SHANGHAI FRONT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23330, 23 October 1937, Page 13

SHANGHAI FRONT

THE CHINESE FORCES A COUNTER-OFFENSIVE WOUNDED LEFT ON ROADSIDE JAPANESE BOMB NANKING (United Press Association) (By Electric Telegraph—Copyright) SHANGHAI. Oct. 21. (Received Oct. 22, at 10 p.m.) About 300,000 troops are engaged in a Chinese counter-offensive near Dazang. Big guns and ceaseless columns of Chinese reinforcements pass. The dead and the wounded are left on the roadside. Coolies are carrying steel plates for machinegun positions, and engineers are building oillboxes under fire in obedience to an order to defend Dazang at all costs. But Dazang is only a name, the city having been demolished by artillery and aircraft. The Japanese tried out nine of the latest type of huge naval bomber in a raid on Nanking. Forty bombs were dropped on a military aerodrome from an altitude of 15,000 feet. JAPANESE THRUST FAILS SHANGHAI, Oct. 21. A fierce Japanese thrust north of Shanghai failed. Both sides suffered heavy casualties. The Chinese also repulsed an attack on Chapei, which has become a city of concrete catacombs and pillboxes. The Japanese Embassy Spokesman, for the first time indicating Japan's attitude to the Nine-Powej Conference, said they must push back the Chinese from Shanghai before negotiating for peace. ANTI-JAPANESE BOYCOTT SOUTH AFRICAN MOVEMENT CAPETOWN, Oct. 21. The trade unions are organising an anti-Japanese boycott, and are urging the Government to close the ports to Japanese goods. INCIDENT AT MARSEILLES JAPANESE LINER NOT WORKED LONDON, Oct. 22. (Received Oct. 23, at 1.5 a.m.) The Marseilles correspondent of The Times reports that the dockers refuse to load or unload cargo in the Japanese liner Kashima Maru, which is due from London to-day, as a protest against aggression in China. CIVILIAN CASUALTIES (Per United Press Association) WELLINGTON, Oct. 22. The Chinese Consul received the following cablegram from Nanking: Severe fighting took place northwest of Dazang. Under cover of an aerial and artillery bombardment, the Japanese made repeated unsuccessful attempts to break through the Chinese line. The Chinese forces counter-attacked at three points and surrounded the Japanese salient by a semi-circular cordon. The casualties on both sides were heavy. Japanese troops are now digging in. Japanese batteries are pounding Kwangfuchen, west of the Lotien-Liuhang highway. The Chinese defenders are confident of the invulnerability of their defence works, and large reinforcements are preparing for emergencies. East of the Liuhang-Dazang highway the Chinese successfully withstood attacks by Japanese mechanised units. At Wentsaopang the Japanese invaders were ambushed and suffered heavy losses. Japanese bombers machine-gunned Pingwang, Patse and Minghsingchia stations on the Shanghai-Hangchow-Ningpo line. The civilian casualties were considerable.