KWEILIN IN FLAMES

Evening Star, Issue 25301, 9 October 1944, Page 5

KWEILIN IN FLAMES

CHINESE BURN OWN CITY CLEAR FIELD OF FIRE WANTED FOR ARTILLERY CHUNGKING. Oct. 8. The Japanese have made a new landing on the south bank of the Min River opposite Manoi, from which they drove 15 miles south-east to Foochow, states a Chinese communique. Japanese units attempting to outflank Kweilin began a new drive on Friday, but were halted 25 miles north of the city. The Chinese in Yunnan reoccupied an important position southwest of Lungling. , . Ancient Kweilin, known as China s Paris, has been converted into a sea of flame in the past 24 hours, Bays the United Press correspondent. The commander of the defenders gave the order to set fire to the city so as to clear a field of fire for the Chinese artillery. The correspondent says that when he drove through the city yesterday morning he found most of the suburban houses and the major business areas razed. • Hundreds of soldiers in separate demolition squads were starting new fires and spreading the old ones. It was a larg-scale burning operation, surpassed only by Changsha in 1938. A lone Chinese unit isolated at Paoching has made contact with reinforcements which counter-attacked and entered the city from the north-east,_ reviving the hopes that Paoching might be saved. Its fall, besides removing a threat to the. Japanese right flank, would give the enemy a jumping-off point for a drive westward to sever, highway communications to the south. Tokio official radio claims the Japanese completely occupied Foochow on October 4, after crushing the Chinese Eightieth Division, which offered stubborn resistance.