393.115/148: Telegram
The Third Secretary of Embassy in China (Allison) to the Secretary of State
[Received February 2—10:05 a.m.]
45. Tokyo’s 53, January 26, 5 p.m.42 A dinner was given at the Japanese Embassy last night to give an opportunity to the foreign diplomatic representatives to meet Major General Homma, as well as the new garrison commander [at] Nanking, Major General Amaya, who was formerly commander of the First Infantry Division. Mr. Hidaka, Counselor of the Japanese Embassy, had also flown up from Shanghai for the occasion.
General Homma’s first words to me were an expression of deep regret for the recent unfortunate incident.43 I assured the General that, now that my Government had the Japanese reply to its [representations?] at Tokyo, my only desire was to forget the affair as soon as possible.
General Homma dwelt at some length on the war psychology of the Japanese troops which he claimed had been at the root of much of the trouble in Nanking. He stated his sole purpose in coming here was to impress on the local troops that foreign property must be respected. He asked us not to be impatient if isolated incidents continued to take place because he claimed it was exceedingly difficult to make sure that orders issued by the High Command were carried out at once by the private soldiers. Lieutenant [Colonel?] Hirota will come to Nanking in a few days, according to General Homma, and we were urged to take any complaints directly to him and thus settle all questions locally without appealing to Tokyo.
General Homma appeared to be more interested in explaining the Japanese position than in listening to what the foreign representatives might have to say. He is returning to Shanghai this afternoon by plane without having further contact with any of the foreigners, as far as is known. However, Mr. Hidaka is remaining several days and he tells me that in the future he will make periodic trips to Nanking. It is believed that with a person of his rank coming here from time to time it will be possible in the future to obtain more assistance from the Japanese Embassy than has been forthcoming in the past.
Sent to Embassy [at] Hankow. Repeated to Peiping and Shanghai. Shanghai please repeat to Tokyo.