships was bombed seven times. The planes could not have been more than a hundred yards above us, and could not help but see and recognise the flags.” A United Press message from .Shanghai states that another eyewitness, Jim Marshall, a writer for “Collier’s Magazine,” who was on board a rescue plane, sai'd:— “The boys on the Panay trained machine-guns on the planes and continued shooting until their ship sank. The Japanese bombed the Panay 12 times. I was being assisted to a Chinese sampan when the final moment came. I then jumped into the water and reached the shore. Hodge, another American, C. C. Vines, an employee of the British-American Tobacco Company, and I walked to Taiping and found an abandoned mission. A Japanese officer arrived and gave us food, but I was too sick to eat. A Japanese army truck took us to Wuhu. “Tell everybody that those on the Panay showed plenty of guts and fought practically until the last bullet,” Marshall said. “There were flags painted and flying everywhere on the American ships. Three planes dived within 300 feet of the river. They descended like wild geese. They used bombs, but not machine-guns. The sound of the planes diving was something I never want to hear again.”

Casualty List.

The Augusta has issued a final official list of the casualties on the gunboat Panay and the oil-tankers which were also sunk, indicating that they are less than was- anticipated. There were three deaths, including the captain of the oil-tanker Meian, four seriously injured, and 10 not seriously. The Navy Department in Washington announces that the Panay casualty list is now three dead and 14 wounded, four seriously. A message from Tokio states that a delegation of girl students, after participating in a flag procession to celebrate the fall of Nanking, visited the American Ambassador and expressed the regret felt by Japanese women over the Panay incident. It is understood that a movement is on foot to start a national subscription to give the United States a gunboat to replace the Panay.