FRENCH v. JAPANESE

Grey River Argus, 3 August 1937, Page 5

FRENCH v. JAPANESE

CLASH AT TIENTSIN Tense Situation Develops [Aust. & N.Z. Cable Assn.l (Received August 2, 10.5 p.m.) TIENTSIN, August 2. A tense situation has been caused by a clash which occurred here on Saturday between the French and the Japanese. The French troops here are now arrayed for battle. Backed by tanks, they are facing Japanese across the International Bridge between the respective French and Japanese- Concessions. French 'officials declare that the Japanese had threatened to ute force unless their troops were allowed to go across the International Bridge into the French Concession. The French have replied that they will resist to the utmost. The French are also preparing to defend their barracks, which are adjoining a Japanese aerodrome. A clash occurred when the French resisted a Japanese attempt to disarm them, in contravention of the IBoxer Treaty of International Rights.

War Fever Grows IN JAPANESE CAPITAL. CHEAP VICTORY’ EXPECTED. lAust. & N.Z. Cable Assn.] (Received August 2, 10.5 p.m;) LONDON, August 2. The Tokio correspondent of “The Times” says: War enthusiasm is growing in Tokio. Hundreds of women in front of a Buddhist temple are completing one-thousand-stitch girdles as talismans for the soldiers. There also are cheering youths careering through the city on beflagged trucks. Sixteen hundred recationary Japanese patriots prayed for a victory in China before the Meiji shrine. War fund collectors stand on every corner, and the army and naw have already benefited largely thereby. A crop of war songs and wax films has appeared. The latter are, however, being censored if they are overjingoistic. . There is anti-profiteering legislation now under preparation. „ The newspaper “Chugai Shogyo says that North China will cost Japan less than Manchuria. Two Chinese Corps ACT WITH THE JAPANESE. (Received August 2, at 10.5 p.m.) LONDON, August 2. “The Times’s” Tokio correspondent states: Two Chinese corps are co-op-erating with the Japanese in relieving Tungchow. ’They have received General Katsuki’s thanks, and also a sum of thirteen hundred pounds sterling. CHINESE TROOIS CONCENTRATING ABOUT PAOTINGFU. TOKIO. August 1. A large body of the Chinese Central Government troops, belonging to the Thirtieth, Thirty-first, and Thirtythird Divisions, under General Sun Lien Chung, are massing in Chochow and Tienghsing, north of Paotingfu, where they are co-operating with the Twenty-ninth Army, and firing on Japanese scouting piaces. CHINESE WOUNDED NEGLECTED LONDON, August 1. The “Telegraph’s” Pekin correspondent helped to bring in wounded Chinese, lying in hundreds on the Nanyuan battlefield. They _ were ignored by local inhabitants. Every officer and man in two battalions were killed or wounded where they stood. Only a hundred of the two thousand wounded in Pekin were able to help themselves, the others having succumbed, or committed suicide. SITUATION QUIET. [Aust. & N.Z. Cable Assn.l LONDON, August 1. The situation in the Pekin and Tientsin areas is quiet, apart from sporadic bombing and shelling of districts where isolated bands of Chinese are maintaining guerilla warfare. JAPANESE MILITARY PARTY. REPORTED PLANS. LONDON, August 1. The ‘“Times’s” Shanghai correspondent says: The Japanese military party has assumed full control of the political situation, irrespective that peaceful aims towards China are favoured by industrial and financial interests. The militarists desire to create a corridor in North China to develop production sufficiently to support a military establishment close to the Russian frontier. Believing the Soviet army, owing to the purge, is at present, incapable of external violence, the militarists also plan further extension southwards into China, which realises that, if Japan is not opposed, a great section of North China will be irrecoverably lost. China’s military organisation though improved cannot match Japan’s, thus Nanking favours peace until military effectiveness is increased, but national sentiment demands war.

JAPS. IN TIENTSIN. QUEST FOR HIDDEN OPPONENTS. [Aust. & N.Z. Cable Assn.l (Received August 2, 11.45 p.m.) SHANGHAI, August 2. A message from Tientsin says that the Japanese have notified the Consuls that they intend to occupy the southern end of Tientsin, where numerous foreigners live, as they believe that hostile Chinese are sheltering there. The Japanese have also announced that they intend to bomb any area where anti-Japanese action occurs. WAR MAY EXTEND. (Received August 2, 11.45 p.m.) SHANGHAI, August 2. General Katsuki, the Japanese Commander-in-Chief, has issued a statement, declaring that it depends on the Nanking Government whether armed force shall be used further

throughout the whole of China. The Chinese troops’ movements to the northward, must cease. Tientsin Raid ON SOVIET CONSULATE. PAPERS TAKEN. (Received August 2, 11.55 p.m.) SHANGHAI, August 2. White Russians, accompanied by Japanese, are reported to have raided the Soviet Consulate, in Tientsin, and to have seized correspondence therein. - NANKING LEADER. CONSULTS STRATEGIST. / NANKING, August 2. Marshal Chiang Kai Shek is conferring with General Pai Chunchsi. one of the greatest Chinese strategists and a bitter opponent of Japan. This meeting is regarded as significant, as Marshal Chiang Kai Shek and General Pai Chunchsi were bitter personal enemies, and did not- meet for several years.