CHINESE TROOPS IN TRAINING

Evening Star, Issue 23351, 22 August 1939, Page 9

CHINESE TROOPS IN TRAINING

NEW ARMY DF 3,000,000 MEN CHIANG KAI-SHEK'S PLANS LAUNCHING OF OFFENSIVE EXPECTED Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright HONGKONG, August 21. (Received August 22, at 8 a.m.) It is reported from Chungking that 3,000,000 Chinese troops are at present training in addition to the 2,000,000 now, carrying arms. It is believed that when the troops are ready Marshal Chiang Kaishek will launch an offensive. JAPANESE AIR RAID BIG PART OF KIATINGFU DESTROYED. CHUNGKING, August 21. Three-quarters of Kiatingfu was destroyed after a huge Japanese raid, which caused uncontrollable fires. No details of the casualties are available, but they are believed to be enormous. The city walls prevented quick evacuation of the inhabitants. It is assumed that the raid resulted from a Japanese broadcast that Marshal Chiang Kai-shek had moved! to Kiateingfu, although he is still in Chungking. OVER 500 CASUALTIES CHUNGKING, August 21. (Received August 22, at 11 a.m.) The air raid at Kiatingfu resulted in 500 casualties. The Australians, Mr Peter King, Mrs King, Mrs H. M'lntyre, a Canadian, Miss M'Lcan, and an American, Miss Thoering, narrowly escaped. The Canadian church and clinic were demolished, and buildings in the business district wrecked. Nine university students were killed. AVOIDING INCIDENTS DEMARCATION OF BOUNDARY. HONCrKONG, August 21. British and Japanese military officials met on the frontier this morning and conferred on the exact demarcation of the boundary in order to avoid incidents. ANTI-BRITISH CAMPAIGN EVIDENCE OF INTENSIFICATION. PEKING, August 21. “ A Grand anti-British Association ” has been formed to adlvise puppet Governments on methods of enlarging the anti-British campaign throughout Asia. Cinemas in future will devote the first quarter of an hour to anti-British cartoons, British cars, including those used by the Embassy and the military authorities, have ceased flying the Union Jack. FLOODS IN TIENTSIN ELECTRICITY CUT OFF. LONDON, August 21. The Tientsin correspondent of the Associated Press of Great Britain says the floods cut off the electricity and plunged! the city in darkness, and swamped the Japanese blockade, whose sentries mounted boxes and barrels. Thousands of Chinese rushed into the foreign zone, which is the hardest hit. The British residents have appealed to the Lord Mayor'of London for aidl. The crest of the flood is two days distant. RAINS CEASE WATERS EXPECTED TO SUBSIDE. TIENTSIN, August 20. (Received August 21, at 8 a.m.) The entire city is flooded to depths of from 3ft to 9ft. Boats are the sole means of communication. The rains have ceased, and it is expected! that the waters will gradually subside. FRENCH TERRITORY VIOLATED (Independent Cable Service.) LONDON, August 21. (Received August 22, at 10.5 a.m.) The Exchange Telegraph Agency’s Hongkong correspondent says Japanese planes from warships anchored in the Pakhoi treaty port are reported to have bombed and machine-gunned the surrounding country, violating Kwangchowman, which was leased to the French in 1898 for 99 years. FORCES ON HONGKONG BORDER SHANGHAI RICE SUPPLY LOW. LONDON, August 21. (Received August 22, at 1.5 p.m.) The Hongkong correspondent of ‘ The Times ’ says the troops on the border are now approximately 10,000. Forced Chinese labour is building a motor road. Chinese are not permitted to enter Hongkong. The Shanghai correspondent of ‘ The Times’ says only 12 days’ supply of rice is left for the 4,000,000 inhabitants after the Japanese army ban on imports from the hinterland. Several rice riots have occurred.

FOOD RIOT IN SHANGHAI •BAGS OF FLOUR CARRIED OFF. SHANGHAI, August, 21. (Received August 22, at 11 a.m.) Hundreds of Chinese looted flour and rice stores and carried off 100 bags of flour before the police beat them back. It was the first food riot here since 1937,