793.94116/65: Telegram
The Chargé in the Soviet Union (Kirk) to the Secretary of State
[Received June 21—7:40 a.m.]
158. The principal Moscow papers today carry a Tass communiqué from Tokyo stating that a Soviet Chargé d’Affaires on June 17 made representations to the Japanese Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs regarding the “bombardment of unprotected peaceful populations and unprotected peaceful cities of China by the Japanese Army and especially by Japanese aviation”. According to the communiqué, the bombardment of Canton resulting in “many thousands of victims including a huge number of women and children victims” was especially referred to in the representations and it was pointed out that “the operation of Japanese aviation in Canton is a completely unjustified act of brutal violence and that it has called forth a feeling of the deepest indignation in the public opinion of all civilized countries in the world including the Soviet Union”. The Chargé d’Affaires expressed his Government’s strong hope that such attacks against unprotected populations and peaceful towns in China will be stopped.