ENCIRCLING MOVE

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 110, 5 November 1937, Page 10

ENCIRCLING MOVE

JAPANESE AT SHANGHAI

42 WARSHIPS IN THE RIVER

CHINESE LINES HAMMERED

(United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright.) (Received November 5, 1.50 p.m.) SHANGHAI, November 4. Forty-two warships, including, foui aircraft-carriers —the largest naval squadron that has been seen here since the start of hostilities—are concen« trated in the Whangpoo River, foreshadowing an attempt by the Japanese to land troops at Pootung, opposite the International Settlement, in an endeavour to encircle the city. Bombing planes and* artillery, as a preliminary, are hammering the Chinese lines on the western outskirts of Shanghai, and others are bombing and machine-gunning th* Pootung positions. Forty planes are systematically bombing the western garden suburb adjacent to Soochow Creek. The Japanese claim to have occupied four to six miles of the south bank of Soochow-Creek to a depth of half a mile, and low banks expose the troop* to a heavy Chinese fire.

POWERS' MEDIATION

DUTY FOR SUB-COMMITTEE

MR. JORDAN DENOUNCES

BOMBINGS

(Received November 5,. 2.5 p.m.)

BRUSSELS, November 4,

Although it was intended to resum* this evening the sitting of the NinePower Conference, it was deferre<l until tomorrow, when the appointment of a sub-committee will be considered. The sub-committee will be charged with the tasks of replying to Japan's earlier refusal to participate and of offering the good auspices of the conference both to China and' Japan in a mediatory capacity.

The New Zealand representative, Mr. W. J. Jordan, in a vigorous speech today about the needless war' in the Far East, denounced the bombing' of women and children. • ■