HORRORS OF WAR

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 88, 14 April 1938, Page 7

HORRORS OF WAR

SCENES IN SHANGHAI

N.Z. MEN’S EXPERIENCES

CONSTANTLY UNDER FIRE [ Far Praia Aj&aociauan. ] WELLINGTON, April' 13. An appalling glimpse o£ the horror and ruthless cruelly ot modern warfare was given in an interview with two New Zealanders who disembarked from the Wanganella to-day on leave after five years with the British Police Force in the International Settlement at Shanghai. They were Messrs. A. S. Anderson and N. O. Pharazyn, of Christchurch and Nelson respectively. They were in Shanghai throughout the fighting there and when their leave is up in seven months they are going back, perhaps to a repetition of all they have gone through. “It’s very pleasant to be landing here at Wellington again,” said Mr. Pharazyn. “At times we wondered if we would ever come back again.” For months, he said, Shanghai was constantly under fire, with bursting shells in the city, shrapnel exploding overhead and frequent air : aids. The worst week was when the Japanese stormed the city and street fighting was going on. The police stuck to their job throughout, with the exception of a day or two at the height o£ hostilities. English women and children stationed in Shanghai had been evacuated, being shipped down the coast to Hongkong, and Americans had also been sent away, but there were many white Russians there who were refugees from the revolution and had nowhere they could go. They had stayed on throughout. After the Japanese had occupied Shanghai Chinese shells continued to fall in the city for many weeks. Frequently their bombers raided the city. The Japanese insisted on the British police remaining shut up in their station with the windows darkened and no lights showing. The International Settlement was crowded with non-combat a:.t Chinese refugees, eating and sleeping in the streets. There were frightful scenes when bombs exploded among them, as many as 1000 having been killed by a single bomb explosion.

Asked how the Japanese treated those non-combatants who fell into Japanese hands, Mr. Pharazyn said that there was a great deal of indiscriminate bayoneting in the streets, and prisoners were roughly handled. He did not wish to say much against the Japanese because the work of the police force was They could not afford to offend any nation. Only one member of the police force was wounded during the hostilities in the city.

Mr. Pharazyn expressed the opinion that the fighting was likely to continue in the interior for some time. He had heard no word of the Japanese offensive weakening or being likely to be withdrawn. The Chinese were putting up a determined resistance and were even pushing the Japanese hack at times. Just before the two policemen quit the shattered city the boom of heavy gunfire was again heard in Shanghai, far away, it was true, but none the less an indication that the city might again be the seat of fighting. The luggage of the pair was reminiscent of that of a couple of Chicago gangsters or stage brigands, for it was bristling with paraphernalia of war, gas masks, bayonets, a Chinese execution sword, rifles, helmets and bombs and shell-cases, ail grim relics that may be picked up on the scene of battle.

He was concerned that the authorities were doubtful about permitting him to import a rifle of Chinese manufacture taken from a dead soldier lying- in a Shanghai street. “It’s a special type of rifle and I couldn't get ammunition for it in New Zealand," he expostulated.