JAPS ROUTED

Grey River Argus, 16 December 1943, Page 5

JAPS ROUTED

IN RICE BOWL Series of Chinese Successes JAPS. LOSE SHIHMEN AhbD LINLI. [Aust. £< N.Z. press Assn.] CHUNGKING, Dec. 14. Despatches from the front declare the Chinese recaptured Shihmen, which yesterday’s- Chinese communique admitted the Japanese had captured. The Japanese garrison is now reported to be retreating north-east-ward. . .. A Chinese communique says the Chinese in a smashing success in the r?ce-bowl region recaptured Lmli, 25 miles north of Changteh, and also recaptured a number of villages, the Chinese hotly pursuing the retreat-ring-'-'enemy. The Chinese claim that suffered heavy casualMSneral Stilwell’s communique fes: For the second successive .Sirait, Liberators escorted by fighters (libWaylight blasted the Hanoi railway Wrds. The Japanese retaliating, atW&ed an advanced American base, intercepted, shooting down |jWx> and probably destroying two othWec 7.20) CHUNGKING, Dec. 14. Powerful Chinese forces, supportfed bv aircraft, transformed the Japanese retreat for Changteh into a rout. A Chinese communique triumphantly told of sweeping successes -of troops carrying on a great encircling manoeuvre against Japanese forces between the Lin and Yangtse Rivers, statin e that by Sunday morning the enemy was completely routed, the Chinese inflicting innumerable casualties, and regaining strategic centres lost during the Japanese march into the Rice Bowl a montn ago. Carried on by this momentum, it added/ Chinese troops were now surging near the more important goals of Lihsien, .a Japanese stronghold on the Lin River, and Ansiang. Nanhsien and Tingshih, ail north of Tungting Lake. The communique said enemy units lurking in the environs of Changteh were completely liquidated, and other remnants further north were also destroyed.