JAPANESE ENTER INDO-CHINA

Southland Times, Issue 24239, 24 September 1940, Page 5

JAPANESE ENTER INDO-CHINA

ATTACKS RESISTED BY FRENCH

ANNOUNCEMENT OF AGREEMENT LATER

ENTRY FOR GARRISON PURPOSES ALLOWED

(United Press Assn.—Telegraph Copyright) (Received September 23, 6.30 pan.) HANOI, September 22.

The Japanese crossed the border, attacking Dongdang, on the north-east frontier of Indo-China. Dongdang is about 100 miles north-east of Hanoi. The French fully resisted the attacks, which were suspended at midnight. The Japanese assaulted Dongdang contrary to the Franco-Japanese agreement giving the Japanese certain military facilities, including airfields. An agreement between the Japanese and French was signed and later fighting ceased. The agreement, which is effective immediately, provides for the entrance, for garrisoning purposes, cf 6000 Japanese, via Haiphong, the use of three airports in Tonking including Phuto and Kaokay or Phulangthoung and the Gialam railway. General Decoux, Governor of IndoChina, issued a proclamation stating that the agreement conformed to “realistic policy.” He said: “Japan has agreed to recognize Indo-China’s integrity and France’s sovereignty.” General Decoux added that the army commander-in-chief, General Maurice Martin, is supporting the arrangement. AMIABLE SETTLEMENT

An authorized source in Tokyo declares that the Japanese in no way “invaded” Indo-China. They _ were merely entering the territory in accordance with the terms of tire agree-

ment permitting them to pass troops. That the French resisted them must have been due to a misunderstanding, but the matter would soon be settled amiably. It is officially stated that a “small number of Japanese troops are dead and wounded as a result of the Dongdang clash.” The spokesman, Mr Suma, attributed the Dongdang skirmish to a delay in communicating the terms of the agreement to French border officers. Mr Suma said that Japan was entirely without territorial designs in Indo-China and does not intend to provoke the French. Inasmuch as the agreement is based on peaceful talks between the two countries, there could be no objection to it from any foreign country.

In Singapore six Japanese, four men and two women, were detained by the police on Saturday. Four have now been released. Today one man, Mamuro Shimozaki, and Miss Atsuka Yamakawa were charged under the Official Secrets Ordinance and remanded.

U.S. CONFIDENCE IN BRITAIN SPOKESMAN OFCOAIMISSION RETURNS

WASHINGTON, September feo. Brigadier-General George Strong, spokesman of the United States Army Commission, who has returned to America from Britain, gave an interview to the Press after he had reported to the United States Secretary of War, Mr H. L. Stimson. He said that Britain was able to defeat Germany after a long war. “The people are united behind Mr Churchill. They are cheerful and they are grimly determined to end German military domination of Europe,” he said. “I believe that they can do it.” He paid a tribute to the superiority of the British pilots. The Germans, he said, were machine-made and lacked enthusiasm, while the British were highly trained individuals who regarded the combats as a sporting proposition.

SPANISH TRAWLER TORPEDOED ITALIAN SUBMARINE’S ACTION ' GIBRALTAR, September 22. An Italian submarine torpedoed the Spanish trawler Almirante Carranzo off the north-west coast of Spain. There was one survivor. It is believed that the submarine mistook the trawler for a British patrol vessel.