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From The Militant, Vol. X No. 32, 10 August 1946, p. 3.
Transcribed & marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for ETOL.
Wall Street claimed the lives of four more American boys last week. These boys had been put into the uniform of the United States Marines and sent to North China to protect American Investments and help maintain the anti-democratic regime of Chiang Kai-shek.
On July 29 a Marine convoy, traveling from Tientsin to Peiping, was ambushed by Chinese peasant-soldiers and the four Marines killed. Also killed were an undetermined number of Chinese.
The convoy consisted of 25 heavily armed vehicles, and just outside of Tungcho came upon what the N.Y. Times correspondent Benjamin Weils described as a “Communist road block.” As the convoy slowed, Chinese soldiers appeared out of the corn fields which surrounded the block and the battle began. After casualties had mounted on both sides, a truce was arranged and the American forces were allowed to proceed to Peiping with their dead and wounded.
When pressed for an opinion as to the reason for the Chinese attack, a high Marine officer in Peiping stated that he could think of none at all – unless it might be the “incident” which had occurred the day before. That “incident” was the case of a Marine officer driving into “hostile” territory and being challenged by a Chinese sentry. He shot the sentry and proceeded.
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Last updated on 26 June 2021