1937 BOMBING OF GUNBOAT USS PANAY BY JAPANESE AIRCRAFT BRITISH NEWSREEL (SILENT) XD46764

Want to support this channel and help us preserve old films? Visit Visit our website This historic newsreel, shot by Fox Movietone cameraman Eric Mayell, shows the so-called “Panay Incident“ of December 12, 1937. The USS Panay was a U.S. Navy ship operating in Chinese waters to protect American interests including the Standard Oil concessions. During the Japanese assault on Nanking (now Nanjing), Panay was attacked by Japanese aircraft while she was anchored in the Yangtze River. Japan and the United States were not at war at the time. The Japanese claimed that they did not see the American flags painted on the deck of the gunboat, apologized, and paid an indemnity. Nevertheless, the attack and the subsequent Allison incident in Nanking caused U.S. opinion to turn against the Japanese. Fon Huffman, the last survivor of the incident, died in 2008. Two newsreel cameramen were on board the ship at the time of the attack: Universal News cameraman Norma