American Air Aid Will Drive Japs Out

Manawatu Times, Volume 68, Issue 49, 27 February 1943, Page 5

American Air Aid Will Drive Japs Out

Received Friday, 10 p.m. WASHINGTON, Feb. 25.

Economic conditions at Chungking are strained but he had not brought back an alarmist view, said Mr. T. V. Soong to the press. After conferring with Mr. Cordell Hull and Mr. Sumner Welles, Mr. Soong expressed the opinion that increased American air aid would drive the Japanese from China. Asked if a thousand planes were neea ed, Mr. Soong replied it could be done with far fewer. He said the air bash® from which American planes might attack Japan were not menaced by the present Japanese offensives. Mr. Stimson told the press conference that because of their invincibility and courage, the Chinese deserve and will receive all the aid the United States can supply. CHINESE SUCCESS CHUNGKING, Feb. 2D. A communique states that the Japanese are pressing local offensives on four sections of the Yangtse Valley, and in the far north-west, all of- which have been held or turned back by the Chinese artillery and air bombing turned a Japanese attempt to cross the Yangtse in Central Hupeh into a costly failure. In Western Hupeh tho Chinese defeated the Japanese who attempted to advance from Tangyang. The Chinese routed a Japanese column north-west-ward of Kaon in Yunnan, and a Japanese attempt to advance northward on the west bank of the Salween was hurled back. JAPS HAVE GAINED NOTHING Received Friday, 11.30 p.m. CHUNGKING, Feb. 25. Field despatches report a general Japanese withdrawal along the southern section of the Canton-Hangkow railway. The Chinese have retaken Lupao, 25 miles northwest of Canton, and are approaching Sunkai, a railway town, 15 miles north of Canton and a key point in the Japanese defence system. An army spokesman, summing up the situation, declared the Japanese have gained nothing from their recent widespread drives.