CHINESE RESISTING JAPANESE THRUSTS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 113, 15 May 1942, Page 5

CHINESE RESISTING JAPANESE THRUSTS

BURMA FIGHTING

Heavy Conflict On Borders Of Three Countries

United Press Association.— Copyright. Rec. noon. LONDON", May 14

A.New Delhi communique says' fighting is going on 300 miles north | ot Manclalay on the frontiers of three ' countries. The Chinese are stub- * bornly resisting the Japanese drive. ; A Chungking message says a; Japanese column is branching north-! ward from the Burma Road and ! threatening the ancient city of Tengyueh, on the old caravan route be- : tween China and Burma. Ihe Chinese Army spokesman re-; ported that meanwhile the Japanese! have apparently been stalled at Bungling, and the Japanese claim ! -?. capture cf is denied. 1 t iglitmg continues at several points on the Burma-Thai border, but the 1 enemy advance i. p the Sal ween 1 River has been halted, it wiii be unable to roach into China, unless neavily reinforced.

The spokesman denied that Chin-' ese troops in Burma wore withdraw-' mg to mdia with the British, and ■ asserted that the main body of the Chinese still holds pockets between : Mandalay and . Myitkyina. The i Chinese had destroyed bridges across j the Upper Salween River, and had ! established strong positions on the! east bank in order to hold the i Japanese vanguards, which were i about GO miles west of I'aoshan. '

Jap. Push Inside China Frontier

Another Chungking communique says that reinforced Japanese troopoccupied Tac-hai, north-east of Lungling, and are attacking the Chinese at Tengchung, 90 miles inside the border, where the Japanese are striving to force a crossing of the Salween River. Chinese units cut the Japanese communications at three points, but Japanese reinforcements in China have enabled the Japanese to drive on relentlessly in western Yunnan. The communique said that after taking Tacliai the Japanese continued toward Hungmushu. The Chinese inflicted heavy losses in fierce fighting. The Burma Road crosses tne Salween at Tengchung. and the Chinese sti o\ e desperately to check the invaders' threat, but the army spokesman said the Chinese were fighting under extreme difficulties, therefore Tengchung was endangered. Two factcrs have overwhelmingly shaped the course of the Burma campaign, says a special correspondent who was an eve-witness of the battle from the start. The first was lon S delay in accepting veteran Chinese troops, and the second was the expulsion of Allied aircraft from bases in Burma owing to the concentrated Japanese bembing of all available landing grounds. The first factor decided the campaign, and the second turned a reverse into evacuation, owing to the Allied armies having' to fight without aerial reconnaissance.

Burma was more poorlv prepared for war than even Malaya and Java adds the correspondent. Even so' Burma might have been held to become the United Nations' greatest bastion against Japan. A few hundred aeroplanes and a few thousand more troops would have meant the difference between victory and disaster.

GOLD AT SINGAPORE

Rec. 1.30 p.m. NEW YORK. May 14

-- Tokyo official rariio dispatch from Singapore described sensational salvage operations of ] .000.000 dollars in gold currency, which was tossed into the sea by British authorities before the fail of Singapore. Thousands of onlookers have gathered near the G.P.O. to watch the diving operations. Tens of thousands of dollars daily are being brought to the surface, giving the spectators great thrills.