Evening star., 1937-09-29

north of city coupled Uith rains,
has preDented substantial adudnce
by japanese troops, heavily rein
forced by the japanese home army.
Campaign has taken to air in stale
mate.
BY the Associated Press.
SHANGHAI, September pa dar-
ing suicide squad of 20 Chinese SOL
diers sacrificed their lives at dawn
today in desperate attempt that just
failed to destroy the japanese flagship
Idzumo.
As the mine they had propelled
through the muky waters of the
Whangpoo River blasted a 150-foot
geyser of water and sprayed the Id
zumo with shrapnel, the entire water
front and the battle lines northwest
Of the city crashed into an inferno of
war.
Chinese declared the long-awaited
Japanese "big push" on the Shanghai
front had begun and the troops man
ming the defense lines stretching 25
miles northwest of the city had hurled
back wave after wave Of attacking
Japanese infantry with terrific
slaughter.
Cruiser Augusta Rocked.
The blast of the Chinese mine a
few hundred yards to starboard of the
Idzumo rocked the cruiser Augusta,
flagship Of the United States Asiatic
EVoot h11v
and sailors from their hunks.
During the night the Chinese suicide
squad, some swimming and some using
sampans, gradually floated the mine
from the Pootung shore, across the
river from Shanghai, through the line
Of Japanese patrol boats.
Attached to the mine was a cable ex-
tending to the British-owned engi-
neering docks on the Pootung shore.
After moving stealthily for several
hours, the soldiers reached the steel
net which surrounds the IdZumo to
protect the flagship from torpedoes
and mines.
They had just started to snip the
net and slip the mine through when
the first rays of dawn began to light
up the mist rising on the river.
A Japanese lookout on the IdZumo
spotted the suicide squad just as they
were ready to push the mine through
the net. Their comrades on the shore
saw that they were certain to meet
death at the hands of the Japanese
bluejackets in any case and imme-
diately touched off the mine, Destroy
ing its human propellers and ripping
a wide hole in the steel net.
Throughout the day and into the
night the battle for Shanghai ragged
around the great metropolis of $780,
600 persons, while the foreign residents
jammed the rooftops to watch the
spectacle of terror
The swollen creeks and begged roads
of the Shanghai delta soon forced the
japanese to abandon their tanks and
motorized units and bring up thou
sands of cavalry to bolster the attack
A japanese spokesman declared that
marines in the northern fringes of
Shanghai had advanced to within half
mile of the North Station, but ad-
| mitted that after a day of fighting he
could report no gains on the strategic
northwestern wing. where the japanese
tried again and again to clear the way
for an advance to Kaiting.
Just as they started the day of bat
tie at dawn the Japanese warships
in the Whangpoo ended the day with
a devastating bombardment of the
| Pootung industrial area, at nightfall,
in an effort to blast out the strongly
intrenched Chinese.
| Answer to Airfield Attack.
The hour-long bombardment was
said by the Japanese to be the answer
to the Chinese shelling of their airfield
in the Yangtzepoo area, where two
large fires threw up an awesome glow
against the night sky.
The closely-woveu net of machine
gun nests from Shanghai's North Sta
tion to Lotien, Is miles to the north
west, moved down the attacking jap
anese as fast as they could reform
their lines and come within range, the
Chinese said.
They admitted they were holding
their positions only at the cost of
heavy casualties from incessant Japa-
nese artillery and warplane lombard
ment, but declared at midday they
had not yielded foot
Shanghai was rocked by furious ex-
plosions as feet of 80 warplanes
bombed the North Station and Chapel
sectors in virtually uninterrupted re-
lays.
Flying from base only miles away
the Japanese planes dropped their
loads of 250-pound and 500-pound
demolition bombs, wheeled about to
the airdrome, reloaded and returned to
the attack
In North China the main body of
Japanese consolidated their advance
| along the railroad to Hangkow from
Peiping and occupied the town Of Sim
10, 1870 miles south Of Peiping. sinlo
was captured yesterday by Japanese
armored train.