Bombing of Panay Deliberate

Observers who witnessed the Japanese aerial attack on the USS Panay two days ago declared tonight the bombing was unmistakably deliberate, precluding a possibility of error. The observers were rescued by the Royal Navy HMS Bee.

Though the United States gunboat had American flags painting on her awnings and a carried flags in every mast, squadrons of Japanese planes bombed the Panay at 1:35 PM (this would just half past midnight in New York).

The British Royal Navy has requested the stationing of Japanese Officers on the HMS Bee and likewise on the HMS Ladybird, also posted in the Yangtze Patrol. The Japanese have yet to respond to this proposal.

Reports are coming in that Japanese Officers boarded the Panay just two scant hours before she was attacked. They asked questions about her destination and details about the offensive in Nanking. Japanese forces also came alongside her and trained their rifles on her.

The gunboat was assisting ships Meiping, Meihsia and a third ship. As they conducted their business in the Yangtze River, they hugged the North Shore. The Japanese also set these afire.

When asked about recognizing different flags, Colonel Hashimoto, a superior commanding officer in the area in charge of the Wuhu (芜湖) area, said he was out of touch with his headquarters and that his troops could not distinguish British from Chinese flags. Neutral military observers here suspect the same inability to recognize flags on the part of many Japanese pilots.