WIDER WAR FIELD

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 151, 29 June 1938, Page 12

WIDER WAR FIELD

Checked, at least for a time, north of the Yangtze River by the floods from the Hwang-ho, the Japanese, according to a cable message from Tokio, claim to have resumed their drive to Hankow and to have crossed the flooded area. The real danger to Hankow comes rather frojn the latest thrust south of the Yangtze, where the Chinese admit their line has been broken, with a threat to Kiukiang and beyond that city to the Hankow-Canton railway, the lifeline of the Chinese in the interior, as it is their sole remaining communication by rail with the sea. This railway, the latest to be completed in China and operated by British-manufactured locomotives and rolling-stock, has from an early stage in the war been subject to attack from the air by Japanese bombers at points where it nears Canton. Severe damage was reported recently and heavy military traffic has been held up. It i& quile clear that the Japanese, unable !<> penetrate further in the north, are now pushing their offensive in Southern China. Landings at Amoy and Swatow, facilitated by command of the sea, were to be followed apparently by further occupation of

islands off (lie coast in tlie vicinity of Hong Kong and Canton, hut llu' French and British have issued a joint warning to Japan which may prove effective!. In any event, the widening of the field of operations must impose an ever greater strain on Japanese man-power and munitions. The Japanese War Minister, General Itagaki, in a message yesterday, talked of a long war. He said that the Japanese must be prepared to continue hostilities for at least ten years. The world will wonder how they are goiflg to do it.