393.115/253: Telegram
The Consul General at Shanghai (Lochhart) to the Secretary of State
[Received April 26—8 a.m.]
580. Two American missionaries for whom passes were obtained at the end of March to return to Soochow have just returned to Shanghai at the request of the Japanese military authorities in Soochow. The latter informed them that military reasons necessitated this request which it was stated was made upon instructions received from the higher military authorities in Shanghai.
[Page 312]The missionaries concerned described the situation in Soochow as ominously tense because of the presence of large Chinese guerrilla units outside the city, the rumored presence of several thousand guerrillas inside the city and a greatly reduced Japanese garrison; they expressed the opinion that the tense situation prevailing in and around Soochow made the request of the military authorities not unreasonable.
Repeated to Hankow, Peiping and Nanking.