793.94/13168: Telegram
The Consul General at Canton (Linnell) to the Secretary of State
[Received June 8—6:45 a.m.]
Japanese air raids on Canton June 4th were probably the most destructive of civilian life and property to date. Bombs were dropped in the most thickly populated and busiest part of the city near the Honam bridge approach, the junction of Winghorny Road and Munming Road and about the civic and Government center. Officially estimated 120 bombs dropped in city limits. Many buildings, including part of Kwangtung Provincial Bank, were destroyed. It is not possible to determine the number of civilians killed as many are buried iii the ruins but the official estimate is more than 1000 killed and Wounded. It is possible that the objectives were the Government center, the electric light plant, water plant and perhaps the highway bridge to Honam Island.
Sent to Peiping and Shanghai.