SHELLS IN CHINA

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20164, 6 February 1940, Page 7

SHELLS IN CHINA

PERIL TO U.S. GUNBOAT JAPANESE ACCUSATION RAIDING OF RAILWAY INJURY "UNFORTUNATE” (Klee. Tel. Copyright—United Press Assn.) (Reed. Feb. 6, 11 a.m.) LONDON, Feb. 5. A report from Shanghai says that the Japanese Army spokesman said that Chinese artillery endangered the United States gunboat Luzon carrying the American Ambassador, Mr. Nelson T. Johnson, and Admiral William Glassford near Nanking when firing on a Japanese transport 500 yards from the Luzon, shrapnel falling around both craft. According to a New York message the Shanghai correspondent of the Associated Press of America states that Mr. Johnson said the shells were fired at the transport and not. at the Luzon. The firing was light and probably came from a single gun. According to Kunming dispatches, 27 Japanese bombers participated in a further raid on the Hanoi-Kunming railway on Saturday and stopped communication with additional sections of the line. The bombs were chiefly dropped on Kaiyuan yards, 100 miles from the French Indo-Cbina border.

The Japanese state that the raids will continue as long as the French permit the conveyance of military supplies to the Chinese.

The Japanese Foreign Office spokesman said that the Japanese bombing of the Hanoi-Kunming railway was a military necessity. If non-combatants were wounded, it was quite unfortunate.