FIGHTING IN CHINA

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 23972, 12 June 1943, Page 5

FIGHTING IN CHINA

COUNTERATTACK BY JAPANESE

CHINESE VICTORIES IN HUPEH (N.Z. Press Association-Copyright)

Rec. 8 p.m.) CHUNGKING. June 11 Reinforced Japanese detachments, after a fortnight’s retreat, counter-at-tacked the Chinese forces closing on Owchinkow, 85 miles south-east of Ichang. Fighting is continuing at Chientsui and Shashang. Referring to the operations up the Yangtse river, a Chinese communique says that the major portion of the enemy troops fleeing south-east from Itu were wiped out. A small remnant fled to Sungtse with the Chinese in pursuit. At his press conference in Washington, the Secretary of War (Mr H. L. Stimson) said the Chinese victory in West Hupeh was the most important action on the war fronts last week. Five Japanese divisions were repulsed. Although these were probably incomplete divisions, the Chinese success was a great achievement. The Chinese had local air superiority in the engagement andxthe Chinese and American flyers had co-ordinated with thl ground forces and inflicted very con* siderable casualties and damaged muck equipment.

RECEPTION FOR MR JONES

GUEST OF N.Z. SOCIETY

(Special Correspondent N.Z.P.A.) (Rec. 10 p.m.) LONDON. June * The New Zealand Society invited many distinguished persons to meet the New Zealand Minister of Defence (the Hon. F. Jones) at a reception. The High Commissioner (Mr W. J. Jordan) introduced Mr Jones, whode* scribed his travels. He said: ‘T have marvelled at what Great Britain i« doing to-day, and will go away with the greatest appreciation of her war effort.” Mr Jones said he was impressed by the surprising beauty of England’s countryside. Among those present were the De-puty-Prime Minister (Mr C. R. Attlee), the First Lord of the Admiralty (Mr A. V. Alexander), the High Commissioners of Australia, India, and South Africa, Lady Sinclair, Lady Willingdon, Air Vice-Marshals W. L. Saunders and C. R. Nearr, Admiral Sir Geoffrey Blake, and Captain I. N. Peely (of H.M.S. King Alfred). The New Zealanders included Messrs Cecil Wray, Nevill Park, R: M. Campbell (who had just returned from the food conference in the United States), Arthur Simms (Christchurch), Lieuten-ant-Commander R. A, Washboum, D.5.0., and representatives of all the forces. That morning Mr Jones had his second meeting with the Queen in two days. Her Majesty received him in audience for half an hour, and asked many questions about his travels, particularly in North Africa, showing great interest in the New Zealand Division.

THE BEVERIDGE PROPOSALS

WORK BY GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS (Rec. 9 p.m.) LONDON, June 10. Sir William Jowitt, Minister without portfolio, has disclosed that he is the head of a small staff of specially appointed officers engaged in co-ordin-ating the efforts' of Government departments working out the Beveridge proposals., • , , ~ He said that nothing could be further from the truth than the impression that the Government did not mean business about the Beveridge report. “After the debate a great deal of hard, constructive work was dene, and it is still going on,” he added. "It would be a capital error with proposals of this magnitude, affecting so many, to come out with a half-baked scheme.”

ANNIHILATION OF LIDICE

FIRST ANNIVERSARY OBSERVED LONDON, June 10. To-day is the first anniversary ofth* German annihilation of the Czech village of Lidice, as a reprisal for th« assassination of the - Gestapo chief, Heydrich. To mark the anniversary, representatives of the Government and the services met in the borough 6f Bermondsey, which took the full weight of the German blitz on London, when tho Luftwaffe was the strongest air force in the world.

The Czech Foreign Minister (M. Jan Masaryk) said that the Nazis first bombed Lidice, then surrounded the town with tanks, and mowed down the populace. Not one was left alive. The situation was different to-day. Th# Allies would strike and strike again until the oppressed peoples had been freed.

The Mayor of Bermondsey, in a message to the Czech people, said that Britain would never relax her efforts until final victory was won. ‘‘On the eve of decisive events oa the world’s battle fronts, when the blow of the Allied armies and the increased fight of the enslaved peoplea brings the day nearer when the prisons of Europe will be smashed, we call on our nation to intensify the fight against the enemy so that the fall of the hated regime may be hastened and the mass murder of Czechoslovak citizens prevented,” says a proclamation of the Head Czechoslovak Council in London.

Restrictions on U.S. Food Supplies.-Twenty-five per cent, of the United States’ food supply in 1943 will be earmarked for military and lend-lease needs in 1943. Announcing this, an official of the United States War Food Administration Department, Mr R. Henrickson, told Americans that they must “prepare for a tighter food situr4fon.”—Washington, June 10.

Friendship with America.—Mr* Roosevelt, rededicating the Anrae Garden on top of the British Empire Buildine at Radio City, said she was sure the New Zealand, Australian, and Canadian men understood America and that their friendship with America would grow, “Peace is not something that can be signed with a pen. It must be worked for in peace time," she said.—New York, June 10.