Shanghai, June 8.
The Japanese Navy's "intention to out air raids with even greater vigour" agains, Canton and Hankow was announced at a press conference yesterday by Rear-Admiral Naokunt Nomura, Chief of the Naval Special Service Section, The diagram of the military objects in' Canton,—reproduced above, was distributed at the conference, "With regard to the recent naval air raids on Canton which are now the subject of much discussion and efiueism in various quarters," said JAdmiral Nomura, "the fact that some casualties have been suffered by noncombatants as a result of those raids is deeply regretted—although there is no question in our minds but that the civilian casualty figures as generally reported have been, greatly exaggerated in "consistent keeping with China's past policy and practice.
"Much of the criticism results, we believe, from the public's failure to realize tha, such cities as Canton and Hankow are not open cities' in the generally accepted sense of the term—there being every evidence tg show that these cities are defended cities' {fully equipped with formidable mod-jen. weapons for combatting attacks from the ai "As the Japanese naval authorities have frequently stated in the past, four naval air units have always eon: fined their targets to military objects Jand have, at great risk to themselves, Carried out the bombing from low altitudes in order 40 assure the fest degree of accuracy possible, "Recently, however, the anti-air defences of these cities have. bee greatly strengthened by the addition of large numbers of powerful anti aircraft artillery which have been set up. not only in the neighbour hood of military objectives, all parts of the cities indiseri and seemingly without reference to the position of the military estab-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.