JAPAN AT NANKING’S GATES

Southland Times, Issue 23377, 8 December 1937, Page 5

JAPAN AT NANKING’S GATES

WILD CONFUSION IN CITY

Weak Resistance To Advancing Army

CITY MAY EMULATE MOSCOW OF 1812

TOKYO UNCERTAIN ABOUT CHINESE STRATEGY

(United Press Assn.—Telegraph Copyright) (Received Dec. 8, 12.15 a.m.) LONDON, December 7. The Japanese are within 1000 yards of Nanking and are preparing a formal entry, which will mark the first occupation by invading foreigners throughout the city’s long history. Other reports affirm that military, naval and aerial forces carried out a combined attack on Nanking at Wuhu'today. Ninety planes for two hours kept up the most intensive bombing to which the capital has yet been subjected, although it has suffered 119 previous bombardments. The defenders’ resistance has collapsed. Provincial troops whose lines were securely held yesterday have now retreated, though three crack divisions have been assigned to the defence of the city. Wild confusion prevails in Nanking, says the British United Press correspondent. Fires are raging along the riverside warehouses and also in the middle of the city as a result of Japanese bombing, which has extended to the Pukow railway station. Many refugees huddled at Pukow were killed or wounded.

The police are unable to check sections of the populace who are looting everywhere. Thousands of frenzied Chinese have gathered, screaming for admission to the safety zone.

The Shanghai correspondent of the British United Press says that the principal Japanese thrust appears to be coming from Kuyung. The feebleness of the Chinese resistance outside Nanking creates the impression that the President (Marshal Chiang Kai-shek) will leave the invaders an empty shell and reserve his forces for later activities.

The Tokyo correspondent of The Times says that an evening broadcast which is without confirmation suggests that Nanking - may emulate Moscow in 1812, as part of the capital, from which the Japanese are four miles distant, is on fire. There are signs that the defenders are beginning to retreat across the Yangtze Kiang. NO SIGN OFSUBMISSION All news from Japanese sources assumes the imminent fall of Nanking, as General Pang, the defending commander, is moving his troops across the river, ostensibly to consolidate his defences there. Thousands of refugees are waiting at the gates, unable to escape because of the transfer of the soldiery, but signs of the submission which the Japanese demand are still absent. Messages from Nanking state that the boom of artillery can now be clearly heard from the city, and the Japanese military authorities boast that the capital will fall in five days, or by December 15 at the latest. The Chinese are reported to be retreating from Wuhu, mercilessly pursued by aeroplanes. Japanese planes raided Nanking this afternoon, making dives over the Pukow terminus of the Peiping railway, on the opposite side of the Yangtze Kiang and bombing Pukow and the riverfront. Nine planes returned and set fire to a building on the riverfront. Only a few launches and junks and a number of gunboats occupied the stream. The reported capture of the Purple Mountain, overlooking Nanking, by the Japanese, is not confirmed. The Japanese Press betrays perplexity about Japan’s action if Nanking falls and Marshal Chiang Kai-shek remains defiant. It can only propose doubtful schemes, in view of the fact that the Japanese face a stubborn army which is prepared to put its back to a series of walls deeper inland. A Japanese declaration of war is considered unlikely because it would immediately invoke the American Neutrality Act, and the continuance of Chinese resistance depends on munitions from abroad. Meanwhile South China is reported to be raising a new Fourth Army of 15,000, composed of Communists from Fukien, Kiangsi, Hunan and Hupeh, under General Yeh Ting. AIR RAID PRECAUTIONS AT HONG KONG ONLY 70,000 GAS MASKS FOR 1,000,000 PEOPLE LONDON, December 6. The Hong Kong correspondent of The Dailv Telegraph says a packed audience heard the first air-raid precaution lecture. It is learned that anyone failing to obscure lights will be fined 1000 dollars. Seventy thousand gas masks are available for a population of 1,000,000 which is mainly illiterate and easily put in a panic. filNO-BRITISH TREATY STILL VALID (British Official Wireless) RUGBY, December 6. The validity of the treaty provisions between Britain and China cannot be altered by the Sino-Japanese conflict and any modifications must be subject to negotiations between Britain and China, stated the Foreign Secretary (Mr R. A. Eden) in the House of Commons.