FIGHTING IN CHINA

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXII, Issue 28, 2 January 1942, Page 5

FIGHTING IN CHINA

FIERCE ENGAGEMENTS.

(Rec. 8.5 a.m.) NEW YORK, Jan. 1

A Chungking communique says eight Japanese attempts to cross the Mil River to Changsha have been repulsed. Fierce lighting is raging all along the front. The Chinese are still holding their positions south of the river, and the north bank is strewn with Japanese dead. In the west the Chinese are reported to be increasing the intensity of their counter-attacks in the Kaoan area, about 35 miles south-west of Nanchang. The Chinese Army spokesman in Chungking yesterday declared that 40,000 Japanese troops engaged in the offensive against Changsha had crossed the Milo River and were battling 30 miles' north of Changsha. The Japanese aim was either to divert the Chinese from their offensive against the Kwangtung front, in South China, or to capture Changsha. The Chinese had launched an attack on the enemy rear in the Hsinchiang Valley, and .reinforcements were arrived to stem the Japanese. The offensive was believed to be the spearhead of a broad campaign in Central China. The military spokesman said that judging from the riumbei of troops thrown into the Hunan campaign the Japanese do not possess enough troops for a major offensive such as the capture of Changsha. The Tokio Imperial headquarters announce that Kwantun has" been captured...