Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1938-11-06

were clad in poorly fitting cotton uni
FORMS light green in color to match the
summer crops, and were armed only with
homemade grenades.
When satisfied that was an American
newspaperman, they grinned like the
rustics they were. saluted awkwardly, and
sent to the next village for horse on
which I rode to their headquarters As
miles away.
Greeted by Great Crowds.
Great crowds of farmers greeted us at
every town and village, for the people
here had not seen a foreigner since the
war began. Every man, woman and child
was wearing an armband to indicate
membership in a mass organization
which was helping to feed and clothe
the gueHilas. The a1nbands serve as
passports for the local people and help
to shut out Japanese spies i.
Twice We passed small guerrilla units
numbering from two to three hundred
men, moving up to the railroads for raids
on japanese garrisons. Despite their ap-
preaching zero hour these men were all
singing at the top of their lungs. The
majority of these guerrillas seemed to be
of the age of American high school and
college students, thin but wiry of ply
sique, poorly dressed and poorly armed.
Their one insuperable asset was their
reckless enthusiasm.
When I reached the central headquar-
tiers, I found that the brain trust for
these 10000 guerrillas operating on the
plains south of Peiping is not composed
of Chang Kai-sheks German trained
cadets, but of Peiping University stu
dents, boys who wore silk gowns before
the war but who now dress in the same
homespun cotton which the ordinary
guerrilla privates wear.
The collegians are amateur strategists.
The highest monthly salary among them
is 80 cents American money.
Lawrence Book Is Guide.
At their headquarters found a copy
of Lawrences Seven Pillars of Wisdom"
translated into Chinese and used as
source book on guerrilla warfare.
The guerrilla brain trust includes
a handful of veterans from the Man
churian volunteers men with seven
years experience fighting the japanese,
and a score of officers loaned by the
Chinese Red army, now called the 9th
Route Army.
While I was investigating the methods
of this unique staff a Japanese plane
flew over and dropped 10 bombs two of
xr,I,i aIa ~. rfx ~ 1,n
building in which I had been working
until took to the fields along with the
rest of the civilian population. In the
debris I found my typewriter and the
notes from which this story is written.
The unique hobby of organizing train
wrecks, stealing rails and chopping down
telephone poles has been taken up by
two Chinese scholars, at the potential
daily expense of nearly 5000 yen to the
japanese Army.
In guerrilla territory I had heard
much of this pair of mischiefmakers.
who in pre-war days, occupied dignified
PROFESSIONAL chairs in venerable Christian
universities in Peiping.
I eventually met them in village 140
miles south of the former capital, as
they we're returning from a very sue
cessful" wrecking expedition in which a
japanese military train and 20 Nip
ponese soldiers were the victims.
Surviving guards on the train had fled
to the nearest garrison post, enabling
the professors to make leisurely exam
nation of the damage and to cripple
the locomotive boiler with explosives.
Like Game Of Chess.
Encouraged by the contents of case
of beer they had pirated from the wreck,
the ertswhile scholars explained the ma
ture of their scientific sabotage work.
Its like game of chess explained
the former Peiping chemistry professor.
"Our opponent is the japanese Army en-
gineer. He tries to checkmate every new
move we make in wrecking his trains,
| but thus far we have kept one jump
| ahead"
Oblivious of their oil stained uniforms
and unkept hair the prof" and his
former colleague in the department Of
physics told of how the guerrillas had
first used dynamite.
The technique was that used by Law
renee in Arabia-burying an explosive