IN THE EAST

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 77, 10 August 1942, Page 5

IN THE EAST

JAPANESE THREAT TO RUSSIA London, Aug. 7. Dr. George Yen, London director of the Chinese Ministry of Information, said that the Japanese had brought up their air strength in Manchuria to at least 1000 planes, which were concenthated in the north-east, presumably for a blitz against the eastern end of the Transiberian railway and the important towns of Khabaovsk, Blagovyeshchensk, and Vladivostok. The Japanese were concentrating troops on the southern edge of the Mongolian plateau across which the Russians could strike down to the Gulf of Chili, cutting the Japanese army in two, but the Japanese were alive to the danger and preparing to prevent the Russians from joining up with the Chinese forces in western Suiyuan. The Japanese also were preparing to forestall an attack from the Chinese in this area. The Japanese occupation forces in China were beffig reorganised and reinforced as fully equipped offensive divisions. Berlin radio quoted a speech by Colonel Hasegawa, head of the Press Department of the Kwantung Army, in which he said that Japan’s northern defences could not be broken.

Russia could arrive at a position where she would be forced into war against Japan whether she liked it or not, because the United States had the greatest interest in the Soviet starting a direct attack against Japan and at the same time securing India. Premier Stalin was now in a position which might force him to accede to the demands from the United States from fear that he would lose their help, upon which he depended now more than ever. —P.A.