Tortured B-25 Fliers Learned US Shangri-La Secret by Cruel Torture SHANGHAI (CP) – By employing the “cruelest tortures,” Japanese officers learned within a week after the Tokyo raid that Doolittle’s fliers were carrier-based, it was revealed today. How the Japs knew about “Shangri La” while it was still a top military secret in the United States was explained vividly in a deposition from Lt. George Barr, of Queens Village, Long Island. American prosecutors offered the deposition in evidence at the trial of four Japanese officers being tried for the executions of three of the eight captured Doolittle fliers. LT. Barr said the information was obtained in Nanking April 24, 1942 after two days of torture and continuous questioning. Earlier, the military tribunal was told that the Doolittle pilots figured they had a five per cent chance of returning from their mission alive.