The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-02-23

death and devastation, were prepari
japanese bullets, occasional
shells and sometimes aerial bombs
continued to fall in the ruins of
the town. The shattered buildings
trembled when the Chinese, hid
den in the town, let loose their
anti-aircraft gun at a Japanese
plane.
Starving dogs skunk in the
ruins where the Chinese futilely
blaze1 away with machine guns
and rifles at the menacing, high
flying airplaneS.
In the Japanese lines I was I'M
der Chinese fire, which now ap-
pears mere child'S play after ex-.
periencing Japanese fire within
the Chinese lines.
Bombs dropping nearby made
the correspondent duck, but the
nonchalant Chinese demonstrated
how to run toward an airplane
when it comes over, as that is the
best chances of not being where
the bomb lands.
TINE Chinese fought the Japa-
nese eastward of TaZang.
Every creekside, bridgehead and
tree clump between Tazang and
Chenju saw Chinese digging an
elaborate, cleverly-concealed sys-
tenn of camouflaged trenches. and
machine gun nests, to contest,
inch by inch, the territory that
Uyeda covetS, in the guerilla war
fare that the Nineteenth army
knows best.
It was a disappointment not to
find General Tsai Ting-Kai, Chi
nese commander, at Chenju, but
he had moved his headquarters to
Nanziang, five miles up the
misunderstanding railway.
Chenju has been bombed fire.
quently during the last month and
there was utter ruination. But
the folks remaining were re-
signed to the situation, whereas
at Nanziang there was tremen-
dous indignation among the towns
people because when bombs we're
dropped by the Japanese Monday
the Stationmaster and twenty CT
villains were killed.
I decided at Chenju that if
Tsai Ting-Kai we're at Tazang, I
should go there.
Passing the sentries proved ex-
tremely difficult and frequently
it was necessary to have an escort
of officers, who made it very
clear that they did not regard
my life as necessarily a matter of
great Importance to them.
TINE first picture to catch my
l. eye when approaching Ia
zang, after passing miles Of con-
Meeting trenches in which soldiers
behind machine guns and rifles
awaited Uyeda, was a dead SOL
der on a board slab, lying at the
roadside.
From a couple Of unchanged
buildings soldiers also were load
ing their wounded aboard lorries
and sending the more seriously
hurt to the settlement.
AS I moved along I saw one
poor devil lying on a pile OF
dirty straw, clutching his rifle and
writhing in agony. He had been
shot in the back of the head and
was suffering terribly.
I begged that he, too, be but
aboard one of the ~lorries, but the
soldiers explained that he would
die soon and they needed all
available lorries for the transpor-
tation of those who had a chance
to recover and return to the
trenches.
I had a strong wish to get away
from these scenes, so I wandered
on into the town, only to find it,
too, in ruins.
They answered all questions, all
of us now and again ducking
when a stray bullet from the Jap
anese lines sang overhead. Once
an anti-aircraft gun, hidden in a
clump of bamboos nearby, let go
with a terrific bang and we all
nearly jumped out of our shoes.
MEY eyes were drawn to an old
IVl scholar, slumped down in
the ruins of his home, gazing
silently at the tumbled scrolls
about him, his brushes and ink
pots. Occasionally he glanced at
a broken cage alongside, in which
his pet bird was dead.
Moving on through the town, I
came upon the ruins of a school.
Scattered about were the notes of
children who probably we're writ
ing when the Japanese bombers
flew over and dropped their de-
struction from the sky. A wrin-
kled old woman sat at one point,
refusing to leave the place.
All her life, she explained, she
had been forced to flee from
something, wherever she had
been. Therefore, she was deter
on '5uBzBL VI uTgm9I o. psuIm
matter what happened.
I do not like this place, the
sounds around it. or the scenes in
it. Besides, J. feel it is unhealthy
for me to stay here, and I'm not
coming back. Furthermore, I can
not for the life of me see why
Uyeda desires this pile OF ruins.
except that it is across a good
highway. M