JAPAN PREPARING

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 20858, 10 August 1942, Page 5

JAPAN PREPARING

ATT ACK_ SOVIET STRATEGIC PLANS

OPINION OF CHINESE

(By Telegraph—Press Assn—Copyright.) (2.40 p.m.) LONDON, Aug. • The Japanese are preparing to attack Russia during the present Caucasian battle, said Dr. George Yerq the London director of the Chinese Ministry of Information. He aaaea that the Japanese had deployed forces first, indicating a probable attack on Russia's maritime provinces, and secondly, to resist a flanking . movement by the Russians and Chinese. The Japanese had brought up theii air strength in Manchuria to at lea si 1000 planes, which were concentrated in the north-east, presumably for a blitz against the eastern end of tne trans-Siberian railway and the important towns of Khabaovsk, Blagovyeshchensk and Vladivostok. The Japanese were concentrating troops on the southern edge of the Mongolian plateau, across which the Russians could strike down to the Gulf of Chili, cutting the Japanese army in two, but the Japanese were alive to the danger and were preparing to prevent the Russians joining up with the Chinese forces in western Suiyuan.

The Japanese were also preparing to forestall an attack from the Chinese in this area. The Japanese occupation forces in China were reorganising and reinforcing as fully-equipped offensive divisions.

The Berlin radio quoted a speech by Colonel Hawegawa, head of the press department of the Kwangtung Army, in which he said that Japan’s northern defences cannot be broken. Russia could arrive at a position where she would be forced into war against Japan whether she likes it or not, because the United States has the greatest interest in the Soviet starting, a direct attack against Japan and, at the same time, securing India. M. Stalin was now in a position which might force him to accede to demands from the United States from the fear that he might lose their help on which he depends now more than ever.