893.00/10–1944: Telegram

The Ambassador in China (Gauss) to the Secretary of State

1705. In telegram dated 11th Consul [at] Tihwa reports information from Foreign Office Delegate that 40 Kazaks raided area 8 kilometers south of Tihwa October 8; that over 100 others raided area 16 kilometers north of Tihwa and over 900 Altai Kazaks looted and burned walled town of Fukong, 40 kilometers north of Tihwa, on unspecified date; and that 2 frontier blockhouses southwest of Kashgar were captured by 500 Soviet soldiers accompanied by some Kazaks or Kirghiz on unspecified date. Consul states a survivor of latest raids reportedly confirmed he saw many hundred Altai Kazaks armed with [Page 817] new Soviet rifles and bayonets. Consul reports new provincial chairman states he is determined to bring peace and racial equality to Sinkiang, first step being to try to persuade Kazaks to desist from raids by use of propaganda rather than bullets.

Gauss