793.94/3872: Telegram

The Consul General at Shanghai (Cunningham) to the Secretary of State

My telegram of January 31, 11 p.m. At 2:15 this afternoon I received oral communication from Japanese Consulate General that instructions had been received from Tokyo that the proposal made at the meeting on Sunday, January 31st, could not be accepted. Truce [Page 186] appears to be broken as heavy firing began shortly after 2 o’clock. Japanese Consul General denied to me over telephone that truce broken stating that Japanese had been attacked and were only replying. Japanese aeroplanes have been in the air since 2 o’clock.

Repeated to the Legation and Nanking.

Cunningham