FIGHTING IN CHINA

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23691, 24 December 1938, Page 4

FIGHTING IN CHINA

WATCHED BY "ROBIN HYDE" LOANED A CHINESE UNIFORM TWO DAYS ON JAPANESE TRAIN (From Our Own Correspondent) (By Air Mail; LONDON, Nov. 24. A lame New Zealand woman journalist who-borrowed a donkey from a Chinese peasant, and. dressed in the uniform of a Chinese soldier, saw front-line fighting in the Pihsien district, and who later was forced to travel as an involuntary guest for two days and nights on a Japanese troop train before being taken to a British Consulate, has arrived in London. She is Miss Iris Wilkinson, well known in the Dominion as " Robin Hyde." authoress and poet. To enter the fighting zone, Miss Wilkinson was given a passport from General Chiang Kai-shek. It was the only one he had ever issued to a foreign woman. It allowed her to eo into " Hsuchow and other areas," deep in the Chinese interior, where few European journalists had penetrated Miss Wilkinson travelled alone on a Chinese troop train to Hsuchow. which she entered accompanied by a Chinese girl and two soldiers who could speak no English. BOMBED Bv troop train and lorry, she reached Pihsien. The lorry was bombed twice, and Miss Wilkinson scrambled with the. soldiers into green wheatfields. which made excellent camouflage. At Pihsien the lorry could go no further, but with the aid of. a stout walking stick and a Chinese soldier who could speak some English, she walked on through villages towards the front line. The soldier took her to Major-general Chien Yi Chich. who loaned her a uniform, and gave her lessons in winding puttees. He also found a peasant to lend her a donkey, and from his headquarters Miss Wilkinson set out on a two-mile ride to the Naishan Mountain. Below her she could see the Chinese trenches and, further away, the Japanese line fringing three villages. The area had recently been recaptured from the Japanese, and 10,000 Chinese had been killed. She spent some time talking with the Chinese in their dug-outs before riding back to headquarters again on the donkey. The next day she was commanded to see General Kwang Lin Tseng, a great honour. He presented her with a sword captured from a Japanese officer. SOLDIERS' RATIONS Miss Wilkinson stayed in the camp for a week, living on soldiers' rations. On the way back to Hsuchow the lorry was bombed again and she christened her uniform in the slimy mud of a bomb crater when scrambling for cover. Back in Hsuchow, she stayed at the American Mission Hospital, helping as best she could 70-year-old Dr Nettie Grier, who had been deserted by all her assistants. Warning leaflets were dropped by Japanese bombers that the town was to be taken. Shortly afterwards they broke through the Chinese lines to the east and north-west. The only way to leave Hsuchow was on foot, but being lame, Miss Wilkinson decided that this was impossible for her. She remained in the hospital, and through the cracks in its gate, watched the Japanese enter the town. First came cavalry, followed by tanks, more cavalry, then the infantry. Later came 2000 wounded. There were four observation balloons, and motor vehicles of every description. Miss Wilkinson had to burn her uniform; the donkey had already been returned to the 'peasant. For several days she remained, in the captured town, not being allowed to send a word to her friends in Hankow. LONG TREK BEGUN Eventually, with her small store of money dwindling to the equivalent of £2, she set out to walk to Hankow, 300 miles away, along the railway line. A few hours after beginning this laborious trek a panic-stricken coolie pushed her accidentally over a bank. She fell into a .thick bush of thorns. One pierced her left eye and damaged it so badly that sight was almost lost. For days she could not see properly. Three days later, when 30 miles from Hsuchow, Japanese stopped her in the belief that she was a spy. Fortunately, she carried no weapons, or she would have been shot. She was told that if she had been a Chinese woman she would have been placed against a wall. Forced to leave the railway track. Miss Wilkinson wandered on in banditinfested country. The only Chinese phrases she could speak with firmness were, "Give me water," and "I'm not afraid of you," the latter for the benefit of the Japanese. Neither were of use when villagers surrounded her, robbed her of all her possessions, including her hat. sun glasses, stick, and purse. They disappeared, but returned later, evidently having been influenced by Chiang Kaishek's passport, arid returned all they had taken except a few dollars. BACK TO HSUCHOW Eventually wandering back to the railway, partially blinded, the New Zealand girl was placed on a Japanese 'troop train and taken back to Hsuchow five days after leaving it. It was one of .the. worst moments oIE her life to realise that after all her hardships she was no nearer a British Consul. For a fortnight she remained in Hsuchow to regain her strength and the sight of the eye. Then she set out to walk along the railway line in the opposite direction. Miss Wilkinson limped for 45 miles along the track. Again she was stopped by Japanese. She was im terrogated, and an officer placed her in charge of an N.C.O. and put her on a troop train going to Tsingtao IRON TRUCK SHARED For two days and nights she shared an iron truck with 14 Japanese soldiers At every stop she was taken to the local headquarters and questioned in the belief that she migh* b» a spy. Finally, at Tsingtao. after being detained for 24 hours at a military hotel, she was sent to the British Consulate. Her clothes were almost in shreds The soles of her shoes were loose ana flapping at .every step. _They were condemned to be burnt immediately by the Consul's wife. After resting, Miss Wilkinson came on to London by way of Shanghai, Hongkong, and Singapore, travelling in a Dutch liner. In spite of her experiences there, her memories of seeing 200 people burned by fire from incendiary bombb in one day and the mangled 'limbs oi wounded soldiers, she hopes to return to China for another visit. "I love the Chinese," she says " They were all so good to me." Miss Wilkinson plans to stay in Enga book on her experiences in China, and living quietly at Maidstone, a fewland for some time She is writing miles from London.