The Washington times. [volume], February 05, 1932, Page 7, Image 7

About The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
GIBBONS’ THRILLING ACCOUNT OF SHANGHAI’S WORST HOURS OF JAP AIR-SEA-LAND ATTACK
(Continued from Pago 6)
ers have operated during the
last four days.
The possibilities of some un
toward Incident or a clash either
with Chinese Irregulars or Jap
anese patrols by mistake in the
dark were sufficiently strong to
demand wise consideration.
Col. R. S. Hooker, commanding
the Fourth Regiment of Marines,
was the first man up the Chau
mont’s gangplank, followed by his
aides and staff.
He was received on the bridge
by Colonel Gasser, commanding
the Thirty-first.
Hooker to Command
Hooker, of the Marines, is the
senior of Gasser, of the regular
Army, so it is probable the
former will command the com
bined marine and regular forces
ashore just as a marine com
manded the Second division in
France.
Colonels Gasser and Hooker and
their staffs conferred and plans
were laid out for debarkation in
the morning.
The Yanks aboard the Chau
mont were greatly excited and
keen and eager concerning the
war scare, and the thrill of their
sudden midnight departure from
Manila, but more thrilled by the
first sights of hostilities they wit
nessed at noon when the Chau
mont passed the ruins of the
Woosung forts at the mouth of
the Whangpoo River.
They saw river banks and re
taining walls pitted and pock
marked with craters from air
bombs and naval shells and the
bodies of Chinese soldiers lying
unburied on the beach.
They saw the shattered roofs,
gaping walls, and burning homes
of the villaeg of Woosung, located
on a creek one mile north of the
forts.
Bodies Afloat in River
They saw bodies floating in the
river along the Chaumont’s sides.
Japanese naval guns lay off
while the Chaumont steamed
slowly by. but planes continued
their bombing operations inland
while doughboys and gobs from
the rigging and officers with
binoculars on the bridge followed
the flight of the planes and
watched the bombs falling.
The Shanghai business section
shook and reverberated to the
shocks of heavy explosions this
afternoon as the Chinese-Jap
anese conflict ringed the Interna
tional City with a circle of burst
ing bombs, hurtling projectiles,
and withering volleys of machine
gun lead.
Air, land and sea forces all
engaged in the fiercest fighting,
with the issue still undecided as
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both belligerents made conflicting :
claims of victory.
China appeared today to have
brought fighting airplanes into
play, but the extent of air force
activity was cloaked in mystery.
Mayor Wu Te-Chen, of Shang
hai, officially denied that Chinese
airplanes were participating in
the battle, but reports that eight
Chinese planes had arrived at
Hunjau airport just outside of
Shanghai persisted.
American Tells of Fight
I have Just talked with one
American who swears he was at
the airdrome when a crippled
Chinese fighting plane, a Vought-
Corsair model, the same as is
used in the American Navy,
landed with its wings and fuse
lage full of bullet holes and its
Chinese pilot fainting at the stick
from loss of blood.
My informant said this lad
was shot in a cattle with two
Japanese planes.
One Japanese bombing plan:
was shot down by Chinese anti
aircraft fire in view of American
marine observers.
As the plane crashed, Chinese
infantry groups wriggled across
the ground and finished the
fallen aviators with bayonet
thrusts. Japarese aviators aloft
tried to -o to the assistance of
their fallen comrades by swoop
ing over the spot and raking
the ground with machinegun fire
to drive off the Chinese.
Chinese Celebrate
This setback for the Japanese
caused the Chinese to stage a
riotous celebration, erroneously
accrediting the victory to some
unnamed and entirely mythical
Chinese “Richthofen,” and was
chiefly responsible for wide
spread reports that the Chinese
were offering concerted aerial
resistance to the Japanese on
slaught.
Another report said a young
Chinese pilot took up an old
plane at 5 a. m. The craft buck
led at an altitude of 2,000 feet
and crashed behind the Chinese
lines, bursting into flames and
killing the pilot.
Still another rumor said Jap
anese planes were dropping leaf
lets written in Chinese charac
ters stating that American troops
had arrived “as Japan’s allies to
fight with the Japanese againsj,
the Chinese war lords and deliver
China from military tyranny.”
Stacked Cards, Loaded Dice!
Oh boy! What a gambling
joint this is. wtih stacked cards
and loaded dice and mirrors be
hind the visitor’s chair. It’s a
great time to say nothing and
play ’em close to the vest and be
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
< ready for anything If the lights
30 out.
Dozens of Japanese planes
continue flying through the
mists over downtown streets, with
heavy bombs visible in the racks
under the lower wings while
thousands of faces, white and
yellow, are lifted skyward toward
the death and destruction hover
ing above. •
No misdirected Japanese bombs
landed in the International Set
tlement, but Chinese anti-aircraft
missiles are falling in neutral
territory, sometimes exploding,
but more often not.
Armed patrols of all different
nationalities, afoot, mounted and
packed in motor trucks, cruise
Streets packed with a hundred
thousand refugees.
Rickshaw coolies, barefooted in
spite of the sudden severe gdld
drawing enormous loads of house
hold goods, are herded and hur
ried on by tall, bearded Sikh
policemen using clubs for speed.
Wind Fans Fires
A strong wind from the sea is
fanning many fresh fires, carry
ing a thick column of smoke as
well as burnt paper down into the
faces of Nanking .Road shoppers.
Foreign garrison commanders
are considering suggesting the
placing of a neutral garrison at
the Woosung forts to keep the
Shanghai port open and at the
same time guarantee the safety
of shipping.
The port now is suggestive of
the World War days, lacking
only the camouflaged sides of
ships.
In addition to regularly flying
the flags of their own countries,
foreign ship masters have painted
great flags on the sides of their
ships to make sure their identity
will be known and to prevent be
ing fired upon off Woosung.
Many American ships are dec
orated in this way, with “Old
Glory” displayed at once on the
masts and sides of ships.
Japs Stick to Ship
Just before noon a Japanese
two-seater bomber was brought
down 1,000 yards northwest of
the American lines. The plane
was engaged in bombing a
Chinese artillery position on the
Shanghai-Nanking railroad, in full
view of our marines.
The bomber was flying at a
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1,500 foot altitude when It sudden
ly was surrounded by bursts of
anti-aircraft fire. The machine
nosed up, seemed to hang for a
moment, and then went Into a
left-hand slow spin downward.
The Japanese pilot and observer
both stuck to the ship, neither
using his parachute.
They apparently forgot to re
lease their explosives in the bomb
racks under the lower wing of the
plane, because our marine observ
ers saw a terrific explosion when
the-plane crashed to the ground
by the village of Tsu Ka Wan,
close by the Yank lines.
This was the first plane for
eign observers had seen downed.
The British protested this morn
ing when shells dropped into their
zone of the International Settle
ment. In response to the protest,
one Chinese and one Japanese
junior officer arrived at the Brit
ish headquarters to apologize.
The British didn’t know whether
the objectionable missiles were of
Japanese or Chinese origin. Nei
ther did the apologetic messen
gers, but it was their duty to
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apologize. So they did.
The Chinese military apologist
said:
“Velly solly gunners on our»
antiaircraft gun make mistake
mathematics firing on Japanese
plane. Velly solly. Now find
mistake and will correct fig
ures.”
The Japanese military apologist
said
“Please pardon, but our gun
ners make slight error in eleva
tion of cannon firing on Chi
nese station. Shell go high,
miss station, fall your zone.
Very sorry. Locate error in fir
ing data. Now lower range.”
The British officer, accepting
both apologies for the same shells,
said:
x “You boys make me feel velly
sorry I can’t apologize to you
and Invite you to have the
next shell on me.”
Hostilities definitely reached
their highest pitch at 9 o’clock
this morning, when the fighting
spread out, covering an area of
some hundred square miles, ex
tending from points on the Nan-
FRIDAY—FEBRUARY 5—1932
king railroad, south of Shanghai,
to the woosung forts.
By Sea, Land and Air
The area included all the tri
angle of territory between the
Whangpoo and Yangtze rivers.
Japan was employing all arms
—sea, land, and air forces—with
new strength and determination,
but with the objective still un
known and unguessed by military
and naval authorities at Shang
hai.
Here’s the summary of the com
plicated mess, which is getting
worse hourly as communication
lines grow fewer and rumors
wilder:
Chinese reinforcements hurriedly
brought north overnight suc
ceeded in dislodging and pushing
back Japanese sailors who man
aged to advance into the eastern
fringes of the Chinese city in the
direction of the North Station.
The Chinese-Japanese artillery
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duel is increasing in intensity as
new supplies and munitions reach
the gunners on both sides. The
Chinese are effectively employing
guns of the highest caliber and
some heavy field pieces located
on the'railroad to the west of the
Chinese city.
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