A WAR OF ATTRITION

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4820, 7 August 1939, Page 2

A WAR OF ATTRITION

HOW CHINA FIGHTS JAPAN. China’s “war of attrition” against Japan is in full swing, says a mail story from Peking to the “New York Times.” It is a “nibbling” process chiefly by guerrillas, which may last for many years, and one upon which the Chinese pin their main hopes of success in driving the Japanese from occupied areas of their country. Official figures are lacking but the nearest approach to an acurate neutral estimate indicates that it is costing Japan roughly a full division—--20,000 men—a month. This includes those killed, seriously wounded, or disabled by illness on all China fronts. An outpost blown up by hand grenades, a train wrecked, a plane shot down, a transport column ambushed—these are the daily: events throughout China that are believed to contribute to this total. The Japanese army acknowledges only a small fraction of this estimated loss. Its spokesmen complain, however, that the .army seldom has a chance these days to meet Chinese fighters in frontal battle where superior Japanese equipment and discipline give the invaders an advantage.

A Chinese report from Hopei Province gives some idea of the toll paid by Japanese to hold the country seat towns that have been taken. This report was brought by a Chinese merchant who came here recently from his home town, captured by the Japanese and held by them for a month when he left.

He said that the Japanese came in about a thousand strong. Every day they went out in small squads to chase guerrillas known to be lurking ' in nearby villages. Each time the Japanese lost a few men—probably one, two, and sometimes as many as six or seven men. By the time the merchant left only 300 of the original 1000 Japanese remained.

Occasionally the Japanese have let it be known that the army finds it unprofitable to allow their troops to remain on any one front more thdn three or four months. After this period, it was indicated, they tend to become discouraged and lose hope.