Office of the Historian

793.94/9688: Telegram

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

Shanghai, August 25, 1937—7 p.m.
[Received August 25—5:25 p.m.]

557. Following is the full text of a memorandum handed to me by the Commander in Chief, Admiral Yarnell, today. My comments will follow by separate telegram.

“Memorandum for the Consul General:

1.
Since the arrival of the Japanese Army, it seems to me that this situation has entered on a new phase.
2.
Until yesterday the Japanese landing party was fighting more or less on the defensive in the Hongkew section under the theory that they were part of the defensive forces of the International Settlement. With a considerable stretch of the imagination, the bombardment of widely spread areas by Japanese men-of-war anchored in the Whangpoo River within the limits of the Settlement might be included in the same understanding.
3.
With the landing of the Japanese Army at Woosung, Liuho, and at Chapoo on Hangcnow Bay, the operations obviously change from a defense of the Settlement to an extensive campaign against the Nanking Government covering a wide field.
4.
It is understood that the Japanese naval landing party becomes a part of this field army.
5.
The question then arises as to what extent the Japanese forces are to be allowed to use the docks and warehouses of the Hongkew harbor in furtherance of their operations without protest from the neutral powers.
6.
The Nanking Government has protested several times against the use of the Settlement as a base of operations against their forces.
7.
If this use is continued under present conditions, their objection becomes considerably more valid and acquiescence in this use by the neutral powers will be the cause of increasing bitterness on the part of Nanking.
8.
It is recommended that the neutral powers arrive at some agreement on this matter and voice a warning to the Japanese Government against the further use of the International Settlement as a base for their war operations”.

Sent to the Department, Nanking, and Tokyo.

Gauss