Shanghai, Aug. 21.
Shanghai awoke yesterday to the usual morning strafing, starting' with few shells from heavy guns, probably naval, directed planes, evidently Japanese, 35 there was not the usual Archie' fire, they got over the Native City, when' a rather feeble antiaircraft barrage was sent up. The" planes, six in number, there may have been more, were flying high in formations three, when apparently about over the Kiangnan Arsenal, they started Jbombing and from the sound they were evidently dropping very heavy bombs, This bombing was kept up intermittently all the morning, over the Native City, Kiangnan Arsenal jand Loongwhe.
At about 830 am. the drone of! Chinese planes was heard, which is quite distinct from that of Japanese planes, immediately Japanese started an Archie barra Anti-aircraft shells were bursting. all over the Chapel area, and two [Chinese monoplanes could be seen in the thick of it. Suddenly out of the blue a plane could be seen falling, tuming over and over, till finally it }was seen to go into a nose dive and fall somewhere in the Hongkew dlstrict. 'The plane, of a light brown colour, which looked as if it was varnished, shan brightly in the morning sun, there was no sound from the engine at all, which had evidently been put out' of action.
'The second plane started to turn back, when. suddenly a shell was seen' to burst right under it and it Groped, hed the Japanese got the second one? No, for suddenly righting llselt, it made off behind a cloud and was'soon lost in the distance.
The planes were evidently out for spotting purposes, as they dropped no as far as the observer could see, both were alike, very. fast monoplanes, The barrage put up against them by the Japanese was terrify and one very curious feature Of it, whilst the smoke of the majority of the shells left white rings in the sky which gently floated away on the morning breeze, 'The smoke from about Half a dozen other shells, left 4 dirty brown cloud in the skies, The sight of a stricken plane, dropping from the blue skies, once' seen, can never be forgotten. It was a marvellous sight, albeit a pitiful one, when first struck. it seemed to ttn right over, twisting about. sometimes {ing spin and then again twisting, til it Went into its tual spin to crash,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.