CHINESE ADVANCE

Grey River Argus, 16 August 1937, Page 5

CHINESE ADVANCE

JAP. BOMBARDMENT City in an Awful Ordeal CHINESE BOMBERS DECIMATE NON-COMBATANTS. f INVADING FORCES 'OUTNUMBERED. [Aust. & N.Z. Cable Assn.l LONDON. August 13. Under cover of a heavy bombardment from the sea, Japanese troops are reported to be advancing on Shanghai, parts of which are in flames. There are fears that the modern Chinese civic centre will be demolished. The Chinese are attempting to resist the attack by lighting a rearguard action. . Several bridges have been blown up with the object of a further checking of the advance. It is also feared that the Chinese may blow up the tunnels on the railway to Shanghai, in which event transport would be crippled. There is fierce fighting along this quarter. Later developments -indicate that Japan, fearing embarassment by naving to engage in war on two fronts, has decided to negotiate with China for the neutralisation of Shangnai. Meantime the fighting continues, and the situation in Shanghai is becoming serious. British, French, and American trops are standing by. A battalion of Royal Welsh Fusiliers is Being sent from Hongkong to assist in precautionary measures at Shanghai. . , , Chiang-kai-shek’s crack eightyeighth division has taken up positions in the Kiang-wan section, and other Chinese troops are being rushed up to Shanghai. The Japanese are now hopelessly outnumbered, and must await reinforcements before attempting to advance any further, according to the latest message. The Japanese have commenced a bombardment of parts of the Chinese city of Shanghai. Several big tires have started. The fighting seems fiercest along the old Shanghai-Woo-sung railway. After occupying Hankow, the Japanese attacked the Chinese positions in the Hankow Pass, where four thousand Chinese fought a stubborn rearguard action. It is feared the Chinese may blow up the railway! tunnels, thereby crippling transport. A bombardment by a Japanese warship is gradually destroying the newly-built £1,000,000 Jukong wharf. The Chinese are dynamiting bridges in the hope of stopping the Japanese advance.

The British United Press correspondent at Shanghai says that the foreign bankers have resolved to carry on business as usual. Two additional Japanese destroyers have joined in bombarding the Chinese positions between Whang-po and Kiang-wan. Bursting shells arc visible from the Internationa] Settlement. It is feared that the modern Chinese civic centre will be demolished. Chinese troops have mustered near the Ho-nan gate and are sniping the advancing Japanese. The Tokio correspondent of “The Times” states that the developments at Shanghai compel the Japanese to contemplate warfare on two fionts. inasmuch as there are five thousand Japanese civilians and refugees in Shanghai, whose evacuation would be difficult, and whose abandonment would be impossible.The Nanking Government hopes that Japan will send an army to Shanghai to protect them, thus embarrassing herself not only by reducing her forces in North China, but by •having to face, on the Shanghai front, Marshal Chiang-kai-shek’s Ger-man-trained divisions. Japan has therefore decided to negotiate with Nanking, for a cessation of warlike precautions at Shanghai, which can be accomplished by neutralisation of Shanghai, conditionally on the withdrawal of Chinese troops. Further reports from Shanghai state that a serious situation continues there. In the international settlement precautionary defensive measures have been taken, and British, French, and American troops are standing by, while Shanghai ' volunteers have been mobilised for the protection of life and property. A Battalion of Royal Welsh Fusiliers is being sent from Hong Kong to Shanghai to assist in these precautionary stops. A message from Shanghai to-day says that Chinese infantry and artillery at 4.20 o’clock this morning launched simultaneous , attacks against the Japanese cotton mills, in North-east Shanghai and positions near the Japanese headquarters. Japanese machine-guns and trench mortars returned the fire. A Japanese communique admits that the Chinese “pressed strongly.” The battle developed in intensity as the first light of dawn appeared. The Chinese attacks were well-timed as they were launched immediately it became evident. The weather precluded Japanese aerial activity.

FRIDAY NIGHT’S FIGHTING. (Received August 157 Y. 20 P- m -> SHANGHAI, August 14. Fighting went on through the past night, in driving rain on the northern border of the International Settlement. Two British warehouses caught fire. The Japanese occupied all of the International areas north of the Soochow Creek, and they closed the bridges spanning the creek. They thus cut off a stream of refugees. During an air raid, Japanese, armed with clubs, including women, smashed the street lamps in the Hongkew district of Shanghai. British police frustrated Chinese looters. Many Chinese houses have hoisted the British and other flags, in .the hope that the flags will afford them protection. Many Chinese are offering to sell their babies at prices as low as three shillings a head to foreigners, in the hope that they will escape death. Protection is being organised for the children who have become separated from their parents. JAPS BOMBARD CHINESE FORTS. SHANGHAI, August 14. Japanese warships have heavily bombarded the Woosung forts. Fires broke out all along the Paoshan Road, where Japanese shells fell.