CHINESE RETIRE FIGHTING

Southland Times, Issue 23651, 28 October 1938, Page 7

CHINESE RETIRE FIGHTING

Fires Smoulder In Hankow

NEW DEFENCE LINE OUTSIDE WUHUN STRATAGEMS TO PROLONG WARFARE (United Press Assn.—Telegraph Copyright) (Received October 27, 7.15 p.m.) LONDON, October 27. Heavy fighting is in progress as the main body of Chinese retires to the south-west along the Hankow-Canton railway, says the Shanghai correspondent of The Daily Telegraph. The rearguards are stoutly resisting Japanese attacks.

A tragic dawn broken on Hankow, “City of Sorrow.” Throughout the night the fires had been dying down under a> steady drizzle of rain. Scores of tattered and heartbroken refugees are crouching miserably in doorways as the Japanese troops pass by. In the city areas British and French sailors are patrolling with the Japanese to prevent looting. •Ten thousand Japanese troops landed today from 30 ships on the Yangtze, after which naval and military officers jointly “occupied” the city. They were welcomed by a score of Chinese bearing a huge banner. Otherwise the city was practically deserted and virtually cut off.

Some of the fires are still burning. The biggest destruction was in the Japanese concession, .which is a mass of smouldering ruins. The Chinese before tho evacuation removed a vast amount of portable goods which possibly might be serviceable to the Japanese, including factory machinery and pontoons, and even iron sewer covers. FOREIGNERS SAFE Two hundred and fifty British residents and 750 other foreigners found safety in the special administrative districts, in which there is complete calm. Scores of buildings are smouldering under a pall of black smoke, including the Japanese Consulate and the naval headquarters, which were blown up.

The Japanese have promised to guarantee the refugee zones. . The Japanese entered Hankow’s sister city, Wuchang, on the south bank of the Yangtze, in the morning and the occupation was completed after bloody street fighting.

A Chinese military spokesman states that a new line of defence has been established outside Wuhun. China’s policy will be based on prolonged warfare. The forces at Wuhun have resisted the enemy and inflicted heavy casualties for six months. Man-power is now being transferred further into the interior.

The Hong Kong correspondent of The Daily ’Telegraph says it is estimated that the damage in Canton was at least £100,000,000. The damage to the steel works and the arsenal at Hanyang and the cotton spinning and other factories in Wuchang is estimated to exceed £30,000,000. British trade with China through Hong Kong has been brought to a standstill since October 15. War supplies are being shipped through Macao (Portuguese) and French Indo-China,

whence they are despatched through the province of Yunnan.

CHINA PREPARED TO FIGHT ON JAPANESE EFFORTS NOT TO BE RELAXED HANKOW, October 26. An official message from Chungking, where Marshal Chiang Kai-shek, the Chinese Commander-in-Chief, is now staying, states that he is not resigning and is not desirous of peace with Japan, irrespective of the British Ambassador’s rumoured representations. . Though, talk of a truce and of Japanese terms for peace is widespread, the Press of China emphasizes that it is impossible to cease fighting and that China will not abandon resistance until her territorial integrity and her foreign rights are restored. “We shall not relax our efforts until we have succeeded in. building a new China and laying the foundations, of a permanent peace in the Far East, declared tiie Japanese War Minister (General Itagaki) in an interview after the news of Hankow’s occupation. He added: “Only then shall we stop. If necessary we shall penetrate the remotest parts of China. What the fall of Canton and Hankow means will best be known to Marshal Chiang Kai-shek himself. He is now little more than a local chieftain. But for us these successes are mere milestones on the route to final and complete eradication of all influences embracing communism, and resisting Japan’s just rights and aims.’ ROME-BERLIN-TOKYO TRIANGLE HANKOW, October 27. Japanese warships and six destroyers streamed up the Yangtze past the boom, anchoring at the Japanese concession. The soldiers disembarked and fraternized with Italian and German sailors.