DISASTER AT SHANGHAI

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 186, 24 August 1937, Page 7

DISASTER AT SHANGHAI

— Per Press Assoc.iatior

Japanese Land 50,000 Mor« Troops for Decisive Attack (NTENSE ART1LLERY EXCHANGES

(By Telegraph-

l— Copyright).

(Received 24, 0.55 a.m.) LONDON, Augj 23. It is officially stated that 300 were Riiled aad @00 iiijuf ed whau twd sheils d£ tmkaown oligin struok the seveiustorey British departmental stdre kn6Wii as Sincefess at Shanghai. iThere was tefrible havoc, With mangled bodies everywhere. All windows witbin a radius of a fflile were Bhattered. The Dome! Agency quotes a Japanese naval communiqiie thftt the disaster was dtie to bombs from Chinese planeS. Officials of the ShangMi Municipal Council also declare that the damfcge was eaused by a bomb and not by a shell. The 300 bodies were conveyed in 10 motor lorries. A third shell struek the United States Navy Warehouse, but forfcunately did not explode. The nqured included Messrs. Belling* hani and Abend, two correspondents of the New York Times* An intense artillery duel marked the suceessM landing of 50,000 Japanese reinforcements. The Japanese spokesman said: ''In yiew of the provocative Chinese attitude, we have a chance now to deal a decisive blow before there is any poSsibility of their strategie withdrawal. !We hope the Shanghai area will be cleared of hostilities Bhortly." The Japanese assert that they faced seven Chinese divisions, fonr of .whieh are first-line troops, in this morning 's general attack, wHeh has not affected the Japanese iines any where. The Idzumo has returned from Woosnng and taken up a neW position half ,a mile downstream from the Japanese Consulate. The Japanese reinforcements are already in action, seizing the terminus of the military highway from iWoosung as a flanldng move. " At Peiping the Japanese artillery all day tinavailingly attacked the I^ahkow Pass. The Japanese claim to haVe captured all the strategie points north of the Yungting river attd also to have occnpied Kalgan. Japanese nationals have been withdrawn from Central and Southern China with the exception of a force. at Tsingtao, where there are nine Japanese cotton mills. Chinese troops are reported to be closing in on Tsingtao. A Tokio message says a Foreign Office statement said the British indemnification rnemorandum is under consideration.