The storm before the storm
49 LUMSDEN, Graham James Alexander.
A wonderfully detailed account of the escalation of Sino-Japanese hostilities in 1931–2, written and illustrated by an aspiring British naval officer. Encompassing 18 months of service at strategic locations on the China Station, it provides significant insights into a consequential prelude to the 1937 outbreak of total war, as well as to Britain’s immediate naval response. In the long-established traditions of the navy, these journal books were kept by Graham James Alexander Lumsden (1913–1995) while serving as a cadet and then midshipman from 4 February 1931 to 24 November 1933. As part of his training, he recorded his experiences, supplemented with illustrations, maps, and plans. The entries exhibit a diligence that subsequently served Lumsden well during his distinguished navy career. Beginning in February 1931, he describes his voyage out to the China Station aboard four ships including HMS Vindictive . In mid-October, Vindictive arrives in Hong Kong and, by winter, Lumsden is onboard HMS Suffolk , the ship with which he would serve the greatest amount of time in East Asia. On 18 September 1931, Japan orchestrated the false flag Mukden Incident and launched its invasion of Manchuria. By December, Lumsden’s commanding officers increasingly fear wider anti-foreign sentiment. Two days after Christmas, he notes “the latest outrage on British shipping by the Chinese military authorities at Tungchow”, with gunboats quickly despatched from Hong Kong in response. In the wake of the explosive 28 January Shanghai Incident – a Japanese attack on the city in response to anti-Japanese protests – Suffolk and other ships are on high alert and preparing to defend London’s interests should the situation spill over. By 30 January, Suffolk is racing to Shanghai, with soldiers ordered to prepare for an immediate landing if necessary. Over the following days and weeks, Lumsden gives a detailed picture of the conflict in Shanghai, the real possibility of the fighting violating the terms of the International Settlement, and the emerging humanitarian crisis. Additional ships are called up from Hong Kong, and from their moorings near the Bund British officers prepare for the worst: “A working party examine[d] the possibilities of searchlight communication from an Observation Party on shore, in the event of Suffolk using her guns against attacking Chinese forces on the British front” (5 February 1932). Billiards at the American Club provides a break from the drumbeats of war: “we closed up for a practice bombardment run, which lasted the larger part of the forenoon, at 1000. Our ‘X’ and ‘Y’ turrets may possibly be used to bombard the Shanghai Railway to the west, beyond our lines” (9 February 1932). Shortly after an attempted assassination of the Japanese commander-in- chief in Shanghai, and with an end to the hostilities in sight, Suffolk is redeployed to Weihaiwei and then to Qingdao. The situation is stable enough that Lumsden can take a day’s excursion to Qingdao’s picturesque mountains, followed by a
Junior officer’s illustrated journal of service on the China Station. China & at sea: 1931–33 £12,500 [ 157951 ] 2 volumes, large quarto (330 × 200 mm). Original half yellow cloth, blue linen sides, vol. II with marbled endpapers, 196 manuscript leaves, nearly all neatly filled both sides. Sewn into sail cloth jackets. With tipped-in illustrations, many full-page, in a variety of mediums, including: 29 pencil sketches; 10 ink sketches and diagrams (5 colour); 23 watercolour and ink maps (3 folding); 33 watercolour and ink sketches and plans (1 folding); 6 watercolours; as well as a map, postcard, and engraved plate. In excellent condition with the jackets lightly soiled, front inner hinge of vol. I cracked but still sound, one illustration with old neat paper repair on verso, contents clean and still remarkably fresh.
visit to Beijing. In the eyes of a young midshipman, the old imperial capital was “a city of superlatives – its beauties, its little queernesses, its occupations, its anachronisms – and its smells” (22 June 1932). Having completed a summer of training, Suffolk proceeds up the Yangtze to Hankow, with the crew warned of the inflammatory potential of minor incidents ashore. Lumsden remains tuned to news of the Lytton Commission on Manchuria – the League of Nations’s attempt to resolve Sino-Japanese differences – and ongoing developments in Shanghai, including renewed boycotts of Japanese goods. Lumsden’s entries from the concluding portion of his China Station service convey a growing sense that the recent crises are warnings of things to come. By 6 March 1933, Sino-Japanese tensions are once again “critical”, especially when set against other international events: “the Reichstag in Berlin was set on fire this morning, it is believed by Communists” (28 February 1933). With the Lytton Commission having failed to ward off Japanese aggression, Lumsden and Suffolk leave China for home in late March, the international situation now significantly more fraught than when he first arrived.
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