VAST FIRES IN SHANGHAI

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22818, 27 August 1937, Page 11

VAST FIRES IN SHANGHAI

HEAVY JAPANESE BOMBARDMENT FURTHER REINFORCEMENTS LANDED s. ■ " (Received August 26, 9.15 p.m.) ' SHANGHAI, August 25 Vast fires lit up Shanghai again as night fell. The position in the city to-night is that the landing of the Japanese forces is not yet completed. Marines are steadily driving back the Chinese and are especially threatening the rear in the Chapei area. Japanese'troops, under cover of a bombardment by 10 warships and 20 warplanes. landed to-day near Paoshan, North Shanghai. Japanese warships in the lower-reaches of the Whangpoo River are at present bombarding Chapei, Kiangwan and Tazang to covet the advance from Woosung, which was begun earlier in the day. > Japanese airmen heavily bombed outlying villages. A dozen new fires were started in Shanghai itself* one near the recently evacuated central hospital and another behind the British-owned skyscraper, Broadway Mansions. The Japanese bombed and set fire to the Kiangwan arsenal, South Shanghai. It is recalled that the first arsenal there was blown up by Admiral Seymour in 1900 during the Boxer rising. Japanese airmen continue to systematically bomb the Chinese positions. Many villages are on fire and the famous Mandarin gardens of Nantao are ablaze. The Chinese claim to have sunk two Japanese destroyers, but confirmation 'from neutral sources is not available. More Japanese troops landed at Chapoo, 30 miles south of Shanghai, with the object of attacking Kashing, the most important military centre of the Chekiang province. The Japanese claim to have advanced along the whole length of the Shanghai front also along the Peking-Hankow railway.