INDOMITABLE CHINESE.

Evening Star, Issue 24008, 6 October 1941, Page 6

INDOMITABLE CHINESE.

It would appear that the Chinese have gained a substantial victory iii the battle for Changsha, an important Chinese base, and a communications centre, in Hunan province. One powerful Japanese army marched south from Hankow and another north from Canton. It was a pincers movement intended to trap the Chinese troops into a position from which they could not escape Apparently the Chinese commander evaded the trap that was set for him and the Japanese suffered a severe defeat. They make counterclaims, according to custom, of smashing a Chinese army, and opening the way for the occupation of Chengchow, a railway junction further west, but a significant statement has been made by the Japanese Army Press Bureau to the effect that having “ attained their objective,” the Japanese troops are evacuating Changsha. After more than four years of war the invaders are as far from the conquest ot China as when they began their military operations on the mainland. Not only has the Chinese resistance been remarkable, but the ability with which they conduct their counter-offensives has made the campaign exceedingly difficult for the Japanese. With the vast number of troops at their disposal, the Chinese constantly form new concentrations in different parts of the country, which the Japanese are compelled to break up in order to remove threats to the bigger cities in their hands. Japan is thus forced to expend her energy in retaking towns which she has captured three or four times before.

Usually, as in the case of Changsha, the Chinese succeed in slipping out of the vast pincers movements launched against them, but even when they are caught napping they inflict losses which add to the steady drain on the enemy’s resources. General Chiang Kai-shek is a great leader, who has never wavered. Since the outbreak of the war his attitude has been that of Mr Churchill after the fall of France—“ if necessary, for years, if necessary, alone.” The correspondent of the London ‘ Times ’ in China, reviewing the situation, says the Chinese feel that they have gained, not lost, by the German attack on Russia. While they have never failed to warn Britain and the United States of the dangers involved in a Japanese move southwards, they arc certain of their own ability, with the material help of Britain and America, to prolong the “ China incident ” for another four years or longer. In the meantime Japan’s position is becoming more hazardous. She is beset by economic difficulties and internal unrest, is uncertain of her friends, and is in danger of open conflict with Britain, Russia, the United States, and the East Indies when she has over a million troops tied up in China. The Chinese ask what

can she hope for—not to wind up the China incident, not to win any real help from Germany, who is likely to betray her as she betrayed Russia, not for the oil of the Indies, where the Dutch are ready to blow up the wells at a moment’s notice. China sees Japan in a sea of troubles, and is encouraged to continue her heroic struggle against an unscrupulous Power that would exploit the country for its own ends.