SHANGHAI HORROR

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 205, 15 September 1937, Page 7

SHANGHAI HORROR

-PrCsa Asr.ociahon.)

Huiidreds Killed in Bomb , Raids NEW ZEALANDERS THERE

(By Teleeraph-

AUCKLAND, Sep. 18. A graphic account of conditions in the International Settlement and adjoining French Concession in Shanghai on the outbreak of hostilities between Chinese and Japanese troops and of the elaughter of non-cOmbatants, both European and Chinese, is contained in correspondenee received from Mr 8. Raymond Norris, of L. D. Nathan and Company, Limited, Auckland. Mr Norris is on a business trip to the EaSt And is aceompanied by his wife. 'The appearanee on the murning of August 12 of a fleet of 25 Japanese warships, which overnight had steamed up the Whangpoo Eiver and anchored in front o'f the Bund, directly opposite the International Settlement, resulted in the flight of thousands of frightened Chinese from the thickly-populated Chapei and Hongkew d'stricts. Streams of Refugees. ' With household good piled high on one-wheeled carts, and women and children crowding every imaginable type of conveyance, the refugees streamed over the bridges across the Soochow 1 Creek, whcre steel-helmeted members of the Shanghai Volunteer Corps stood j on guard with bayonets fixed. British, - j French and Americhn troops guarding ( the settlements worked feveri3hly to erect barbed-wire entaglements, and had sandbags filled ready to block the roads at a moment's notice. Over ia the JHongkew and Chapei districts, which were on the other side of the Soochow Creek, which borders part of the settlement, Chinese and Japanese troops were busily Btrengthening their position, in many cases only a few hundred yards apart. During the afternoon fighting broke out. During the next day, August 13, firing between the combatants in the Hongkew and Chapei districts and fires started by the shelling were the chief incidents, but not until the following day did those in the settlements realise the seriousness of the position. Bombs and Shrapnel Bullets. About 10.15 a.m. on August 14, when Mr Norris was iu the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank, a terrific explosion shook the building. On rushiug to a window Mr Norris could see two Chinese aeroplanes flying over the river and trying to drop bombs on the Japanese^ flagship Idumo. A bomb which fell on J ja warehouse just behiud the Japanese j ■consulate killed a European and a num- > ber of Chinese. Meanwhile shrapnel i shelis from the Idumo's anti-aircraft J guns were bursting around the bombers, j and the whizzing rfiells fragments and shrapnel bullets falling upou the crowd- | ed Bund killed and wounded numbers of terrified Chinese. The aeroplanes escaped, but the bom- | bardment outside the settlement [ brought furtjier crowds of Chinese into j the settlement, as well as all foreigners ' living across the Soochow Creek and ; at the Astor Hotel there. Chinese cainp- | cd on tho footpaths and crowded every ■ alleyway and vacant section. | Terrible Execution. j The crash of anti-aircraft guns filled j the air almost continuously during the | afternoon, as flights of Chinese machines attaeked the Idumo, and three more bombs fell in the settlement with dreadfui rosults. The first fell on the roof of the Palace Hotel at the corner i of the Bund and the Nanking road, and | went through three floors, killing about | 50 persons, including some Europeans, i Tho second bomb struck the Cathay ! Hotel a glancing blow and dropped into i the street, Where motor-cars, pedestrians and rickshaws were blown to pieces. The explosion broke every window in the Cathay Hotel, blew in the shop windows, and left a pile of over 400 dead and injured. The scene of carnage was indescribable, for as the fumes from the high explosives iifted, flames from burning motor-cars played over distorted bodies. Smashed masonry swayed and crashed on the pavcment. Huge Casuaicy The third and worst explosion was the result of a Chinese bomb which fell near the Great World Amusement Resort'in Avenue Edward VII. It is a large open space where five roads met, and at the time the place was crowdcd with every kind of traffic. The bomb accounted for 400 dead and 650 injured, half of whom died within tho next two days. The authorities later announced that the full result of the bombing was 1150 dead, apart from the injured. Most were Chinese, but fully 50 Europeans were killed or injured by the bombs. Many more casualties were caused by thc spent shrapnel from the Japanese anti-air-craft guns. The explanation by the Chineso authorities of the dropping of the bombs was that two of the aeroplanes were damaged by guniire, which caused thc bombs to drop on thc settlement. Next day a typhoon raged, rain accompanying tho wind, and this nieant misery to the hundreds of thousands of Chinese refugees who were v/ithout food or shclter. „ Relicf associations were fonned, but tho problciu was too big for tliem to dcal with immediately. Notwithstanding the high winds Chinese and Japanese aircraft were activo aud flring went on.