Historical Documents - Office of the Historian

793.94/8828: Telegram

Nanking, July 18, 1937—midnight.
[Received July 18—9:13 p.m.]

297. 1. A foreign news correspondent stated that he has just been informed by the Foreign Office that:

(1): Japanese military airplanes today made three attacks upon trains on the Peiping-Hankow Railway as follows: (a) at 11:30 a.m., a plane fired machine guns at a passing train at Changhochia, Honan, killing 2 and wounding 2 passengers; (b) at noon a plane fired machine guns at a southbound train from Paoting passing Kwanchuangtsun, Hopei, and inflicted 10 casualties; (c) at 12:30 p.m., a plane fired machine guns at a passing train in the vicinity of Yuanszehsien, Hopei, killing more than 10 persons;
(2): the Foreign Office is lodging a protest37 with the Japanese Embassy which inter alia: (a) demands that the Japanese military be instructed to cease these illegal activities and give guarantees of non-recurrence; (b) holds the Japanese Government responsible for the actions of the planes; (c) reserves the right of the Chinese Government to make further demands in connection with the incidents.

2. Sent to the Department, Peiping, Tokyo, Hankow.

Peck

Foreign Relations of the United States, Diplomatic Papers, 1937, The Far East, Volume III