Canton, Aug.31
Canton and Shinkwan got their first taste of armed combat at dawn to-day, separate Japanese air squadrons giving the two cities a deluge of deadly missiles. At least 40 are dead and ten to fifteen were wounded in the northern Kwangtung town.
Evidently nine machines _skixted the Kiangsi-Kwangtung frontier, and they were dropping their bombs over the Kukkong steel bridge before dnybody knew they were anywhere about. Three big projectiles were let fall, but marksmanship was bad, they detonating in the river, and the bridge was not even scratched. The aim must have been disturbed by the anti-aircraft guns which the regulars stationed at the bridge brought into play.
Next the nine flew right over Shin-kwan and in passing they took a few shots at the aerodrome, the bombs falling wide of their mark. Out of vengeance for the spirited reply by guns scattered about the town, bombs were then released promiscuously.
The Central Hotel was one of the refuge posts to which the citizens of Shinkwan were to resort in case of an air raid. Many were just going in when a bomb fell into the street, and 40 are reported as dead. This is the biggest loss of life so far in the aerial warfare in South China, Nobody was around when another bomb made a bulls-eye on the telegraph office. It was left a shambles, and this is the only worthwhile accomplishment of the Japanese airmen so far.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.