PROBABLE CHECK

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 62, Issue 86, 22 January 1942, Page 5

PROBABLE CHECK

JAPANESE LANDINGS IN MALAYA CLAIM TO BE NEAR SINGAPORE. ATTEMPT TO ATTACK REAR. United Press Association—Copyrigh* ' LONDON, Jan. 21. No fresh claims to advances in Malaya have been made by the Japanese. It is probable that they are now meeting greater resistance, and that some check lias been placed on their landings in the west of Johore. Tne heaviest pressure is coming from the Japanese advancing south in Johore. The Japanese are attempting to land forces in the rear of the defenders.

In Burma, according to a statement in Rangoon, the Japanese thrust toward Mo-ul me in has becij held. British bombers, escorted hv fighters, raided the aerodrome at Meshed”, in Thailand, a few miles across the border from Burma. They destroyed two enemy aeroplanes, and probably a third, and damaged another. One Royal Air Force aeroplane is missing. Earlier, Paris radio quoted a Tokio claim that Japanese artillery had started shelling the Singapore fortifications. The heavy guns of the forts were replying. The Tokio radio said that the iDomei News Agency claimed in a dispatch that the Batu Pahat sector had been reached at dawn on Saturday by the spearhead of the Japanese mechanised forces striking down the west coast of Johore from the Malacca Settlement. The Vichy radio quoted a Tokio claim that Japanese shock troops at one place had broken the first fortified positions round Singapore. Singapore had throe alerts on Tuesday morning. It is reported that 60 raiders took part in the first attack. Terrific detonations shook the town. Two of the raiding bombers were: destroyed. The casualties are officially announced to lie 50 killed and 150 wounded.