EVACUATION
IFTING at the Rotary Club table of the
last Thursday week in Shang the Japanese lived in Hongkow
+
THE CHINA
defraying, the nerves of
The First of Two Instalments
24 1937.
the papers take what they decided
morning mot a single
Bank opened. The foreign
med and the sound
in town, particularly of guns going of had been fre
helpless children- quent. Anti-air craft guns had roar- an a sleepless night and a ed from the Whanggoo with a quick cket that made everyone fring jump, unfortunately not for cover, as the great disaster of "Bloody Saturday had not yet happened, and the crowds stared up into the heavens devotedly at the planes which they had all contributed their earnings to help Chiang Kai-shek buy, hoping that they would bomb the Japanese ships out of the water. They were unsuccessful and we all went home at noon relieved that at any rate we would not have to come
hat in atmosphere as tense as after a strained dinner we retired mothers of any I have ever experienced in the to bed, the happy laughter and care. Once usually rather friendly and de free voices of the children doing hurried breakfast and with a split finitely happy meetings held each nothing to allay our troubled week in the Metropole Hotel, there thoughts and recollections of 1932, were with me an Australian, a when aeroplanes roared over the Somerset man, & Cockney, a French- Settlement at 3 am to wake us all man and three well known Chinese up to the fact that war had begun
ting head off in the car to the office merchants. Naturally the situation or was about to begin.
At 10 p.m. that night I heard the passing on the way gangs of P.WD. was discussed the entire time and
was ready to first sound of rifle fire and about men busily erecting the old barbed one of the Chinese lay two to one that the Japanese 1000 rounds were loosed off in about wire fences and entanglements be would be pushed into the sea inside half an hour, after which complete tween the railway line and Edm
week: The Somerset man offered silence reigned throughout the rest burgh Road in the Western District, him in reply 10 to 1 that nothing of of the night. I happen to know be the Loyal Regiment men the kind would happen but no bets were laid. A very excellent talk was given by P. Barton on the work of the SSPCA, and most of us felt that a talk on the preven
filling
A LIFETIME IN A WEEK
At 3.36 in the afternoon we de-
canse I could get no more sleep sandbags for all they were worth in to the office for a weekend.
a small typhoon which was later followed by downpours of rain, just cided to take the kiddies for a ride to make things really comfortable in the car as things seemed to have The men had to work out in the quietened down and the children open and did so for three days with were getting restless, in the house out a break. They became as and needed a change so out we went brown as niggers and the section into the crowded streets where the near our house paid us frequent Chinese, refugees and all, filled visits at my request and used up each pavement to overflowing hop- quite a stock of iced water during ing not to miss anything when the the time they were on duty. We Chinese planes brought down the
tion of cruelty to foreigners in Shanghai would have been more after that. appropriate. We none of us knew At five I got out of my miserable or imagined what we would have to bed, glad to be relieved of tossing go through or put up with during about, sweating and swearing, un- the next ten days otherwise the feel able to sleep through anxiety and ing would have been even more eagerly looked through the columns strained than it was when a Japan of the N.CDN to see what the fir- ese Rotarian visitor rose to his feet ing had been about. There was no and insisted on calling us all his mention of any firing so they must friends and brothers. If he had but not have heard of it so I went to heard some of the asides made he work hoping that the trouble would could have changed his tune a bit, be averted as there were no signs I'm afraid.
in the town of any trouble at all Returning home at 5 pm. to my Yet Friday the 13th. didn't have wife and three small children, ears any too good a sound about it and strained for the sound of the first in the evening gun fire was actual- shot which had been promised for ly heard all over the town and the 3 pm, and later for 7, I did not re- "War" was on The S.V.C. was lish the idea of having a house 5 mobilised by radio and by phone miles from the Bund even though calls and throughout the night big we were situated on the west side guns boomed their message of death
THE
WORLD GOES BY By "ULYSSES"
HERE are only three great co-
Tloured divisions of the iriman
race, white, brown and black, says someone or other, and strange to say, they coincide with the three racial branches of the descendants of Shem, Ham and Japhet, the three sons of Noah.
"And never discovered how dis-
agrees
"Colour with colour and
skin with skin.
"Give me a chance and lat
me in.” White turned pale and jeered
at Brown
And actually dubbed him
yellow. Brown was offended, and said
with a frown,
Now it seems to me a pity to allow that profoundly significant anthro- pological discovery to be lost in a mass of ephemeral journalism, and I will try to lend it the efficacy of postry, so that it may linger in the memory, and so pass down the gen-But
as a tradition to show how we knew in 1937
one of three we all de- scend,
That he shouldn't say that
to a fellow. Japhet persisted and sat on Shem
Called him coloured and
lumped him with them. "Never the twain shall meet,"
Ahem1
White or brown or black,
Noah's variegated sons.
Take one from the pack.
Ham was black, perhaps over-
cooked,
Shem
Japhet's skin was white, Shem belonged to the tribe of
Browns,
That tinge of brown describe as light
we
Shem and Japhet got on well, Japhet quite a political swell, But Ham somehow was double-
crossed
Grew kinky hair and his-
calves were lost.
Was driven right off the cul-
ture track
And never allowed to
That's from a white poetic
gem.
Brown in answering crossly back
Grew
3
no kinder to Bro ther Ham Black, But quoted the Bible to prove
he was cursedes
A "servant of servants”. chaptered and versed
No queerer brothers. you ever
did, see
Because of mere colours inthey cannot agree.
Sons of one father, (what co-
lour was he?),
By F. C. Millington
found that we were to be outside Japanese in flames. Suddenly, in the wire and my wife's feelings can Bubbling Well Road, shrapnel be better imagine than described bursts were plainly visible in the when she found that the Lewis gun sky and I hastily turned the car of the Loyal's detachment was back and drove the children home. trained right smack bang on our again to get them under cover. Still bedroom window and the wall of the crowds lined the pavements the children's bedroom, as the staring upwards, staring and still house is situated at the end of staring. I was glad I was in my three roads down which the Chin car as it would have been impos- ese could advance on the city if able to move at more than a mail's they so desired. On arrival at the pace if one had been walking. office I found the S.V.C. in charge On reaching home my wife and I of the ground floor with a dozen had to leave immediately for the trucks standing by ready to trans office where we were to pick up a port them to any sector of the city Genaza nurse who was replacing at a moment's notice and all of them our Japanese analisar and we were busy with huge slices of bread drove down on to the Bund to get on which slabs of butter rested be a good view of what was going on. How genereus helpings of jam. The As we passed along the Bund, hard- spirit of the men was obviously er ly z car was în, sight, but thou- cellent but I didn't find the same sands of Chinese lined the pave- spirit in my own staff when I left meats looking across at the Japan- the volunteers as our office is ese warship tied up alongside the situated right on the edge of the Japanese Consulate hoping, against Soochow Creek and therefore on the hope to see it go up in smoke when edge of the Japanese quarter. Little a bomb fell on it. I passed along work was done that day as most of the Buze following the five or six fices were disorganised by the loss vans which the SC. had just for their men into the S.V.C. and we brought out to be in readiness on
soon heard that the Chinese Barks the Band in case a bomb, did fall. had closed their doors and this and I saw the SMC Health De paralysed business at once- We all partment doctors herning nonchal- went home that evening feeling antly over the fronts of these Red that we were in for it now and had Cross vans ready før anything that better face it. Rumours were rife, might bannen. I passed along the They always are and the radio sta- entire Bund, via deserted Soochow tions unfortunately broadcast them Road to my office and there picked as they reached them which did up the nurse Whilst I was there nothing to allay the harrassed. I heard the antiaircraft graus pop- nerves of the people listened ping again and out we went to see each hour to their what-itma sise There night wife eventually turned the radio off above the office four bombers were and left it off. She found she was plainly visible in the clouds sur- happier that way. I had already rounded by shrapnel bursts and as ack against the came - machine
suggested to the Council that they I stood the
should broadcast the truth each day wall of
and I was pleased to see that they gun-bullet which took a chunk of had decided to do this just as I left, brickwork out of the wall, a section seven days late, but better late than of which t me on the cheek and I never as this will definitely stop the stepped undercover quicker than I rumours going out over the air. went out. One of my men then want- Why did they wait till all the wo- ed to look but my wife rushed after tion, I think I had betmen had left before they followed him amb pulled him back and then the word poetry. In th dvice? They did not follow my off we set home with a car fall of re a Council Chinese news people along. Szechnen Road with but this
atter so all hell let loose over our heads by
it is a poem, but not adv
my best. Not so inspired, now what I mean, becam
blonde is away on holiday
is good
air with the Japanese
main were still.
news bourhood fivi
bombers who
the neigh
Cloudbank
(Continued on Page 9)
THE CHINA MAIL, AUGUST 24, 1937
Page
Hit Destroyer Sinks Within Few Minutes
GRAPHIC STORY OF DAWN
ENCOUNTER
ENORMOUS BRITISH SHANGHAI
TRADE LOSSES
Shanghai, 11a.m.
**
Few of the crew of the Japanese destroyer which was sunk by the Chinese off Woosung early this morning are believed to have escaped with their lives. A graphic account of the sinking de- clares that she received a vulnerable hit,
turned turtle and sank within a few minutes.
.
Heavy casualties were caused on other ships and among the troops, according to the same source, who describes the shelling as unusually accurate and states that several guns were firing at almost point-blank range.
There seems little doubt, however, that the Japanese landing was accomplished in some con- siderable strength and the first contingents to land, by a successful advance in face of withering fire, served as a cover for the landing of several thousand men at Woosung.
ESCAPES
TERRIBLE
DISASTER
1 Shanghai, To-day.
An even more terrible trage- dy than the Sincere Company disaster is believed to have been averted by the failure to explode of the projectile which penetrated the US Navy Warehouse.
The missile assumed immense proportions when it was reas sembled by officers of the U. S Naval Board of Enquiry. Mea- suring almost four feet in length, it had a base of six- teen inches, while the steel. outer shell was three-quarters of an inch thick.
Had it exploded, experts con- sidered that an acre of build ings would have been destroy- ed including the nerve centre of the British and American Governments, in the Develop- ment Building and Hamilton
The Chinese troops have retired towards Kiangwan but are reported to be digging them- selves in, while large reinforcements are
House, being rushed to the area by the Chinese military com- mand.
Reports from Chinese sources state that in view of the new development, fresh divisions are being ordered to Shanghai from Chekiang and Anhwei.
Our Own Correspondent.
DAWN ATTACK ON SHIPS
Shanghai, To-day.
the administrative headquarters of the welfare. committee in Shanghai, the location of the Japanese Em-
bassy Press Bureau, the Cen-
tral Police Station and
the
headquarters of the Shanghai
Volunteer Corps as well as the Administration Building of the Shanghai Municipal Council- Reuter.
SHELL OR BOMB
Shanghai, To-day.
An announcement says that the Foreign Minister, M. Yron Delbos, is returning to Paris from his holi- day this afternoon.
He will go to Geneva on Septem- ber 9 to attend the next League session Trans-Ocean.
NANKING GOVT. ON WAR BASIS Leading Ministers In War Cabinet
Nanking, To-day.
It is officially stated that the Nanking Government is in the pro- cess of reorganisation on a war basis, in which the principal fune- tionaries will be the Minister for War, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Minister of Finance, Minister of Communications and Minister for Home Affairs. Our Own Corres pondent.
DR. C. T. WANG'S BROADCAST
New York, To-day. The Chinese Ambassador, Dr. C. T. Wang, last night broadcast a message to America. in place of Madame Chiang Kai-shek, whose relayed broadcast from China had to be cancelled owing to disorgan- isation of the radio network by the bombing of the Chinese short-ware station, at Chenju-Reuter."
EVACUATION
(Continued from Page 8) cloud bank. We had almost reached the junction of Nanking Road and Szechnen Road when a Chinese coolie rushed round the corner of Nanking Road covered with blood from head to foot as though he had been peppered all over with bullet holes which had all started to bleed at once, and he fell down in the gutter just in front of the car stone dead so we carried on across Nan- A foreign eye-witness claims to have seen a
"We have not yet found out king Road. Turning to look towards Japanese destroyer heel over and sink and a Jap-whether the Nanking Road tragedy the Cathay Hotel we discovered anese gunboat retire disabled as a result of the yesterday was caused by a shell or what had killed the coolie. There, a bomb," declared Dr. Tang, poli-right in front of the entrance to Chinese land and air attack during the landing of tical representative of the Chinese the Hotel, was a car lying at right Japanese troops at 4 o'clock this morning.
Shanghai-angles to the hotel on a heap of one Japanese warships greeted the dawn to-day Woosung area, at the press confer or two other cars which were ali ence at the Park Hotel yesterday. blazing fiercely with flames leaping with a heavy bombardment of Pootung, while can- Referring to the shell or bomb fifty feet into the sky. The ground non fire was also audible from the direction of Woo-which dropped behind the LCI was littered with debris
kinds and smoke and dust filled the building in Szechuen Road without sung.
exploding, Dr. Tang said it was unfair. Two people were flying to- wards us waving their arms and The biggest fire south of the Soochow Creek doubtedly of Japanese origin, as it since hostilities started raged on the waterfront of showed Japanese lettering and and shouting frantically to us to Pootung, a couple of miles up-river from the yellow markings, whereas Chinese stop. We stopped and the womán Shanghai Club, as the flames consumed Japanese warehouses. Reuter. POOTUNG BOMBARDMENT
Shanghai, To-day.
The flagship Idzumo and other Japanese war- ships which returned to Shanghai yesterday, have started a naval bombardment of Pootung.
commander
in the
jbombs had red markings.
WARSHIP SUNK
of all
hysterically asked and pleaded with me to take her away Anywhere Anywhere
Anywhere and at- though I had a full load we crowd- Dr. Tang claimed that a Japan-led the two of them into the car on ese torpedo-boat had been sunk by our knees and drove off west. Hell the Chinese during the landing was still loose above our beads and yesterday near Woosung.
I expected at Chin-shrapnel thr
ese
posit
but there
At the same time, Japanese planes bombed retiring to North Station.
Another big fire has broken out in the vicinity of the Japanese Naval Club in Yangtsepoo, the flames spreading with amazing rapidity. Ocean
ENORMOUS BRITISH LOSSES
Trans-
Ocean.
but
moment to have the roof of the as there was
poor de She and
med
ing in the first bomb
dropped on to the Palace roof and blew the fifth floor to suith-reens and then one dropped and explod- led ont of the Cathay Hotel and window in that section
CHINESE ENVOY AT QUAI D'ORSAY
Paris, To The Chinese and Italian Ambas-blew ever sadors called at the Foreign Office of Nanking Road out of its frame yesterday.
Jand littered the rooms with glass.
London, To-day- feared, will hardly be able to recover from their Although the actual losses suffered in Shang-losses. har by British firms in the first ten days of the con- The British Chamber of Commerce has re flict are placed at £6,000,000, indirect losses to Bri-quested British firms in Shanghai to file immediate- tish commercial interests are naturally far greater ly reports giving the extent of their losses Trans
A considerable number of British firms, it is Ocean.