Chapter II: July 8–25, 1937

Outbreak of hostilities between Japanese and Chinese forces at Marco Polo bridge near Peiping July 7–8; American warning to Japan and China against spread of hostilities; Japanese insistence on local arrangements to end hostilities; China’s expressed willingness to resolve differences with Japan by peaceful methods; Japan’s warning to China against dispatch of troops to North China, July 17; Chinese protest against Japanese air attack on troop train, July 18; Generalissimo Chiang’s minimum conditions for peace between China and Japan, July 20; renewal of American plea on behalf of peace, July 21; China’s consent to local truce at Marco Polo bridge, July 25

[Additional correspondence regarding Japan’s undeclared war in China beginning with the fighting at Marco Polo Bridge the night of July 7, 1937, is printed in Foreign Relations, Japan, 1931–1941, volume I, pages 313 ff. Numerous telegrams reporting details of military movements and clashes between the Chinese and Japanese forces were received by the Department of State. For the most part, these are not printed. A summary of the evidence regarding the outbreak of hostilities is given in the First Report Adopted by the League of Nations Assembly on October 6, 1937, reprinted ibid., page 384.]

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