MO EASY TASK

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19456, 15 October 1937, Page 8

MO EASY TASK

JAPANESE IN CHINA POSITION UNDER REVIEW LONDON, Oct. 5. In reviewing the military situation in China the Times says: “At Shanghai, the terrain awkwardly restricted and seamed with waterways, offers the invader no opportunity for exploiting his superior mobility. He must push dog-, gedly, indefinitely on, toward —what? “He lands ostensibly to protect Japanese nationals. Most of these have been evacuated, and the rest could be at any moment. “He hoped, in the course of this rescue expedition, to infflict a crushing blow on the Chinese arms. Perhaps he still hopes to do this, but the governing factor of the Chinese situation is that the Japanese cannot retire. “They have before them an enemy whose disintegration in the field they are not likely to contrive —judging by his performances so far and by his overwhelming numbers. But the national honour obliges them to go on pouring out blood and treasure in a war of attrition, in which territorial gains are valueless, and become inconvenient as warships and batteries are left behind. "In the north, the Japanese armies are moving with remarkable speed, over-running the five northern provinces, including Shantung. “On the basis of bald reports, mostly from Japanese sources, it is difficult to judge how much serious fighting has occurred, but the news suggests that the Chinese, where they have not sustained serious defeats, have pursued a ‘snarklike’ policy, based on technical withdrawals, and that some, at least, of the Japanese successes have been only paper victories. “It is not long since the Japanese spokesman dismissed China as a ‘geographical expression.’ Not the least important result of Japan’s experiments with the map of Asia has been to invalidate this taunt.’’