FAR EAST

Greymouth Evening Star, 20 February 1940, Page 8

FAR EAST

CHINESE SUCCESS CLAIMED [by CABLE—PRESS ASSN. —COPYRIGHT.] SHANGHAI, February 19. A New Yioirk message states that’ the Chungking correspondent of the- “ New York Times” reports that the Chinese claim to be within one mile of Nanning. As long columns of Jap-, anese troops and guns- are striking southward and there are many tires in the city, the Chinese are hopeful that the Japanese are abandoning it.: The Japanese deny that they are evacuating the city. ! A message from Hong Kong says, that reports that the Japanese are' evacuating. Nanning persist. It is sta| ted that Japanese troops are concern: trated on the Kwantung coast await--ing transports, scores of which, loaded, to capacity, have sailed. The Chinese' claim that they are turning the withdrawal into a rout. Japanese dead and wounded'have been abandoned on the roadside, with an endless line of wrecked trucks. According to Chinese sources, the Japanese have landed at two new points in south China. One thousand infantrymen have landed at Haiteng and an unknown number at the Liuchow Peninsula, near the Frenchleased territory of Kwangchow. It is believed here that both are punitive expeditions. RAILWAY .AGAIN BOMBED SHANGHAI, February 18. In the third raid since the French protest/27 Japanese aeroplanes bombed' the Yunan-Kunming railway, completely disrupting traffic. A Chungking message says it is claimed that the Japanese raiders violated French rights by flying o'ver French Indo-China. / •NANNING RE-CAPTURED 1 HONGKONG, February 19. The Chinese claim to have regained control of Nanning and to ‘have recaptured Wingshun eastward of Nam ning. If true, this will re-open the IndoChina ’road.