CHINA FRONT

Grey River Argus, 11 August 1944, Page 5

CHINA FRONT

HENGYANG WIPED OUT

(Rec. 10.30) CHUNGKING, Aug. 10.

A Chinese Government spokesman, P. H. Chang, stated: Chinese forces nearly surrounded Japanese forces at Hengyang ana are trying to complete an encirclement to prevent enemy forces from continuing southward. He described Hengyang as a pile of rubble. Its strategic value has virtually disappeared. Tokio radio admits the presence of ten Chinese divisions near Hengyang. It claims that the Japanese have inflicted heavy losses on them. An American, Lieut.-General Barney Giles, who has returned to the U.S. 14th Air Force headquarters here, after an inspection of American bases in China, discounted the effects of the fall of Hengyang. He said- “Even if the Japanese succeeded in taking all of the Canton-Han-kow railway, the 14th Air. Force would make it most expensive for them to operate.”