Japs Treated Sino Fighting As Warfare Japan’s military leaders considered the fighting in China “outright warfare” despite governmental designation of the action as an “incident,” it was brought out yesterday at the major war crimes trials. However, because the whole thing was officially an “incident,” it was impossible, officially, to take Chinese soldiers as prisoners of war. The prosecution also read the report on the Panay incident submitted by G. L. Russell, acting judge-advocate general of the U. S. Navy. The Panay was sunk on the Yangtze River Aug 12, 1937, by Japanese warplanes.