DECISIVE VICTORY

Grey River Argus, 1 November 1937, Page 5

DECISIVE VICTORY

IN QUICK TIME

Japan’s Latest Rush

[Aus. & N.Z. Cable Assn.]

(Received October 31, 7.30 p.m.) TIENTSIN, October 30.

The Japanese are rushing troops to North China in an effort to win a decisive victory before the Brussels Nine Power Conference.

SHANGHAI, October 29,

Kweihua, the former capital of Suiyan, is now the capital of a new autonomous State in Inner Mongolia embodying Chahara and Suiyuan, created under Japanese auspices. It will be rechristened Hohogoto. The chief executive will be Prince Yeh, who is seventy-two years of age. Japanese marines are driving the Chinese out of Guemoy Island. The new Puppet Inner Mongolian Republic is stated to be working smoothly under Japanese protection. RAIN AT SHANGHAI. FIGHTING DIES DOWN. (Received October 31, 7 p.m.) SHANGHAI, October 30. There has been furious fighting on the borders of the International settlement. It has now died down because bad weather has come on. The Chinese continue,to hold their new lines. Rain has reduced the flying to a minimum.

The Japanese, however, continue to concentrate a furious machine gun fire at the “doomed” battalion.

“SUICIDE” BATTALION

ABANDON THE WAREHOUSE.

LONDON, October 29

Heartened by a message from the commander of the Eighty-Eighth Chinese Army: “Shed your last drop of blood. I and all my comrades salute you,” the Chinese “Suicide Battalion” is still holding out with the loss of only a few men. It is stated that the Japanese do not intend to attack the warehouse, ostensibly owing to the danger to the adjacent British troops, and the risk of blowing the Chapei gasometer. The battalion’s position is almost unassailable by infantry. SHANGHAI, October 29.

The British military commander at Shanghai, Brigadier P. A. D. TelferSmollett, . and Brigadier-General Beaumont, commander of the United States troops, jointly made an unsuccessful appeal to the “Lost Battalion” in the warehouse where they are still holding out, asking them to disarm and accept sanctuary inside the Settlement, rather than throw away their lives in hopeless defence. While hundreds of spectators, including women in tears, are looking on from the Settlement, the Japanese are launching violent assaults against the “Lost Battalion” in China’s “Alcazar.” Spectators saw the Japanese storm time and time again, only to be met by showers of hand grenades, and withering machine-gun fire. The Japanese tried to dynamite the warehouse, but failed. They have now brought up three-inch artillery at point blank range, so this is most likely the “Suicide Legion’s” last day. Fresh appeals to abandon the death-post met with the answer from the Commander Colonel, Hsieh Chingyan: “We stand to the last. Only if Chiag Kaishek orders, will we leave. , . Hundreds of well-wishers are telegraphing Chiang Kaishek urging him to prevent the sacrifice of such heroic men.

JAPANESE WARNING. “FOR SUICIDE” BATTALION. SHANGHAI, October 30. “We have done our utmost to spare the lives of the warehouse defenders in a true Samurai spirit, but must now make our final assault, said a Japanese naval attache. “Our patience is exhausted.” The threat did not shake the Chinese, whose spirit has been astonishing. When their officers ordered wounded to make their way to the International Concession, they refused to leave their comrades. Thereupon officers themselves carried them to safety and handed them over to the British Red Cross. The defenders could easily escape to safety behind a British seven foot barricade.

Out of Danger THE “LOST BATTALION” LAY DOWN ARMS AT BRITISH POST. (Received October 31, 7.30 p.m.) SHANGHAI, October 30. Acting on orders from Marshal Chiang Kai-shek, who realised that their defence would not fulfil any military purpose, the remnant of the “Suicide” Battalion has abandoned the warehouse at Chapei. They left it before dawn on Saturday. The defenders ran the gauntlet of enemy ma-chine-guns and searchlights. Dribbling across twenty yards of bullet-swept road, they entered a British post, where they laid down their arms. They were warmly shaken by the hand and cheered. Thp British Commander, General Telfer-Smollett, paid a tribute to the Chinese gallantry. He superintended the taking over of four hundred rifles, eighteen machine-gun's and ammunition which they brought in. The evacuation occupied three hours, in which 377 men dashed over to safety. Six were killed. Twenty were wounded. Welsh Fusiliers assisted and gave first-aid to the wounded. The Japanese have since occupied the warehouse which the Chinese abandoned.

Japanese Shell

KILLS ULSTER RIFLEMEN.

SHANGHAI, October 29.

Three Ulster Riflemen were killed, and several were wounded by shells falling on the western sector during the new battle. Numbers of Chinese were also killed within the Settlement. The Ulstermen were killed at Jessfield Park.

British troops are placed in a dangerous position by the transfer of the

fighting to the new zone. The Ulstermen were often under fire to-day during a terrific artillery duel. The dugouts were raked by shrapnel and shaken by explosions from Chinese mines. LONDON, October 29. An eye-witness describing the deaths at Shanghai of Riflemen Howard, Mallon, and O’Toole, and the wuonding of Rifleman Delaney, Maguire, and Downey, of the Ulster Rifles, by Japanese shell fire, states that a shell burst over the- post close to the Soochow Creek, where Mallon and Howard stood.

The shrapnel struck Mallon in the back, killing him instantly. Howard was struck on the chest and died soon afterwards. Maguire may lose a leg, but Delaney is badly wounded in the thigh, and Riflemen Tomlinson has been sent to the hospital with shell shock. O’Toole, who was off duty, was killed inside a cafe, where a misdirected shell blew in the shopfront and killed two Chinese on the pavement. O’Toole’s face was so disfigured that it was not known for some time who he was.

A barmaid was wounded in the face and fled screaming from the cafe. The casualties were due to a Japanese battery three-quarters of a mile distant opening fire with the idea of shelling the Shanghai-Hang-chow railway. Fifty shells fell wide, but many fell five hundred yards within the British area, one directly on the British post, reducing it to a shambles. . The Japanese ceased shelling when apprised of the casualties.

MORE ULSTERMEN DIE. ' SHANGHAI, October 30. Two more Ulster riflemen, Delaney and McGuire, have died of their injuries. British military officials investigated the tragedy and found a shell had been fired by Japanese. Thereupon they advised the Japanese that they would be held responsible. BRITISH GAS COMPANY WARNED. SHANGHAI, October 30. The Japanese have informed Shanghai Gas Company, which is owned by British interests, that they intend to blow up the “doomed” battalion in the warehouse, which is three hundred yards away from the works. If the gasometer explodes, it will wreck a quarter of the city. JAPANESE REGRETS. SHANGHAI, October 30. The Japanese representatives called on the British Consul-General and expressed regret at the casualties among British soldiers, but they did not admit the responsibility.

JAPANESE COMMANDER.

COMPLAINS AGAINST BRITISH.

SHANGHAI, October 31. , It is confirmed that Admiral Hasegawa has sent a letter to the British Commander, Little, with reference to a Soochow Creek incident on Friday, complaining that a British soldier had touched a Japanese machine gun, thus “insulting the Imperial Japanese Navy.” Commander Little replied, courteously and firmly, emphasising that the Japanese hac. no right to proceed up Soochow Creek through a British defence sector.

Japanese Movement

FOR BREACH WITH BRITAIN.

PRO-CHINESE POLICY ALLEGED

TOKTO, October 30. The “Council on Current Affairs,” which is an unofficial body, consisting of industrialists and members of the Lower House, has passed a resolution appealing for a national movement to sever Japanese diplomatic relations with Britain. The Council, in a manifesto, accuses Britain of failing to observe neutrality, and o ,: openly pursuing an arrogant and insulting attitude to Japan, and also of consistently assisting China and inspiring the Brussels Nine Power Conference. The Council’s movement is seeking to make articulate an undercurrent of hostility which recently has been apparent. ~ ™ TOKIO, October 29.

Asked whether Japan supported Mussolini’s demand for the German colonies, the Foreign Office Spokesman said the question was to big for him to deal with. Australian Labour Boycott MELBOURNE, October 30. Yielding to the representations made by various trade and labour councils, the Inter-State Executive of the Australasian Council of Trade Unions has decided to institute a boycott against the purchase of Japanese goods because of the attack by Japan on China. It is probable that the boycott will have a far-reaching effect among Australian unions, as members of the Waterside Workers Federation in the various ports might now refuse to handle Japanese goods.

boycott only on goods. (Received October 31, 6.30 p.m-) u SYDNEY, October 31. The Council of Trades Unions hastens to declare that any direct action by labour bodies against Japanese ships is not contemplated. It says trades unionists’ families will be ask ed to refrain from purchasing Japanese goods.