[Homer_J_Simpson]

Here is a contemporary retelling of the Yellow River flood episode CougarGA7 added to the 6/9/38 article.

Having just lost Kaifeng, the Chinese were desperate to slow the Japanese advance. The Japanese now threatened Zhengzhou, an important rail junction linking major cities of Wuhan and Xi'an. Chiang Kaishek and his advisors decided to use the force of nature to stop the Japanese. In the morning of 9 Jun 1938, dikes at Huayuankou were opened. Water of the Yellow River flooded out rapidly, creating a natural barrier between the Japanese and the Chinese, but it also gave residents no time to evacuate the area at all, if they knew to evacuate at all, that is. To ensure no intelligence leaked to the Japanese side to prepare to deal with the flooding, it was decided that the Chinese civilians were not to be warned. Somewhere between 500,000 and 900,000 lives were lost as a result of the flooding, and 54,000 km² of land destroyed, containing millions of homes. The flood waters eventually flowed into the Chia-lu and Huai Rivers, forever changing the course of the Yellow River. What the flood achieved was mediocre at best, slowing Japanese military and logistical movements, but the obstacles were overcome rather quickly.

Contrasted to the story above it gives a good idea about the fog of war and the power of propaganda.

Chinese reports say many hundreds of Japanese were drowned

Chinese press reports lay the opening of the Yellow River dikes to Japanese bombing and shelling.

So, did F. Tillman Durdin not notice any of the 500,000 to 900,000 dead Chinese or did his editors back in New York decide it wasn’t “fit to print?” Same with the “Chinese press reports” that claimed the Japanese opened the dikes. Were any other possibilities investigated or did the official line suit the Times’ purpose?

Here is Tainan’s comment on a 5/17/38 article:

Almost all of the 'news reporting' from this era is complete manufactured horse muffins. The 'reporters' were given an assignment to make Peanut Head look as good as possible to justify US support form his 'efforts' - actually his lack of efforts was more correct.

I see what he means.

[samson1097]

To ensure no intelligence leaked to the Japanese side to prepare to deal with the flooding, it was decided that the Chinese civilians were not to be warned. Somewhere between 500,000 and 900,000 lives were lost as a result of the flooding

Absolutely stunning.

[CougarGA7]

I guess it only makes sense that the reporter on scene would report that the Japanese bombing is what opened the dikes. I would assume that his stories would be vetted first by the officials that he is embedded with and then second by the paper itself.

I took a little bit of time to research related articles on this flood and all of them state that the dikes were blown on the orders of Chiang Kaishek.

The real tragedy of this was that it did not slow the Japanese very much at all. On June 11th they had completely conquered the Henan province and began the advance to Wuhan in the Hubei province. That was only two days after the floods and the first city in Hubei, Anqing, fell on the 13th.