CO129-563-16 Sino-Japanese War- attacks on shipping 6-9-1937 - 13-11-1937 — Page 32

(F 8353/4880/10)

Sir,

32

FOREIGN OFFICE, S.1.1.

4th November 1937.

I am directed by Mr. Secretary Eden to refer to the telegrams Nos. 355 and 371, of the 21st and 28th October respectively, which were addressed by the Admiral Commanding- in-Chief, China Station, to the Admiralty, on the subject of an attack by Japanese aircraft on a motor oil barge belonging to the Asiatic Petroleum Company. Copies of a further telegram which has been received on this subject from His Majesty's Ambassador at Tokyo are enclosed.

2. Mr. Eden is advised that this case raises a general issue applicable to several states of facts. There may be

a road with cars moving along the road as in the case of the shooting of His Majesty's Ambassador in China, or there may

be barges moving along a canal as in the present case, or there may be a railway line with trains moving along it as in the case of the Canton-Kowloon Railway. The difficulty in dealing with these cases arises from the fact that a line of communication, even if situated away from an area where actual military operations are taking place, is prima facie a legitimate target for bombing from the air. It does not matter whether the line of communication is a road, canal, river or railway. Lines of communication are stated in the Air Warfare Rules to be a military objective and a legitimate target of attack, unless in any given case an attack cannot be made without the indiscriminate bombardment of the

The Secretary

of the Admiralty.

civilian/