Evening star., 1932-01-29

motors was deafening to observers In
the International Settlement.
After a brief bombing expedition, the
planes were recalled, while a great fire
blazed in the Chapel area.
TIL Japanese, it was said, had suf-
fered unexpected reverses and the Japa-
neSe command ordered reinforcementS
into this district.
The occupation was effected by two
waves of invaders, totaling. 1000 men.
The first started exactly at midnight
from positions outside the Chinese sec
ton of Hongkew and Chapel. Many
of the men were crowded into motor
trucks for the push into the territory
of china.
They operated efficiently AS they
moved along the boundaries of the
Chapel section they dropped strong
detachment at the head of every alley
way. These detachmentS in obedience
to a signal, moved as one to the in
terror of Chapel, brushing back the
lines the Chinese raised against them.
The movement caught the Chinese
between the boundaries of the Inter-
national Settlement and the oncoming
Japanese line. When the pincer action
began to be felt the Chinese put up
vicious resistance. ReintorcementS were
rushed to them. But the outcome ap-
peared certain. There seemed no pos
Sibility that the Chinese would be able
to provide any more than temporary
barrier against what promised to be
greater penetration into the Chinese
territory than the mere occupation of
Shanghai.
Street Lights Shot Out.
One of the Japanese tricks was to
plunge the whole Chinese city into
darkness. All street lights were shot
out-a measure taken, Japanese Of
ficer explained, to protect the ad-
vancing soldiers from the rifles OF
Chinese sniperS.
Heads down, rifles at the ready, with
bayonets fixed, the Japanese line swept
onward in the darkness through the
little alleys of the Chinese section
toward the open country beyond.
The advance was carried on under
the protection of the guns of 81 ships
of war lying off the Shanghai Bund
in the WhangpO simultaneously the
Japanese Shelled WooSung. the fort l8
miles from Shanghai which commands
the Whangpo where it flows into the
China Sea. After the shelling Jap
anese detachment landed there.
In those sections of the Chinese part
of Shanghai where no resistance was
made, the japanese residents crowded
the street to cheer their soldiers, and
Japanese photographers took pictures
of the troop movements.
But for the Chinese it was night OF
terror. They remained in their houses,
hiding behind barricades as the streets
outside were swept by the machine gun
fire of the advance guard. 1t seemed
certain that many civilians were killed.
Three hours and half after the first
wave of the attackers got onto action
Japanese headquarters announced that
virtually every position outlined in their
original plan had been seized. But
heavy fighting still was going on.
A detachment of marines was dis
patched along the railroad leading from
| Shanghai to Fort Woosung. The Jap
anese plan seemed to be to seize the
road in order to prevent Chinese troop
movements.
The long-threatened occupation Of
| Shanghai, declared by the Japanese to
have been necessary to stop anti-Jap-
anese agitators, was looked upon as the
most critical complication of the Man
churian conflict because of the foreign
interests in this port.
Meanwhile male residents of the In
ternational Settlements had taken steps
to protect their homes and families.