DANGEROUS MISSION

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 73, 28 March 1932, Page 2

DANGEROUS MISSION

SHANGHAI INCIDENT

VISIT TO CHINESE LINES

How Colonel NJ W. B. B. Thorns, formerly .of the New Zealand Staff Corps, walked across the Shanghai noman's land during the recent Sino-Jap-janese trouble, to return a captured [officer, is told in a clipping from a Chinese newspaper received in New Zealand. Colonel Thorns is Commandant of the Shanghai Volunteer Defence Corpa, an international organisation, and the Chinese officer had been- captured by one of the units of his corps. [While Colonel . Thorns and his companions were visiting the Chinese lines they were under Japanese fire, and were spattered with small stones and dust raised by exploding s 1 ells. The following is the newspaper report, of the incident:— Direct liaison with the Chinese forces occupying the North Station area was established in person yesterday afternoon by Colonel Thorns, the Commandant of the Shanghai Volunteer Corps, who, with another officer and a Chinese prisoner, walked across from the Cunningham Road Gate to a barricade in tho railway" headquarters compound. Decision to make a personal call on the Chinese soldiery was arrived at by Colonel Thorns when information was [brought him concerning the capture 1 of a Chinese officer earlier in the day. This officer, a captain in the Chinese Supply Corps, was taken prisoner by a detachment of the Scottish Company of the Volunteers when he. wandered into a defence position near Elgin Road from the Chinese lines, .: ■ ■■> ■ .NO WHITE FLAG USED. Without entering into any previous negotiations, or showing a white flag, Colonel Thorns, accompanied by Major P. Haley-Bell, former Commissioner of Chinese Maritime Customs at Tientsin and Canton, and one of the.local staff officers, together . with the prisoner, walked through the Cunningham Road position of the Shanghai Volunteers and headed toward the Chinese barricade. Both of the Shanghai Volunteer officers' were in full uniform, but without arms, while Colonel Thorns wore his red staff hatband and red tabs, denoting his rank. The Chinese officer also was in the grey uniform of the Chinese Regular Army, in addition wearing a lons erev cloak. s 8 * Watched by hundreds of anxious eyes from the Settlement side, as well as by the surprised Chinese soldiers in their emplacements around the North Station, the trio slowly walked across the 200 yards of Boundary Road separating the two positions, their hands held in the air. As soon as it was apparent the officers were bound for the Chinese barricade near the North Station Compound there was a flurry among the defenders. Orders were ' shouted and rifles pointed at the small advancing group. But no shots were fired, the Chinese apparently recognising Colonel Thorns, who is well known among them, and the uniform of their comrade. MAJOR AS INTERPRETER. On reaching, the Chinese barricade Colonel Thorns, through Major HaleyBell, who speaks Chinese fluently, returned the captured captain to the Chinese forces with the compliments of the Shanghai Volunteer Corps. For 15 or 20 minutes Colonel Thorns and Major Haley-Bell engaged in amicable conversation, although no senior Chinese officer was present at the time. During the conversation, the Chinese position was under shell-fire from the battery at the Japanese Marine Headquarters, but for the moment the Chinese field pieces did not reply. Several shells landed in the near vicinity of the Station Compound, causing considerable anxiety in tho Shanghai lines for the safety of the commandant Beyond being covered with dust and showered with small stones, however the two local officers were tmtouehed. ' SATE RETURN MADE. When the conversation with the Chinese was finished, Colonel Thorns and Major Haley-Bell returned to the Cunningham Road position on the Settlement side without difficulty, but greatly relieving the minds of the watching Shanghai troops. Contrary to reports published in th© Chinese papers, there was no political significance in the visit, it was stated. The desire to return the Chinese officer to his unit, and to emphasise the Inendly relations between the two forces, were the sole motives for the unexpected call, Colonel Thorns said