SHANGHAI BOMBARDMENT

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17739, 28 March 1932, Page 6

SHANGHAI BOMBARDMENT

BRITISH SHIP BETWEEN TWO FIRES ARRIVAL OF HIGHLANDERS SHANGHAI, Eeh. 5. There was a moment of desperate 'anxiety in Shanghai to-day when a | British ship was seen to he caught beI tween two fires. : She was the Feugtien, owned by the I China Navigation Company of London, j ami was bringing 33 time-expired ■soldiers, discharged from English regiII molds at Tientsin, to Shanghai for I trans-shipment to a home-going boat. Shells fell all round her as, flying the . Union .lack, she plunged with racing •screws through the choppy Whangpoo River in an atlemi.it to escape, from the double line of fire. Her peril came about in 1 his way. [ The Japanese authorities notified the International .Settlement leaders this . morning that, they would shpvtly bombard the Chinese' forts at YVoosung, which guard northern Shanghai. The bombardment duly began, the Japanese 15th Cruiser Squadron steaming up and down the river and firing broadside after broadside into the forts as if they were an immense Aunt Sally. The rain of shells must have piqued the Chinese, for they began to fire back. 1 Soon the broad river was alive with bursting shells. ft was at this moment that the British ship got into danger. One of her officers, and Englishman, told the story when he came ashore later. “We were approaching Shanghai,” he said, “and could hear gunfire further along the river. “Suddenly .three Japanese destroyers clashed clown the river at about thirty knots, throwing up huge bow waves. “As they passed they wore, exchanging shots with the Chinese forts. “One of the destroyers sent a round right across our bows. “Answering shells from the Chinese dropped all round us, and the Japanese cooly went on firing right over us. “Our skipper rang down to tlm engine-room to cram on every ounce of steam, and we slowly got out of danger's way. “The men alniaid were not afraid They crowded along the rail and spotted the shells. “Some, had been in the army for some years, hut had never seen a shot fired in anger.” Other ships were embarrassed by tho battle. The 16,000-ton P. and 0. liner Naldera hove to suddenly when five shells hurst in the water quite near her Slip was held up for two and a half hours. A battalion of British troops from Hongkong, the 2nd Argyll and Slither land Highlanders, inarched through the town with their kilts swinging and their bagpipes screaming, while cheers rose from the British residents. During the march Japanese bombers roared overhead, and a few minutes later flew over the Chinese city and began drooping bombs. Shells shrieked overhead, hut the troops appeared nn- ■ perturbed, stepping out smartly to the pipers’ music. Tlii' British troops already in Shanghai have been busy. They have lent a helning hand to Japanese women and children who are evacuating the zone, 1 Eight American steamers have left Shanghai carrying Japanese refugees back to their native land. 1 One of these vessels was completely filled with geisha girls. The Chinese refugees in the Shanghai International Settlement present a grave problem. A number of minor food riots broke out to-day. i The grimness of war was accentuated by the spectacle of dead Chinese babies lying about the streets. These pathetic little bodies, victims of an euidemie raging among the refugees, are freely abandoned hv their terrified parents, and are gnawed by dogs.