CHINESE PLANES SUCCEED

Southland Times, Issue 23334, 19 October 1937, Page 7

CHINESE PLANES SUCCEED

NIGHT RAID AT SHANGHAI Japanese Again Talk Of Peace APPARENT TEST OF CHINA’S REACTION INVADERS HARD PRESSED IN NORTH (United Press Assn.—Telegraph Copyright) (Received October 18, 11.40 p.m.) SHANGHAI, October 18. Chinese planes in unprecedented activity carried out seven night raids on the Yangtze-poo air port, causing numerous fires, including a building occupied by Seventh Day Adventists. Japanese searchlights pencilled the skies while their anti-aircraft guns fired in all directions, but the Chinese were unscathed. A Japanese spokesman at Peiping again referred to the possibility of peace. Apparently because the invaders have nearly attained their objectives, they are testing the Chinese reaction to such references to a settlement. China has accepted the invitation to the nine-Power conference on the Far East, which is to be held at Brussels on October 30. There is heavy fighting in the Yuan-ping region in North China. Jap-

anese aeroplanes have dropped orders to those beleaguered that they must ' hold out at all costs as reinforcements are coming. The Chinese, supported by artillery and aircraft, stormed the'' Japanese positions. A Chinese divisional commander, a brigadier and two regimental commanders visiting the front line trenches were killed. A mobile Chinese column is threatening the Japanese hold on the PeipingHankow railway north of Paoting-fu, but the Japanese claim to have captured the Ksing Ku-huan pass, on the HopeiShansi border. The Japanese commanders at Peiping assert further progress south of Hopei, where their troops captured an armoured train. The spearhead of the advance has entered Hantan, 22 miles north of the Honan border. On the Shanghai front Japanese tanks and infantry again attacked Kwang-fu only to be repulsed with 1200 casualties. COMMUNISTS’ SUCCESS The British United Press correspondent at Nanking reports that the Communist Eighth Route Army has cut off from their base 50,000 Japanese, comprising the advanced forces of the army striking north of Tai-yuan. The Communists have now established contact with the Chinese, who have recaptured Lai-yuan, the Ping Hsin-kwan pass and Taliutuen, west of the Yen-men pass. The Chinese admit a setback in the evacuation of Ping-yan, on the Tient-sin-Pukow railway. The Domei news agency (Tokyo) admits that the stiffest resistance has been experienced south of Yuan-ping. The Japanese are heavily shelling the Red Army defences in an endeavour to break through. The damage at Shanghai thus far is estimated at £152,000,000; 80 per cent, of the city’s trade has stopped, and 90 per cent, of the industrial workers are without jobs. Chinese artillery forced 60 Japanese planes to evacuate the Yangtze-poo airport and establish themselves at Woosung, 10 miles away. The Japanese have captured Potow, the western terminus of the Suiyuan railway. DUTCH ACCUSED BY JAPAN REPORTED ATTACKS ON FISHING BOATS (Received October 18, 9.50 p.m.) TOKYO, October 18. The Spokesman of the Japanese Foreign Office (Mr Heroyuki Kawai) said an official explanation was being demanded from the Netherlands Government of incidents in the Dutch Indies, where a military plane machinegunned Japanese fishing boats. Japanese Consular reports showed that off Sumatra on September 30 a plane from the warship Flores riddled the Tokuei Maruno with 700 bullets, killing two men and wounding two. A suspicion that the vessel was poaching was found groundless, and it was released on October 9. The next incident occurred off the Natuna archipelago on October 9, when the plane machine-gunned the Taishin Maru, wounding two men. Such an action was unwarranted, because the vessel was only getting water. However, it was still detained. AMERICAN MUNITIONS FOR CHINA CONTRACT MADE BEFORE START OF WAR NEW YORK, October 16. Three hundred tons of T.N.T, valued at 125,000 dollars, has been sold by the du Pont Company to China and shipped through Germany. The company issued a statement in which it said that it had not accepted any orders from China or Japan since the conflict and that the shipment represented a previous commitment. JAPANESE AGAIN FAIL TO LAND TROOPS CHINESE LINES STILL INTACT (United Press Association) WELLINGTON, October 18. The following cable message from Nanking has been received by the Chinese Consul: — Three more Japanese attempts to land reinforcements north-west of Lotien and further up the Yangtse-Kiang were frustrated. The Chinese are still holding the line south-west of Lotien. There has been sanguinary fighting in the West Sao-pang area, and the Japanese on the north bank, when attempting to cross a creek, were forced to retreat. On the south bank of the creek Chinese machine-gun fire mowed down the Japanese advance. The Japanese bombed Pootung, Chapel and the Kashan station, on the Shanghai-Hangchow railway, and also extended their bombing to Kwangsi.

The Chinese in Sui-yuan are massing at Saratai and Pao-tow, preparatory to a counter-attack.