793.94/11542: Telegram
The Second Secretary of Embassy in China (Atcheson) to the Secretary of State
[Received December 9—8 a.m.]
1021. 1. I received a message on the Panay this morning from an officer of the Defense Commander’s headquarters stating that the [Page 393] situation was serious and advising us not to go ashore. Since there were no other indications from the city of trouble within or fighting nearby, Paxton, Roberts and I proceeded to the Embassy where we learned from the officer by telephone that artillery and machine gun fire had been audible and he assumes that Japanese units yesterday reported in the area of Molingkuan, which town is some 17 miles southeast of Nanking, were now very near the capital.
2. At present Japanese planes are flying over Nanking presumably on reconnaissance; except for heavy anti-aircraft fire the city is [quiet?]; and no sounds of field artillery are audible from the Embassy.
3. Repeated to Hankow, Peiping, Shanghai.