FAR EAST WAR.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 58, Issue 35, 20 November 1937, Page 7

FAR EAST WAR.

OPPOSITION FIZZLES OUT. JAPANESE NEARING SOOCHOW. (United Press Association—Copyright.) (Received This Day, 11.15 a.m.) ' SHANGHAI, November 19. Traversing a quagmired countryside, the Japanese are within five miles of Sooclxow, where the Chinese counteroffensive has fizzled out. M message from Nanking states that the foreign embassies are expected to be evacuated by the week-end. The Soviet officials have already gone. The British Consul will remain at the embassy to supervise the evacuation, for which purpose a British gunboat is standing by. COMPLETION OF THE BREACH. CLAIM BY THE JAPANESE: ! i ‘ (Received This Day, 12 Noon). SHANGHAI, November 19. The Japanese claim to have occupied C.hangshu, 50 miles north-west of Shanghai, completing the breach in the line between Changshu and Fushan. SUPPLIES FROM GERMANY. NEGOTIATIONS BY JAPAN. (Received This Day, 1.50 p.m.) GENEVA, November 19. Secret negotiations, between Germany and Japan are reported to be progressing for the delivery of supplies of German aircraft and other war material to Japan, possibly on the basis that Germany’s present assistance to China should cease. SOAR TOWARD TOKIO. CHINESE AIR RAID THREAT. NANKING, November 10. “Soon my pilots will soar toward Tokio,” stated Madame Chiang Kaishek to-day. “For China the war starts to-day. Away from Shanghai, and under no necessity to he mindful of foreign nationals, China can now thrmy in the whole of her forces. “Fortunately, land transport is bringing China badly-needed munitions, aircraft and supplies from nations which realise that a Japanese conquest of China is a menace to their interests. “Recently 500 of the latest Europeanbuilt bombing aeroplanes arrived to supplement the Japanese Air Force. But soon my air force will he supplemented by the most modern fast fighters and bombers, able to outfight and outdistance the latest Japanese aeroplanes. “The Japanese fail to realise that, although my air force is smaller In numbers, it is trained and flown by experts from America and Europe. Boon my ‘Dare-and-Die’ pilots will soar to Tokio. “Although I shall issue the strictest orders not to bomb the City of Tokio or non-combatants, Japan will realise that the Japanese boot may soon be replaced by a Chinese sandal. “No great importance should be attached to the Japanese victories in North China, and their occupation of Taiyuanfu, the capital of Shansi Province. Our northern army is the most efficient in the Far East. It lacks only for the moment heavy armaments, which we expect soon to be available. “It seems likely now that the Shanghai International Settlement will be isolated from 'the war front. That means that the Japanese invasion continues only on Chinese soil, to which the Japanese have! no shadow of right or title. “The Generalissimo and I wish the world to know that our retirement from Shanghai was a tremendous Chinese sacrifice in the interests of foreign nationals.” ,