CHINESE VICTORY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25856, 29 May 1945, Page 5

CHINESE VICTORY

CAPTURE OF NANNING JAPANESE LIFELINE CUT RUGBY, May 26. Chinese troops have captured Nanning, an important city in South-west Kwangsi. which is on the corridor linking China with Indo-China, says a Chungking message. Nanning, the capital of Kwangsi, which is the southernmost province of Chnia, is 100 miles north-east of the Indo-China border, with a population of 60,000. It is an important road and rail centre, and is the second key city in China to be recaptured by the Chinese within nine days. After a bitter struggle, they took Foochow, the great treaty port. They also cleared some of the coastal area around Foochow, and have taken a number of smaller towns. Correspondents point out that if the Chinese retain possession of Nanning, which they have captured, the Japanese will be dealt a serious blow. Its capture cuts the Japanese lifeline to Singapore, and splits the enemy forces on the Asiatic continent. Nanning lies astride the only highway through the enemy corridor, and is on the route of the projected railroad connecting the Kwangsi-Kweichow line with the branch railroad running northward from Hanoi in Indo-China.

A Chungking air communique reports from the Honan province that Chinese bombers supporting the ground forces bombed enemy positions at several points, including the area of Hsi-hsia-kom. In the Honan province Chinese air forces disrupted installations north-east of Pao-ching. In one ssctor 12 enemy huts and 15 storehouses were destroyed. In another area 50 enemy boats were sunk and one rail bridge and six railcars blown up.