CHINESE COMPEL ADMIRATION

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 5, Issue 46, 29 April 1942, Page 4

CHINESE COMPEL ADMIRATION

IT has fallen to the Chinese to effect the most important recapture in the Burma fighting zone. With the fall of Taunggyi, capital of the Shan. States, the Japanese have suffered the first major reverse since they crossed from Malay to the Burmese mainland. The seasoned warriors of Chiang Kai Shek patriot forces have been found more than a match for the invaders. Where regular European troops failed the veterans of the China campaign have achieved succcss. •HBESt* Perhaps it is, that the Chinese mind with its access, through bitter experience to Japanese methods and mentality, is capable of offsetting some of the unorthodox methods of war employed by them, to a greater degree than we. of the Occident. Perhaps the natural fury born of generations of ill-treatment and suffering at the hands of the hated Nipponese, has bred its own resentment in the minds of the Chinese warriors. Whatever the case, the whole civilised world to-day stands in admiration of the splendid fighting qualities so unexpectedly discovered in the hitherto unoffensive Chinese. Her history, a long series of aggressive invasions, her story a continual one of struggle in the midst of faminine flood and pestilence, the new China is rising supreme in spite of herself. Heroic fighting men and women have sprung to the fore, for the first time in her history as a united, power. Millions no\y lie at the call of her great Commander-in-Chief and the invaders have had cause to. feel the weight of his arm. The magnificent gesture which impelled him to offer an. army corps to General Wave!; for the defence of India and the preservation of the Burma Road, is reflected in his other acts of chivalry and humanitarianism. His hardy fighting men have once more thrown the arrogant invaders back in what had hitherto appeared to be a hopeless struggle. Hitherto only considered in the light of market gardeners and laundrymen, the soldiers of China are to-day making history aijew and winning for their country an influence and prestige which will last for generations to come.