eon on Shanghai's doorstep yesterday, the flashes and thunder of innumerable guns shattered with persistent violence the quiet that the city had enjoyed for many days. Six Japanese naval vessels in the immediate vicinity turned the full force of their anger upon stubborn Chinese snipers hidden in buildings at. and directly behind Pootung Point, and Chinese batteries. They must have fired hundreds of shells before the wrath of their guns subsided towards nightfall.
It was a rude ending to the Bund's return to normal traffic conditions as thousands of people and long lines of motor cars were hastily cleared into less exposed areas by the S.M.P. and S.V.C. The undeclared war had again come much too close for comfort and the Bund, about 500 yards from one of the main Japanese targets, was no place for idle civilians.
Far from merely a Japanese bombardment, the day-long engagement saw dogged retaliation from Chinese guns, big and small, in Pootung. It was started by the hot harrying fire of Chinese snipers beginning at 9 am. which proved intensely annoying if not Gamaging to the Idzumo and her brood of destroyers.
To the sporadic fire of snipers was added the heavier shelling from Chinese batteries well inland from the Pootung shore; together they put! the Japanese warships in a furore of activity, the Tdzumo, four destroyers, @and a transport ship firing in rapid succession and in unison, The or-chest ration was a awesome rather than harmonious.
Successive spouts of water near the Japanese warships followed immediately by the sound of the ex-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.