COUNTER-STROKE IN CHINA

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 162, 5 April 1938, Page 10

COUNTER-STROKE IN CHINA

Such is the fog of propaganda and counter-propaganda from the theatre of war in the Far East that the earlier reports of the Chinese successes against the Japanese have naturally been read with reserved judgment. The persistence ,of these in the last few days, however, certainly does suggest that a serious reverse has been suffered by the advance troops of the invaders. It may be a little too soon to estimate the significance of this. One possibility is that the Japanese onset has overreached itself, resulting in advanced troops being cut off from their supports. Another is that the Chinese forces have successfully employed the tactics of drawing the enemy as far inland from his base as possible by retreats and rearguard actions before delivering a counter-stroke. There seems to be no doubt that the Japanese advance has been halted and forced back. On the other hand it must be remembered that the invaders have consolidated their gains in many parts of the country, and set up a temporary administration over the conquered territory. The Japanese army is extremely efficient and well equipped, and up to the present does not appear to have exerted anything like its full strength,, relying no doubt on the comparative inefficiency and lack of training and organisation on the other side. T his may be only a temporary,check. Air forces and mechanised land forces have combined to minimise the traditional importance given to superior weight of numbers, but this might still prove to be a factor on the Chinese side, where the superiority of pure man-power is immense, and would tell in the long run if it could be successfully exploited. In any case, Japan on t.us occasion does not seem likely to score such easy victories against the Chinese as in the past. The reverses of the last few days, moreover, will no doubt strengthen the morale and stiffen the resistance ot the defenders.