CANTON FRONT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 301, 20 December 1937, Page 7

CANTON FRONT.

SIGNS OF OFFENSIVE.! . I Feverish Haste in Preparing ' Defences. j HANKOW NEED NOT FEAR. United Press Association.—Copyright. (Received 10 a.m.) LONDON, December 19. A message from Hongkong states that 20 miles of defensive works are being feverishly prepared there, mainly to prevent the entry of panicstricken Chinese troops. Already, refugees from Kwangtung, the mainland province off which Hongkong Island is situated, are pouring into Hongkong. The Hongkong correspondent of the "Daily Mail" says that British aeroplanes are reconnoitring the South China coast, watching for signs of the threatened Japanese attack on Canton. The Hongkong correspondent of the "Daily Telegraph" says Japanese aeroplanes raided the northern outskirts of Canton. According to Ch'nese reports, Japanese forces have landed in the Toishan district, near Macao, west of Hongkong, and also at Bias Bay, about 30 miles north, but they are not yet attempting to march inland. It is reported from Amov that 30 Japanese warships of all types are off Kiinoi. outside Amov Harbour. The Chinese claim that in a duel the forts at Amov, about 250 miles up the coast from Hongkong, sank a Jajianese dest rover.

The Chinese have placed strong booms on the at Kiukiang to prevent Japanese warships from steaming up the river to bombard Hankow.

Latest advices from Hongkong state that Hankow need have little fear of any immediate attack via the PekingHankow railway. Close observers believe it is considered impossible for the Japanese to drive down the line as far south as the \ellow River without dangerously exposing their right flank to attack by 21,000 Chinese troops on the Hopei-Shansi border.