WAR IN EAST

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22851, 5 October 1937, Page 9

WAR IN EAST

NORTHERN FRONT CHINESE MASSING reorganising forces JAPANESE ADVANCE i BETBEAT OF GABBISON By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright . ' ' PEKING. Oct. 3 A Japanese report states that 130,000 Qhinese are massing in North China and being reorganised under Marshal Chiang Kai-shek's orders to hold the Japanese at all costs. They are under the supervision of General " Cheng Chien, Marshal Chiang's Chief of Staff. It is reported that the Chinese were encircled bv 1000 Japanese troops 50 miles south of Tientsin. The Japanese further south captured Techow. The Chinese garrison of 60,000 retreated in boats down the grand canal, the swift Japanese advance having foiled their defensive efforts. The Japanese, advancing from Paoting, seized Chuyang.

JAPANESE BOMBINGS

BRITISH LABOUR STIRRED BOYCOTT ADVOCATED LONDON. Oct, 3 The executive of the Labour Party at Bournemouth has prepared a motion for their leader, Mr. C. R. Attlee, to table at the annual conference tomorrow to the effect that the party views Japanese bombing massacres with horror and detestation, welcomes the demand for an early meeting of Parliament to discuss the situation in the Far East, and calls on the Government to prohibit loans or the sal« of war material to Japan. Britain is also urged to co-operate with the League and the United States to exercise economic pressure on Japan. CHINESE LEADERS t / ■ QUESTION OF LOYALTY URGENT PROBLEM ARISES v.. LONDON, Sept. 27 The Chinese war lords in Shansi and Canton must soon decide whether to rcpport Nanking or remain neutral. The Shanghai correspondent of the Daily Telegraph points out that if General Han Fu-chu, Commander-in-Chief in Shansi, places his' troops unreservedly under Nanking's control, his province will be attacked in front and rear, and also from the air. On the other hand, if he negotiates with the Japanese, he will be regarded br Nanking as the man who lost the war, because such action would entail the loss of North China and the Yellow Bfver basin. General Han's previous allegiance to General Feng Yu-hsiang, commander of the Nanking armies, may settle his painful dilemma in favour of his joining Nanking. There Is still a danger that the Japanese Commander-in-Chief, Count Terauchi, may drive the Chinese, by a double flanking movement, into the marshes behind the second line, thus achieving the much-vaunted "second Tannenberg."

BAYONET ATTACKS CHINESE SCORNFUL JAPANESE TRIUMPHS DENIED Wounded men in Chinese military, hospitals scornfully declared that the Japanese invaders would not fight thein hand to hand, stated the Shanghai correspondent of the San Francisco Chronicle recently. Instead, they asserted, Japanese military and naval units deliberately avoided personal contact to try to wipe out the Chinese troops with artillery, machine guns and aeroplanes. 1 "Among thousands of Chinese troops

passing through hospitals, a majority

were suffering from shrapnel wounds. , This was attributed first to. the fact thrt excessively hot weather causes the Chinese soldier to throw aside his heavy steel helmet and fight bareheaded; and secondly, to the Japanese reliance on long range fighting with their naval guns and air bombs. Japanese'claims of frequent triumphs in bayonet attacks were disputed vehemently by the Chinese, who claimed tt>at hand-to-hand fighting was rare in this conflict. The wounded seemrd to be glad to leavs the front to have their wounds treated but- equally eager to return. ISLAND OF HAINAN ATTACKS BY JAPANESE POWERS' CLOSE WATCH i ' LONDON, Sept. 27 The Powers are closely watching Japanese activities concerning China's island possession of Hainan. When the Japanese shelled Hoihow, the chief port, .recently, the French Ambassador made representations to Tokio. A further attack has led to fears that ;he Japanese intend to occupy the sland, but when questions were *ahed in Tokio officials declined to 1 Comment.

Hainan is. only 20 miles from the ,BA isla!id. It lies close to tho main £ K»ut« between Singapore and Hongkong and within a few miles of French Indo-China. It' is also within 1200 miles ®f the Philippines, and would bring the Japanese closer to the Netherlands -Eajt Indies/'

Air and naval forces concentrated there would control the communica0{ a large part oT • tho South ®iina Sea. ,