CO129-579-12 Sino-Japanese War- bombing of railway line within leased territories (Shamchun Incident) 21-2-1939 - 17-3-1939 — Page 96

[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government, and should be returned

to the Foreign Office if not required for official use.]

Å

96

FROM JAPAN.

Decode.

Sir R. Craigie (Tokyo)

23rd February, 1939.

D.

1.00 p.m.

23rd February, 1939.

R.

9.30 a.m.

23rd February, 1939.

No. 174 (R)

ᏤᏤᏤᏤᏤᏤᏤᏤᏤ

IMMEDIATE.

My telegram No.172.

When handing me the note the Minister for Foreign Affairs stated that I might assure my Government that adequate measures would be taken to ensure that there would be no

repetition of such an incident. He then read to me a telegram received from the Japanese military authorities in South China admitting the dropping of four bombs and machine gunning, but maintaining that only one Japanese aeroplane had flown over British territory. Cause of the incident was stated to be that the airman had mistaken his direction and thought that he was bombing in Chinese territory north of the frontier instead of to the south as subsequently transpired. The Minister for Foreign Affairs added that it was quite out of the question that any Japanese airman would purposely commit an act which would oblige his government to apologize to a foreign government. I replied that this might well be the case but that nevertheless the error was a very serious one, calculated to produce international complications and that I felt sure that you would require at least an assurance that disciplinary measures would be taken against the airmen responsible. Arita agreed as to the seriousness of the error but stated that he could not give this assurance without again consulting the military authorities, which he would do at once.

Addressed to Foreign Office No.174; repeated to Shanghai No.147; Hongkong No.25; Cantón 12: