Office of the Historian

793.94/9189: Telegram

The Ambassador in Japan (Grew) to the Secretary of State

Tokyo, August 5, 1937—4 p.m.
[Received August 5—9:40 a.m.]

246. My telegram No. 244, August 3, 5 p.m.

1.
A responsible official in the Foreign Office who has thus far furnished us with accurate information with regard to the North China situation during a conversation this morning with a member of my staff apparently inadvertently made reference to the “imminent battle at Paoting”. After being pressed for an explanation he stated that the concentration of Chinese troops near Paoting is regarded as “menacing” and that when sufficient Japanese reenforcements have arrived in North China operations will be started to eject the Chinese forces from that portion of Hopei Province north of a line which he indicated on the map which line runs latitudinally from the western boundary of Shantung Province to North Honan Province and approximately through the city of Kwangping in South Hopei. He could not indicate when such operations would be started [Page 331] but he gave the impression that they would occur in the very near future.51
2.
There are well confirmed reports of the departure of reenforcements from Japan proper but so far there is no indication of their having reached the mainland.
3.
The Assistant Military Attaché was informed this afternoon at the War Office that Japanese troops in North China will not attack Chinese forces along the Peiping-Hankow and Tientsin-Pukow railways without serious provocation; and that the mere presence of these forces in Hopei in violation of the Ho-Umezu agreement does not constitute “serious provocation”.
4.
I am repeating this telegram to Nanking with the request that circulation be restricted to the Ambassador and Peck.
Grew
  1. The Embassy’s telegram No. 382, August 5, 2 p.m., from Peiping reported the Japanese Embassy Secretary as stating “he believes that there is possibility of fighting in the Paotingfu area within a week or 10 days.” (793.94/9190)↩