ADVANCE STAYED

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22936, 14 January 1938, Page 9

ADVANCE STAYED

JAPANESE ARMIES JUNCTION PREVENTED WAR'S BIGGEST MOVEMENT By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright SHANGHAI. Jan. 12 The Chinese are reported to have halted 500,000 Japanese who were driving north and south toward Suchow in the greatest movement of the war. The outcome may be a decisive battle. Some of the Japanese for weeks past have been moving down the Tientsin-Pukow railway. Others were switched to the north after the capture of Nanking with the intention of linking up with the northern Japanese forces. The junction of the two armies would cut off thousands of Chinese between the railway and the coast, meaning that the provinces of Kiangsi, Shantung, and part of Anhwei would drop into Japan's hands. The latest reports are that Chinese opposition has halted almost all the Japanese movement. An army spokesman estimates that Japanese property losses in Shantung amount to £58,000,000.

Realising the importance of Tsining, the Chinese fought desperately until the Japanese three times scaled the walls and fierce hand-to-hand fighting broke up tha resistance. Unconfirmed reports from Hankow say the Chinese claim to have sunk two Japanese warships near Wuhu. Japanese airmen heavily bombed five towns in Kwangtung: