GREAT BATTLE IN NORTH

Grey River Argus, 17 September 1937, Page 9

GREAT BATTLE IN NORTH

'lOO,OOO Men Engaged JAPANESE CLAIM ADVANCE. [Aus. & N.Z. Cable Assn.] TOKIO, September 15. According to a Domei Agency message, from Tientsin, the largest pitched battle in the present clash has begun on a fifty mile front, on the Plains of Hona, where the Japanese launched an offensive against three hundred thousand Chinese. Facilitated by the recent capture of the Tatung railway junction, attack is mainly directed against the Chinese between the Pekin-Hankow and PekinPukow railways, wherefrom they are already partly dislodged, enabling the Japanese to cross the Yungting River, on the west bank of which they captured Kuanchen and a number of small towns. The battle, in which the Japanese are employing 100,0u0 men, has extended to a 79-mile front from the mountains west of the Pekin-Hankow railway, near Liangsiang. The Japanese are driving the Chinese from positions in the hills, to 30 miles west of Tientsin. The Japanese claim that despite heavy rain, they advanced from five to nine miles on the whole front, being halted only by the fast running Chuma river, 12 miles from the railway. The Chinese fought stubbornly and counter-attacked at Liangsiang, but were driven back.

Another Japanese column occupied Kwangliang, fifteen miles south of Tatung, whence they are threatening the Chinese defending the Yenmen Pass commanding the road to Tailyuanfu, the capital of Shensi. The British United Press Tientsin correspondent points out that the Japanese penetration on wide fronts is complicating the difficulties of supplies and communications. Every day sees a further advance from the bases, while facing increasing guerilla warfare.

Shanghai Front CHINESE DIGGING IN. SHANGHAI, September 15. The Chinese are erecting defensive works behind the Hindenburg line, to which the Japanese are rushing up artillery and tanks. Chinese detachments, using the famous broadswords, fought fiercely for the strong point of Yungungchiao, west of Shanghai, which is reported to have changed hands ten times in twenty-four hours. The Japanese arc preparing a new offensive from Liuho to Chapei, which batteries are already bombarding. WELLINGTON, September 16. The Chinese Consul received the following cablegram from Nanking:— The Military Spokesman confirmed the withdrawal of Chinese troops, yesterday, from Yinhsing village, the civic centre near Kiangwan, and points on the northern fringj of the Yangtsepoo district. The Japanese

//ave already advanced to the civic centre, but Kiangwan, two miles further west, is still in Chinese hands. Sufficient forces are concentrated there to check a further Japanese advance. The fall of Yuepoo and Yanghang, north-westward of the civic centre, exposed Chinese positions evacuated yesterday to the danger of being outflanked, if a withdrawal were not made in time. The Japanese control over a narrow strip of land from the river, was gained at the price of over 10,000 casualties. Now that the battle has been carried further inland, all the advantages no longer die with the Japanese, said the spokesman. It was revealed at the beginning of the hostilities that the Chinese hoped to clear the International Settlement of Japanese forces before further reinforcements could be landed. This task was progressing with the utmost satisfaction, when large numbers of Japanese troops, under cover of a naval barrage, landed at various points outside Shanghai. Neither the landing, of Japanese reinforcements nor the subsequent push inland could effectively be prevented, for as the Chinese counter-attacked and advanced near the river-bank, Japanese warships blazed into action and brought down upon them the concentrated fury of the naval batteries. The spokesman expressed himself as being satisfied with the result of the fighting so far, and predicted that fiercer battles lie ahead. TOKIO, September 15. The former War Minister, Count Terauchi, has been appointed to command the Japanese Army in the large Shanghai sector.

CHINESE ARGUMENT AT GENEVA GENEVA. September 15. Dr. Koo, presenting China’s case, said that Japan went to China with three hundred thousand troops in pursuit of political domination, territory, raw materials, and the elimination of other foreign nationals, and to challenge them in the Pacific. Was the League to accept the inevitability of lawlessness destroying the world’s peace ” Dr. Koo declared the pretext that over-population was driving Japan afield could bo dismissed. Despite controlling Formoso for forty years, less than a quarter of a million Japanese had settled there. Only half a million had gone to Korea in thirty years. Japan’s density of population was less than that of some European countries. Similarly, Japan did not lack raw materials. The Chinese good intentions were always frustrated by Japanese preference for plunder at the pistol point and insistence that Pax Japonica shall be based on abject acceptance of Japanese domination.