WAR WITHOUT ROADS

Evening Star, Issue 23354, 25 August 1939, Page 2

WAR WITHOUT ROADS

A NEW CHINESE STRATEGY (From ‘ The Times.’) There arc several ways of fighting a war. A journey along the so-called Kiangsi front is enough to make it clear that the Chinese are finding ways of using geographical and economic factors against the invader that largely nullify his advantages of superior artillery and equipment. Until recently, although the “ scorched earth policy ” left the enemy few fruits of victory, the Chinese have hesitated to cut off their own line of retreat. When resistance at strategic points collapsed or was deliberately withdrawn the enemy has been able to come on quickly and occupy the towns evacuated by troops and the civilian population. But in the last two months the new policy of systematically and ruthlessly destroying not only the motor roads but. the field paths and lanes has presented an almost insuperable obstacle to an advancing army. During the past seven or eight years a road-building programme in Hunan and Kiangsi w r as energetically and successfully promoted by the authorities, and hundreds of miles of motor_ roads were constructed, linking the principal towns and producing enormous changes in the social and economic life of the people. It was not an easy task. On the level land thousands of bridges and culverts had to bo built over the streams and canals that irrigate the rice fields; in the hilly country miles of track had to be hewn out of the rock and made to cross formidable mountain passes. But land was confiscated, labour conscribed or hired cheaply, local resistance or inertia overcome; and a network of very passable highways was spread all over the countryside. FOOTPATHS DESTROYED. Within the last two months _ these roads, covering an area the size of England and \Vales, have been entirely destroyed. From Changsha only one road southward has been left, and this has been dug out so that there can be only one line of traffic at innumerable points along the way. There are thousands of men wmrking to make rebuilding impossible.; Every bridge and culvert has -been torn "down or blown up. Trenches 10ft deep and 20ft wide have' been dug at ; intervals of 100yds. On low-lying land the ’way has been ploughed and flooded, and is already planted with rice. In other places plantations of fir trees are growing. By the end of the season it will be difficult to trace the track for miles on end.

Nor is this all. Before the highways were constructed, old paths, stamped hard by generations of feet, sometimes cobbled or with a line of paving stones down the middle for wheelbarrows, wandered through the rice fields and over the mountain passes. These lines, of communication are also being destroyed. Outside every village groups of men are digging the paths away at intervals and shovelling the earth into the fields. It would be the work of a few hours to break up the narrow tracks that remain and leave the whole countryside a series of flooded valleys knee-deep in mud. The new policy has had some interesting effects on the life of the people and the conduct of the war. As one approached the front, the confidence or the people appeared to increase. Towns still 200 miles from the fighting were deserted, the shops were closed, goods had been moved to the country, business was dead. At the beginning of April three out of four shops in Changsha were closed, and the city was nearly as empty as it was in the two days preceding the fire in November. But at Shou Sui, which is less than 30 miles from where fighting is going on, business was brisk, the shops were full of goods, women and children sat in the houses, and the place was evidently thriving as a garrison town. In the course of two weeks one passed through a dozen little towns where goods could be bought that are unobtainable in the capital. Local was going on everywhere. Lime making, silk weaving, linen weaving, charcoal burning, iron smelting, were being carried on, and the farmers were working from dawn till dark planting the rice fields. The, most serious economic problem seemed the shortage not of material, but of labour. This is, perhaps the crux of the matter. If the enemy cannot advance except by painful inches will it be possible to maintain the moral© of the people .so that they remain co-operating with the army till the last possible moment, for the transport of supplies and the bringing down of the wounded, as well as the breaking up of the roads? So far this work is looked on as national service; no pay is provided, and the men have to provide their own food. The conscription draft takes its toll every month, and with the pressure ot spring planting every available man is needed. In many places the road gangs are composed of small boys.

THE WOUNDED. The people seem to he reverting quite happily to primitive means of transport. ‘The Chinese army has had comparatively few motor vehicles, and little heavy artillery, and relies on manpower. The most distressing result of the new policy is the additional sufferings caused to the wounded. Hero a change in plan is needed. Because the swift advance of the enemy has exposed the wounded to the great danger of being captured, no attempt has been made to do curative work until they are in a place of safety, in this case at least 300 miles from the battlefield. Before, with the motor transport that was available, this distance could be covered with luck in two or three days, and operative medical units and base hospitals were established in places where it was hoped they could carry on their work without fear. Under

the new roadless conditions, however,' from five to 15 days must elapse be* fore the wounded can get proper at. tention. As to the war, there is no line—jus< a series of isolated posts where Japanese and Chinese are a short distance apart with a gap of about 40 mile* through which the guerrilla bands slip to harass the enemy’s rear. It is the Chinese plan to avoid a big battle, and to make small attacks at every point and on every front. But the enemy is almost immobilised, and it may be that these hills and valleys will prove more powerful weapons than guns or tanks,-