JAPANESE THREAT SO FAR NOT ACHIEVED

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 212, 23 September 1937, Page 5

JAPANESE THREAT SO FAR NOT ACHIEVED

(Received 23, 1.30 p.m.)' NANKING, Septembert 22. The Japanese threat to wipe out Nanking has thus far not been aehieved. Largely owing to the capital's being a garden city, its prominent buildings are widely scattered. The authorities conservatively estima.te tlie casualties in the ciy at 20 killed and 30 injured, despite the fact that the raiders concentrated on the southern section of the city, where the civilian population is densest. ihe inliabitants, ■ however, became cavedwellers, taking refuge in 10,000 dug-outs. Nevertheless, there was a terrible deatli-roll on the riverfront, where bombs weighing tliree-quarters of a ton crashed on flimsy matting sheds sheltering 1000 refugees, killing 100 and setting fire to their shelters. Material damage is limited to 70 buildings, where firemen are still fighting the flames. The European residential area, including many Embassies and Legations, suffered severely. Members of the British Embassy took refuge in separate dug-outs to avoid the possibility of one bomb killing all the seniors. A Tokio message says tliat the Domei'News Agency reports that a third Jajjanese raid on Nanking concentrated on the congested Hsiakuan district and destroyed military trains and set fire to the Shiakuan Station. Chinese military authorities declare that the Japanese have not . accomplished any military object. The Chinese claim that they brought down seven raiders. The Japanese claim that they have sufficient material to carry out a fortnight's raids of 50 planes a day, each plane qarrying a ton of incendiary and explosive bombs. By tliis means, they claim, they can gradually destroy Nanking 's defences, enabling low-f lying * planes eventually to have the city at their mercy.