Die Bravely in Defense of Town
Entire Unit Is Annihilated By Vicious Japanese Onslaught
By EDNA LEE BOOKER
SHANGHAI, Feb. 10 (I.N.S.). —A fighting unit of 24 Chinese women soldiers was destroyed in a brave defense of the village of Woosung when it was invaded by Japanese forces two days ago, it was revealed today.
The modem Amazons, armed with old-fashioned rifles and long bayonets, had been guarding the road on the outskirts of the village, according to Carl Lemcke and Harvey Duncan, American business men who encountered them Monday.
Fall Before Jap Advance
Today the two Americans returned to the village to photograph the strange soldiers, only to learn Japanese now occupied the posts formerly held by the women troops and that the women had been obliterated in the Japanese advance.
The women soldiers halted Duncan and Lemcke, pointing their bayonets menacingly as the men attempted to proceed along the Woosung Road. They were ordered not to go on. The men got out of their car, amazed to find the strange soldiers.
They were garbed in ordinary blue coolie cloth coats and the trousers of country women. Some wore earrings and some hobbled about on tiny, closely-bound feet. All were heavily armed.
Forced to Turn Back
The two men had no interpreter and could not talk their way past the persistent female guard. They were forced to return to Shanghai. The Americans said they believed the women were an advance guard to warn their men folk of the village of approaching danger.
The women were simple country folk, the Americans said, who had exchanged the hoe for the gun in an emergency to protect their homes. They had defended them to the death.
The Washington Times, Washington, DC, February 10, 1932