FIGHTING RAGES ALL NIGHT

Southland Times, Issue 23584, 11 August 1938, Page 5

FIGHTING RAGES ALL NIGHT

Scale Of Full-Dress War

FAILURE OF RUSSIAN ATTACKS CLAIMED

(United Press Assn.—Telegraph Copyright) (Received August 11, 12.5 a.m.)

LONDON, August 10.

Fighting raged throughout the night pt Changkufeng, says a report from {Tokyo. Two battalions of Russians were flung in at 9 p.m. under cover of a fierce artillery bombardment. It is reported that they were repulsed after heavy slaughter. The Russians returned to the attack at midnight, freely using hand-grenades. |They strove until 7 a.m. to dislodge the Japanese from Hill 52. Dawn revealed the positions largely unchanged. Forty-five Soviet aeroplanes bombed Koje and Keijo, in Korea, but the damage was slight. It is semi-officially stated in Tokyo that since the outbreak of hostilities the Russians have fired between 25,000 and 30,000 shells and that aircraft have dropped an incalculable number of bombs.

The Japanese declare that the situation now resembles a full-dress war on a front of four miles, except that since July 31 the Japanese forces have been fighting purely on the defensive. The Russian forces operating are now

believed to number at least a division, including artillery, tanks and aeroplanes, compared with the original strength of four battalions. The Japanese claim to have destroyed 70 tanks since the conflict began and to have brought down certainly five and possibly seven Soviet aeroplanes by gunfire. . ~ , Today a Russian infantry attack was carried out by fresh Soviet troops from Novokievsk, possibly under the direction of the Commander-in-Chiet of the Soviet Far Eastern forces (Marshal Vassily Blucher). The infantry advanced to positions up to between 500 and 1000 yards from the Japanese lines.

The Japanese say that the Russian air force, three times its normal peace dimensions, has been concentrated at the Soviet base at Romanovka, and that large forces of Soviet foot, guns and horse troops are assembling near Hansh, on the western shore of Possiet Bay, with 50 tanks. This seems to indicate that whatever the diplomatic conversations may dictate, local feelings are so exasperated that the Russian troops on the spot are prepared to fight to a finish with or without official Soviet backing. Fourteen bombers had attacked the Japanese lines at Changkufeng and Shatsaoping three times since dawn and the Japanese manning the trenches in both areas were grimly awaiting a new Russian onslaught, stated an earlier message from Tokyo. Only a few hundred yards separated the forces. This “No Man’s Land” is strewn with bodies, rifles, machine-guns and derelict tanks. , Fresh Russian troops are replacing the main body in the front line at Changkufeng. Marshal Vassily Blucher, Commander of the Soviet Far Eastern forces, has arrived at Novokievsk to direct operations. The bodies of 1000 Soviet troops were found in front of the Japanese positions at the Changkufeng, Shatsaoping and Shiliufeg hills after four days’ fighting, says another report from Tokyo.