JAP. DRIVES IN CHINA

Greymouth Evening Star, 21 May 1942, Page 5

JAP. DRIVES IN CHINA

MORE TOWNS OCCUPIED » OTHER CENTRES BOMBED CHUNGKING, May 20. The Japanese, now reinforced, are driving southward into Chekiang along the portion of the ChekiangKaingsi railway, which is still held py the Chinese, and also along the coastal highway. The communique admits that the Japanese have occupied Chuki, 45 miles south of Hangchow, after a street'battle. They have also occupied Chengsien, 80 miles southwest of Hangchow. A fleet of 40 Japanese aeroplanes is ranging over the front line sectors of Chekiang, bombing Kinhua and other centres of resistance. The purpose of the Japanese offensive in Chekiang is to prevent any possible springboard attack on Japan. The Chinese Government has come into possession of an officially approved map published in Tokio and showing the projected scope of the Japanese prosperity sphere, says a spokesman. Describing the map, he said the western boundary ran up the Persian Gulf, thence to the Caspian Sea and onward to the Ural Mountains. Thus, in addition to China, Indo-China, Thailand, Malaya, Burma, India, Iran, and Siberia, the sphere taken in a huge oceanic area embracing the Philippines, Netherland East Indies, New Guinea, and the northern tip of Australia, including Darwin. Also in the sphere are Guam, Yap, and the whole of Sakhalin Island, but not Hawaii. RAINS HELP CHINESE (Recd. 12.30) CHUNGKING, May 20. Chinese demolition squads, operating over a 300 mile area in the lower Yunnan Province, blocked further Japanese thrusts by littering the invasion route with dynamited bridges, railroads, and highways. Another ally for the Chinese has arrived, in the form of heavy rains, which are believed to herald the beginning of the monsoon season.

JAP. CASUALTIES HEAVY

(Recd. 1.50 p.m.) LONDON, May 20

The American volunteer groups have daily carried out low level bombing attacks against the Japanese motorised units, since the beginning of the enemy advance against Lashio, says “The Times’s” Delhi correspondent. American fliers and Chinese troops made the Japanese pay so heavily for the advance in Yunnan, towards the Salween river, that the enemy is at a standstill. The Chinese are still challenging every foot of the invaders’ advance in Yunnan and Burma. The Chinese scattered their units under a prearranged plan, but they are now regrouped to meet the Japanese advances. The cost in casualties to the Japanese ol a further advance up the Burma Road will be certainly more than they can afford to pay. RUSSIA~WARNED LONDON, May 19. Simultaneously with Japan’s launching of attacks on China from two directions, the Berlin radio quotes the Japanese Foreign Office as giving the warning that “if Russia supplies China with war materials, Japan will regard it as a cause of war.” BRITISH - IN _ BURMA LONDON, May 10. General Sir Harold Alexander’s forces are still holding out in Burma with their backs to the Bushai Hills, which cut off Burma from India. They are keeping the Japanese at bay white the wounded are taken to India.