“FOUR DAYS’ HELL”

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 299, 17 December 1937, Page 7

“FOUR DAYS’ HELL”

FALL OF NANKING A WRITER’S IMPRESSION SCHEME OF SYSTEMATIC KILLING (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) Received Dec. 16, 9 p.m. LONDON, Dec. 16. "Four days’ hell” would be the most fitting way to describe the seige and capture of Nanking, which I have just seen,” says Mr. A. T. Steele, the Daily Mail's special correspondent now aboard the United States gunboat Ohio. "The last thing we saw as we left the city was a band of 300 Chinese being executed near the waterfront, where the corpses were already piled knee deep. After the collapse of the Chinese morale the Japanese could have occupied the city without firing a shot, but the./ chose instead systematic killing.” The Tokio correspondent of the Daily Telegraph reports that great flag parades celebrated the fall of Nanking, in which 150,000 children, and two elder daughters of the Emperor, Princesses Shegeko (12) and Zazoko (8), participated. The parades continued night and day. PANAY INCIDENT EYE-WITNESS’ REPORTS AMERICANS I OUGHT BACK WITH COURAGE (By Telegraph-Press Association—Copyright) NEW YORK, Dec. 15. r The Shanghai correspondent of the United Press says the Americans, Mr John L. Hodge, and Mr Jim Marshall, writer for Collier's, who witnessed the bombing of the Panay and tankers, arrived from Wuhu in a Japanese rescue ’plane. Mr Hodge said: "I left lhe Panay at 1 p.m. on Sunday to go to the oiltanker Meiping. I was sitting in the fo’castle when I heard a 'plane. I went on to the bridge with Captain Jorgenson to get glasses to see what was happening. The next thing I knew was that hell was let loose. Three ’planes swooped past, turned and headed for the Panay. They hit it and then hit the Meiping’s bridge, from which four of us crashed. When I arose I found my head gashed. A direct hit had set fire to the ship. The crew got out the hoses. The captain handed me the wheel and told me to beach the ship. I tried to go to the north side bank, but somebody turned a machine-gun on us.” Mr Marshall said: "The boys on the Panay trained machtne-guns on the Japanese ’planes and continued shooting until the ship sank. Japanese ’planes bombed the Panay 12 times. I was assisting Chinese into a sampan when the final moment came. I then jumped into the water and reached the shore. I and Mr Hodge and another American, Mr C. C. •Vines, an employee of the British American Tobacco Company, walked t° Taiping and found an abandoned mission. A Japanese officer arrived and gave us food, but I was too sick to eat. A Japanese army truck took us to Wuhu.

"The Panay’s officers and men showed plenty of courage and fought practically until the last bullet. There were flags painted and flying everywhere on the American ships. Three ’planes dived within 300 feet of the river and dropped bombs, but did not use machine-guns. The sound of ’planes diving is something I never want to hear again.” The Italian Embassy states that there is no news concerning a Chinese secretary, Albert Ros, who was believed to be on board the Panay. The Navy Department announces that the Panay casualty list is now three dead and fourteen wounded, four seriously. AN ITALIAN’S DEATH NO PROTEST BEING MADE ROME, Dec. 15. Italy is not protesting to Japan regarding Signor Sandri's death. The Government states that it was not an Italian ship and Signor Sandri's death is regarded as a tragic accident. JAPANESE ESCORT RETURN OF SURVIVORS SHANGHAI, Dec. 15. The Ohau, on her way to Shanghai with the Ladybird, bringing the survivors and dead from Hohsien, will be preceded by Japanese minesweepers, only travelling in the dayCASUALTY LISTS ' THREE AMERICANS DEAD SHANGHAI, Dec. 14. The flagship Augusta has issued the final official list casualties of the I Panay and oil-tankers, indicating that I they were less than anticipated. . There were three deaths, including the captain of the oil-tanker Meian, four seriously injured, and ten not seriously injured.