FIGHTING IN MANCHUKUO.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 7, 6 December 1932, Page 7

FIGHTING IN MANCHUKUO.

DIFFICULT CONDITIONS. SHANGHAI, Dec. 5. The general offensive launched by combined Japanese and Manchukuo forces in the direction of Hailar on November 30 has halted temporarily at the Hingan Mountains, where plans are being prepared for a final drive toward Hailar, Japanese reports state. Hailar, which is a thriving railway market town on the western section of the great Chinese Eastern Railway, was bombed by Japanese aircraft, compelling General Su Ping-wen to make a hurried departure by camel train, though the town is still held by anti-Manchukuo forces, who have 250 Japanese prisoners. The immediate purpose of the Japanese drive was to release* these prisoners.

The Nipponese are campaigning under difficult conditions. The temperature is 40 degrees below zero, the plains ,are covered with snow, and the rivers are frozen.

* RIVAL GENERALS. SHANGHAI, Dec. 5. Although the Shantung civil war has been satisfactorily settled, the rival Generals are fighting bitterly for possession of tho opium rights of the province, where during the past year arable lands have been converted into poppy fields and enormous quantities of a native drug manufactured. DONATION OF NAVAL PLANES. TOKIO, Dec. 5. Six naval planes costing a million yen (£100,000), donated by the widow of a wealthy merchant, were commissioned to-day at Haneda airport.