Sunday, June 29, 1930

Germany:  The country is abuzz on the eve of the evacuation of the final French troops from the Rhineland.  Celebrations are planned at midnight, and workers are erecting flagpoles to fly the German flag over the Rhineland for the first time in 12 years.

China:  In the civil war, Manchurian warlord Zhang Xueliang reportedly offers again to serve as mediator between the nationalist government and northern rebels.  

Sunday, June 15, 1930

Berlin:  Having been banned from wearing their uniforms (see June 12), nazis hold a march shirtless. 

Meanwhile, S. Parker Gilbert, Agent General for Reparations under the now-expiring Dawes Plan (predecessor of the Young Plan), makes his final report on Germany’s financial condition.  He sounds repeated warnings that Germany needs “immediate and radical” budgetary reform if the nation is to meet its obligations and gets its financial house in order.  Tax revenues have improved “to an extent far exceeding expectations of experts,” Gilbert says.  The main problem: the government spends too much.  “There is evidence of unwillingness on the part of both government and parliament squarely and promptly to face the situation by taking the necessary steps either to control expenditures or to provide adequate resources to cover them.”

Gilbert’s report further complains that the German government’s budget presentations are “ideally calculated to obscure the real position.”  Yet Gilbert says social expenditures have risen 458% over the past five years, from 259 million marks to 1.345 billion, as the nation has become more deeply involved in subsidizing social insurance funds.  Germany’s public debt increased 11% in the last year alone, to 10.353 billion marks.  Germany’s gross deficit for the 1929-30 budget of about 1.075 billion marks is the worst in years.

“When the experts of the Dawes Committee were called together at the beginning of 1924, Germany was on the point of collapse after an unprecedented period of inflation,” Gilbert’s report says.  “Germany’s credit has been re-established both at home and abroad, her industries have been reorganized and her productive capacity has been restored, and the general standard of living has greatly improved.  The Dawes Plan, as was its object, also cleared the way for complete and final settlement of the reparations problem, which is embodied in the Young Plan and the Hague agreements of Jan. 20, 1930.  The new plan is an act of confidence in the good faith and financial integrity of Germany, and Germany now has a definite task to perform on her own responsibility, without foreign supervision and without the transfer protection provided by the Dawes Plan.”

S. Parker Gilbert

Leipzig:  Armed nazis and communists clash in Eythra, a suburb, killing 1 and injuring 12. 

Vienna:  Waldemar Pabst, the German leader of Austria’s fascist Heimwehr paramilitary who faces deportation for revolutionary activities, loses his appeal to stay in the country and leaves on a plane for Venice. 

Meanwhile, in economic news, reports have unemployment in Austria 20% higher than a year ago.  Export trade has declined significantly. 

Washington:  President Herbert Hoover announces, as expected, that he will sign the tariff bill known as the Smoot-Hawley Act that has been making its way through Congress.  Representatives of Spain, France and Great Britain have all warned that if Hoover signs the bill into law, it will unleash retaliatory tariffs from their countries. 

China:  Manchurian warlord Zhang Xueliang has reportedly told northern rebel forces he will join the fighting against them unless they accept his offer to mediate between them and nationalist government head Chiang Kai-shek (see March 21).

Sunday, June 1, 1930

Halle, Germany:  In a speech here, nationalist politician Alfred Hugenberg proposes a “reparations duty” – a tariff on all goods and raw products imported into Germany – to extract from the rest of the world funds for Germany to pay its war debts under the Young Plan.  “Whoever utilizes central Europe, its market, traffic system and culture, must help us bear the burden which the rest of the world imposed.”  Hugenberg further suggests that this duty would be the first step in an economic fusion of central Europe centered around Germany, as opposed to France’s plan for a “United States of Europe.”

Dunkelstein, Austria:  Socialists and Heimwehr fascists clash in a street battle, throwing stones and firing shots.  Injuries are described as “numerous,” including gunshot wounds.

Manchuria:  Japanese consular police and Chinese troops mobilize in the Kurin province in anticipation of further outbreaks of violence by Korean communists.

Philadelphia:  More bad economic news -- new data indicate unemployment here is 40 percent higher than same time last year.  

Saturday, May 31, 1930

Lung Ching-Tsun (Jilin City), Manchuria:  Bands of Korean communists launch coordinated attacks on Japanese facilities here, in Yenki, and at other towns in this district on the border with Korea.  The communists burn and bomb Japanese consulates, utilities and schools, but the only casualty is an injured police officer.  Japanese consular police and Chinese troops band together to drive the attackers away.

 

Berlin:  Joseph Goebbels, nazi member of the Reichstag, is fined the equivalent of US$200 instead of getting the nine-month prison term requested by state prosecuting attorneys, for insulting President Paul von Hindenburg in an article he published in December in a nazi newspaper.  The article, titled “Is President von Hindenburg Still Alive?” excoriated Hindenburg for his “friendship with Jewish and Marxist advisors.” 

Meanwhile, more bad economic news: Paul Moldenhauer, Minister of Finance, reports to the Reichstag that government revenues are still falling, but spending is not, resulting in a projected annual deficit of US$180 million.  

Sunday, May 4, 1930

Madrid:  Students shouting “Viva el rey!” enter a theater where Republicans have gathered and start hitting the meeting’s leaders over the head with sticks, sparking a riot.  From there, the fighting spreads outside, and eventually to the street in front of a hotel where the meeting’s speaker is staying.  Several are injured and arrested.

Rome:  Benito Mussolini reviews 25,000 fascist youth who have been participating in a camp.  Mussolini praises their morale and discipline.

Austria:  Chancellor Johann Schober, who had just promised the League of Nations he would disarm the country’s militarized political factions as a condition for receiving financing to improve Austria’s infrastructure, returns home to find a 10,000-man march being held by the nationalist Heimwehr paramilitary in Vienna, and 16,000 uniformed socialists gathering in St. Polten.  Police with machine guns keep the peace.

Washington:  More than 1,000 economists sign a letter to President Herbert Hoover, asking him to veto the Smoot-Hawley tariff bill pending in Congress.  The bill would raise tariffs on more than 20,000 import products to record levels, in hopes of protecting domestic producers during the economic depression.  The economists say it will have the opposite effect, provoking reprisal tariffs from other countries and worsening the depression.

Manchuria:  Warlord Zhang Xueliang, de facto ruler of Manchuria, is reportedly acquiring a small “air force” of bombers and scout planes after suffering under Russia’s air superiority during the Soviet incursion into Manchuria (see Nov. 17, 1929).  

Friday, May 2, 1930

Prague:  Communists and socialists in parliament come to blows for the second day in a row during debate of routine business.

Berlin:  The cabinet of Chancellor Heinrich Bruening announces its budget for the fiscal year, which amounts to US$84 million more than last year, which already carried a US$75 million deficit.  The cabinet’s opponents are increasing their complaints that the government must get its financial house in order.

Tokyo: Rumors swirl that Kanja Kato, Navy Chief of Staff, will resign in protest of Japan’s acceptance of the London Naval Treaty. 

Harbin, Manchuria:  A mob of Chinese and Korean “radicals” attacks the Japanese consulate here.  Police arrest 32. 

Friday, 4 April 1930: Zhang Xueliang Supports Chiang's Chinese Government

Shanghai:  The Nanking State Council, a body of Chiang Kai-shek’s nationalist government, approves a mandate for “the arrest and subjugation” of the leaders of the northern revolt (see Apr. 1) – tantamount to a declaration of war.  In a surprise move, however, warlord Zhang Xueliang, de facto ruler of Manchuria, is reported to have thrown his support behind the nationalist government.  He orders a squadron of gunboats to Shantung province and his troops to the Great Wall in support of Chiang’s government.  

Madrid:  More impact from the worldwide economic depression: Spain’s Finance Minister says the country will incur a deficit of the equivalent of US$23 million for 1930.

Washington:  Still more impact from the depression: President Herbert Hoover signs a $375 million road spending bill, intended to stimulate the economy.

Friday, 21 March 1930

Manchuria:  

Warlord Zhang Xueliang, effective ruler of Manchuria, offers his services as mediator between Chinese President Chiang Kai-shek and rebellious Governor Yen Hsishan of Shansi.  The threat of renewed civil war in China has been looming for weeks.

  

London:  

The French delegation appears to withdraw from the naval conference, having left for Paris for the weekend and announcing that they won’t be back.  Observers think it’s a ploy to try to wrest an 11^th hour concession out of either Italy (to give up its demand for naval parity with France) or England (for a naval deal that includes continental security).  But Great Britain, the U.S. and Japan evidently saw this coming, and reportedly have a three-way “fallback” pact they will go to work on.  It is expected that if France is out, Italy will be too, as Italy presumably would not agree to any limitations on naval power with France under no such obligation.

Chisinau, Romania:  

Russian and Romanian border guards get into a firefight on the Dniester River near here.  According to reports, the Russian guards board a boat on their side of the river, then cross over and attack the Romanian border post with hand grenades.  The Romanians respond with rifle fire.  One Romanian is killed and several Russians wounded.  No one knows a reason for the attack, but tensions relative to Russia are high in Romania, as the government says it has uncovered communist plots to attempt a coup in the country.

Elsewhere:

Moscow:  Crowds of Young Communists and Young Pioneers (a communist version of the boy scouts) converge on the Italian Embassy and hold protests against the Pope. 

Bogota:  Thousands of unemployed conduct a demonstration that devolves into a riot when police fire on the crowd.  Two are killed and at least 20 injured.

Monday, 6 January 1930

Manchuria:  Reports say the plan for a possible new Mongolian republic in western Manchuria (see Dec. 23, 1929) have failed. 

Monday, 23 December 1929

Berlin:  

Dr. Paul Moldenhauer is appointed Minister of Finance to replace Dr. Rudolf Hilferding.  Moldenhauer was previously Minister of Economics.  Robert Schmidt will replace him in that post. 

Molenhauer’s appointment pleases industrialists and bankers.  He is a member of the people’s party (as is Foreign Minister Julius Curtius), a party friendly to business interests, and is expected to make changes to his predecessor’s policies that these interests will find more favorable.  This also restores the people’s party to four seats in Chancellor Hermann Mueller’s cabinet.

Meanwhile, Alfred Hugenberg, nationalist political leader who lost the Liberty Law vote, reportedly is planning to appeal the law’s defeat to the German courts and to ask President Paul von Hindenburg to proclaim the measure law.  He claims that only a majority of those who actually voted on Sunday was required for the Liberty Law to pass – not a majority of registered voters.  It’s a grasp at straws.  Neither the court nor Hindenburg is expected to give his argument any merit. 

Brussels:  

A young man, variously said to be an anarchist or a communist, is arrested on charges of plotting to bomb a train carrying the king and queen of Belgium.  The royals’ daughter, Princess Marie Jose, plans to marry Crown Prince Umberto of Italy in January.  The bomb plot was in protest of Italy’s fascist government.  A newspaper article in Brussels says the Belgian Prime Minister, Justice Minister and Defense Minister had all recently received threats as well that they would be killed unless they stopped the wedding.

 

Manchuria: 

Japanese reports say that ethnic Mongolians in the Barga district of western Manchuria are considering forming a new nation -- with Soviet Russian encouragement and under Russian influence – from territory that Russia invaded last month. 

Sunday, 22 December 1929: Germany's Liberty Law is Defeated at the Polls

Berlin:  

The Liberty Law is defeated at the polls as expected.  Nationalist politician Alfred Hugenberg’s proposed measure to reject the Young Plan in favor of ending war debt payments altogether is supported by less than 6 million voters, or 14%.  Still, that’s an increase from the roughly 10% who signed the petition earlier in the year that brought the measure up for a public vote, and it surprises some observers, who hadn’t expected the vote to be any higher.  Some places show marked increases: in Potsdam, for example, 45% more people vote for the Liberty Law than signed the plebiscite.  Dusseldorf, a socialist and centrist stronghold, sees a 35% increase in voters for the measure.  Pfalz and Wurttemberg report 100% increases. 

The measure, sometimes also referred to as the law “against the enslavement of the German people,” would also have prosecuted German officials who favored reparations payments, and would have renounced the war guilt clause in the Treaty of Versailles.  Voting is relatively quiet, although some clashes are reported in Berlin, including one polling place having all its ballots stolen at gunpoint. 

Khabarovsk, Russia:  

China and Russia sign an agreement to restore Russian control of the Chinese Eastern Railway, which was a major focus of a Russian invasion of Manchuria last month.  Prisoners will be exchanged, troops will be withdrawn, and China additionally says it will disband the White Russian military organizations operating in Manchuria. 

Manchuria:  

In a related development, Japan’s Rengo news agency reports that some 200 Japanese nationals living in Manchuria, who were caught in the fighting during Russia’s invasion, are suffering cold, hunger and other hazards in the wake of the conflict.  Meanwhile, in Shanghai, reports are that Japan’s Dempo news agency has displeased the nationalist government, allegedly spreading “ill reports specifically intended to undermine public confidence in the nationalist government,” according to a foreign office announcement, which also said the government had requested Japan’s legation in Peiking to “restrain these propagandists.”  The news agency’s telegraph and radio privileges are withdrawn. 

New York:  

The Fascist League of North America disbands.  The organization, which formed primarily in Italian-American communities around the country, received mixed reactions from the Italian government and was viewed with ambivalence by the U.S. government.  A Harper’s magazine article on Oct. 26, entitled “Mussolini’s American Empire,” claimed the FLNA was raising “soldiers for fascism.”  This caused an uproar nationwide, including Congressional calls for an investigation of the FLNA.

League President Count Ignazio Thaon di Revel says that the Harper’s article and ensuing calls for investigation had nothing to do with it.  Rather, the league’s work in “contributing to the enlightenment of the American public pertaining to the ideals of fascism” has been accomplished.

To view a photo of an FLNA march.

Thursday, 19 December 1929

Berlin:  

Another economic crisis confronts the cabinet of Chancellor Hermann Mueller and threatens the post of Finance Minister Rudolf Hilferding.  Germany still needs an emergency infusion of cash to pay its bills through the year.  Hilferding has failed over the past several days to get this loan from the U.S. banks that had expressed interest in it, except on terms that would have required his resignation.  But the cabinet agrees today to introduce and support a bill in the Reichstag for a 450 million mark amortization fund, which was a condition that several large German banks had placed on lending to the government.  As a result of the bill, Germany will be able to gets its emergency loan from domestic banks, Hilferding doesn't resign, and Germany breaks off the negotiations with the U.S. banks.

But on the same day, more news illustrating Germany’s worsening economic situation surfaces.  A government estimate says that due to rising unemployment, a housing shortage and other economic duress, some 35-75,000 children will face some form of economic hardship this Christmas season, many going hungry at least part of the day. 

Elsewhere: 

London:  8,000 people, representing different religions and denominations, gather at Albert Hall to protest the persecution of religion in communist Russia. 

Manchuria:  The Chinese Eastern Railway, over which the recent Russian invasion of Manchuria was waged, is reopened.

Tuesday, 17 December 1929

China:  Nationalist government leader Chiang Kai-Shek acknowledges publicly that his government was under serious duress during the recent troop rebellions.  Meanwhile, international observers in Manchuria report that the Chinese government’s control over Manchuria is almost nonexistent.  The province of Kirin, on the border with Korea, is reported to be virtually independent.  

Wednesday, 4 December 1929

Washington:  

Secretary of State Henry Stimson denounces Russia’s statement from yesterday that the United States’ urging Russia to settle the Manchuria dispute was “unfriendly.”  Stimson says rather the U.S. action was prompted by the seriousness with which the United States views the Kellogg-Briand Pact.  Stimson reiterates a belief that public opinion can be used as a tool for enforcing peace, and for encouraging compliance with the Kellogg-Briand Pact by the nations who signed it. 

Moscow:  

Yet Russia keeps up the war of words.  Maxim Litninoff, Acting Commissar of Foreign Affairs, advises “protectors of the Kellogg pact” to keep their attentions focused on their own parts of the world.  “The Soviet Union, unlike other countries, rejected extraterritorial rights and privileges in China, and it would seem strange why, under this circumstance, the Nanking and Mukden governments took the path of violence with provocations toward soviet Russia.  This is explained by the simple fact that the start and further encouragement of actions of the Nanking government originated from the imperialistic camp.” 

Elsewhere: 

Shanghai:  Meanwhile the national government of China also issues a reply to the communiqué it, like Russia, received from the United States and other world powers, urging it to settle the Manchuria conflict peacefully.  The reply promises that, “apart from measures of self-protection and defense of territorial sovereignty against external invasions, China would observe her obligations under the pact.”

China:  The troop rebellions in the civil war grow more serious.  Reports say the number of mutinous troops in Pukow is 15,000, and they’ve headed north after looting the city.  Meanwhile, communist rebels have reportedly killed 100 people and looted the city of Kanchow (Ganzhou), in southern China.

Berlin:  The fallout from Alfred Hugenberg’s Liberty Law initiative continues: 8 more German Nationalist People’s Party delegates in the Reichstag resign, including the party chairman, joining the six who resigned yesterday in protest of Hugenberg’s leadership.  Ten more are expected to follow soon.  

Tuesday, 3 December 1929

Berlin:  

The political fallout begins for nationalist political leader Alfred Hugenberg over his failed Liberty Law* initiative.  Six Reichstag delegates from his German National People’s Party resign from the party in protest over Hugenberg’s leadership, which has been driving the party increasingly nationalist.  This follows the split already evident last week, when some of his own party’s members voted against his proposed Liberty Law.  But Hugenberg is also being excoriated from the even more radically nationalist Adolf Hitler, leader of the national socialists.  

Russia: 

Nikolsk-Ussurlisky: Russian and Manchurian officials sign an agreement formally ending fighting in the Russian invasion of Manchuria.  According to dispatches, joint control of the Chinese Eastern Railway will be reinstated.  It’s still not clear what role the national government of China has in this agreement, if any, nor what recognition it will give the agreement, if any . . . nor that it even matters, given the central government’s tenuous-at-best rule in Manchuria. 

Moscow:  Meanwhile, the soviet government informs the French government (which is acting as the mediator between the United States and Soviet Union, since the two countries have no diplomatic relations) that it considers “unfriendly” the recent U.S. advice that Russia keep in mind the Kellogg-Briand Pact which it signed, and settle the Manchuria dispute peacefully.

 

“The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, from the first day of its existence, has pursued a policy of peace, and unlike other powers has never resorted to military action except as a necessary step for defense, due to direct attack on the union or armed intervention in its internal affairs.  The Soviet Union has consistently pursued this policy and intends to pursue it independently of the Paris pact for abolition of war.”  The response goes on to outline Russia’s case that it was China’s policy over the Chinese Eastern Railway that started the conflict.    

“The climax of this policy was the seizure of the Chinese Eastern Railway without any warning or preliminary presentation of any claims, in violation of existing agreements regarding the joint administration of the railway.  The soviet government believes that if action such as that of the Nanking government were taken toward the United States, Great Britain or France, it would be considered by their governments sufficient cause for putting into force reservations they made when signing the pact.  [. . .]  The Nanking government not only resorted to illegal seizure of the Chinese Eastern Railway, but mobilized along the soviet Manchurian railway an army, various sections of which, together with counter revolutionary Russian bands included therein, made systematic attacks on the U.S.S.R., crossing the frontier and firing on units of the Red Army and frontier villages, robbing and violating a peaceful population, causing thereby losses of lives and property.  Despite frequent warnings through the German government, these attacks did not cease but rather increased and compelled the soviet far-eastern army, in the interests of defense, protection of the frontier and the peaceful population, to take counter measures.  Thus the actions of the Red Army had due considerations of self-defense and were in no wise violations of any obligations of the Paris pact.

“That cannot be said of armed forces in Chinese territory and Chinese ports of those powers who have applied Tuesday to the Soviet Union with identical declarations.  The soviet government states that the government of the United States has addressed its declaration at a moment when the soviet and Mukden governments already had agreed to several conditions and were proceeding with direct negotiations which would make possible prompt settlement of the conflict between the Soviet Union and China.  In view of this fact, the above declaration cannot but be considered unjustifiable pressure on the negotiations, and cannot therefore be taken as a friendly act.  In conclusion, the soviet government cannot forbear expressing amazement that the government of the United States, which by its own will has no official relations with the soviet, deems it possible to apply to it with advice and counsel.” 

China:  

New fighting erupts in the civil war.  Communist rebels are reportedly advancing on Canton, on the southern coast, and two divisions of nationalist government troops mutiny at Pukow, across the river from the capital of Nanking, after refusing orders to deploy to Canton. 

Monday, 2 December 1929

Washington:  

The United States issues an appeal to 53 nations that signed the Kellogg-Briand pact, which prohibited war as means of national policy, to join in pressuring Russia and China to solve their Manchuria dispute through peaceful means.  Separately, the U.S. notifies Russia and China that the respect with which they are held by the rest of the world will depend on peaceful resolution.  Since the U.S. has no diplomatic relations with Soviet Russia, that message is delivered via the French government.  Great Britain issues a memorandum the same day saying it is prepared to join in the effort to bring about a peaceful settlement to the Manchurian dispute.  Japan issues a statement saying it does not intend to support the U.S. initiative.

Germany:  

Berlin: The Federation of German Industries, a large and influential trade group, releases a statement calling for sweeping economic, financial and socio-political reforms if Germany is to avoid economic collapse.  The group says high taxes, excessive government handouts and federal government aid to German states, are financially unsound and will lead to ruin if not stopped.

Darmstadt: 250 members of the nationalist Stahlhelm paramilitary group are arrested after clashing with civilians.  

Thursday, 28 November 1929

Washington:  

The United States government is reportedly proposing some kind of joint action by world powers in the face of Russia’s invasion of Manchuria.  News reports from Tokyo say Japan has been contacted by the U.S., and other reports say Great Britain, Italy and France have been contacted as well.  British Foreign Secretary Arthur Henderson, speaking before the House of Commons, says Great Britain is prepared to participate in some form of joint action, but the nature of what that might be is unclear. 

Manchuria:  

However, Russia is beginning to withdraw its forces from Manchuria, having achieved its military objectives, although Russian warplanes are still conducting flyovers.  But there are conflicting reports about who has negotiated what with the Soviets.  Manchuria’s warlord ruler, Zhang Xueliang, is said to have negotiated peace unilaterally with Russia, allowing Russian workers and soldiers on the Chinese Eastern Railway to return.  But China’s government is reportedly seeking peace talks with Russia too.  Either way, Japanese reports out of Manchuria say the danger appears to be over.

Tuesday, 26 November 1929: Soviet Union Claims Victory in Manchuria

Manchuria:  

China asks for the world’s help with the Russian invasion of Manchuria.  The government appeals both to the League of Nations and all the countries that signed the Kellogg-Briand Pact to come to China’s aid and punish the Soviet Union.  “Take appropriate steps to stop and punish this deliberate violation,” the statement says.  Chinese troops in Manchuria, still fleeing in disarray, are reported roaming through the countryside seeking food and water.  However, new reports say Hailar is not in fact occupied by Russian forces.

Meanwhile, Russia is already claiming victory in Manchuria.  Russia says fighting has stopped, with 12,000 Manchurian casualties to 280 Russian soldiers killed.  And Manchuria’s warlord Zhang Xueliang reportedly has opened his own negotiations with the Russians and is said to be agreeing to resume the status quo: allowing Russia to control the Chinese Eastern Railway.*  Press reports from Moscow say the Soviet Council of Defense has decided to reject any attempts by other nations to intervene on China’s behalf. 

Soviet soldiers with captured Kuomintang banners

(Note that dates and other information in Wikipedia article appear to be wrong.)

Monday, 25 November 1929: Hailar, Manchuria in flames under Soviet bombing

Manchuria:  

The town of Hailar is reported in flames under Russian bombing, with thousands of refugees streaming southward.  Some reports say the Russians forces, backed by tanks and artillery, have already occupied the city, with Chinese casualties as high as 12,000.  Russia claims 8,000 Chinese soldiers captured.  Soviet troops are in control of Misham, Muling, and Russian cavalry have appeared south of Ninguta.  Chinese resistance, such as it was, is melting fast.  Chinese forces are reportedly trying to establish a headquarters at Buchatu, 100 miles east of Hailar, but fleeing troops are pouring in at such a rate, and in such a state of panic, that it is questionable whether they will be able to organize.  The Chinese Eastern Railway is bringing in every available train and car to transport refugees away from battle fronts.  But there are too many, and civilians are camping by the tracks. 

China:  Meanwhile, the nationalist government’s forces, even with the Russian invasion of Manchuria, are still fighting the civil war, and report a decisive victory over rebels in Honan and Hupeh, in central China, with 40,000 rebel casualties to 8,000 for the government.  

Sunday, 24 November 1929

Manchuria:  

The Russian invasion continues.  Reports indicate that Chinese/Manchurian forces have given up any attempt to defend the Chinese Eastern Railway west of the Khingan Mountains.  They are retreating eastward, looting as they go.  The Soviets also reportedly control the towns of Hailar and Muling, and all the territory west of the Khingan Mountains.  Soviet warplanes are bombing Hailar, and their forces have broken through and are encircling the Chinese there.

Meanwhile China issues a statement denying Russia’s claim that its invasion was only in response to provocation.  “The soviets are the only ones guilty of provocative acts.  More than 30 towns along the border, and in Chinese territory, have been raided and looted by the Reds.”

Russia:  The communist government kills more of its citizens – 16 people are executed for alleged anti-government activities, and 23 others are jailed.