JUST FIRST MOVE.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 660, 13 January 1933, Page 1

JUST FIRST MOVE.

Foreign Observers Can See Japanese Aim. CHINESE AGAIN DEFEATED. United Press Assn.—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright. (Received SHANGHAI, January 12. There is no possible doubt left in the minds of foreign observers in China regarding the future intentions of the Japanese. It is now certain that the Shanhai-kuan affair was the preliminary move in a general campaign. The Chiumenkow Pass is definitely in the hands of the Japanese, but the terrible privations experienced by both sides during the fight for this strategic point beggar description. The Japanese, who were unaccustomed to the cold,’ fared badly and many were frozen to death. W hen the Japanese captured the first Chinese defences they found hundreds of frozen corpses, many, who were not wounded, having died from exposure. The victorious forces are now virtually inside the pass, while the defeated Chinese have retired to more habitable territory.

NO WAR IN CHINA NOW.

Machine-guns Frozen—3o Degrees Below Zero.

SHANGHAI, January 12. A wave of bitterly cold weather has temporarily stopped the fighting in North China, postponing Chinese attempts to recover the Chiumenkow Pass. With the temperature approximately 30 degrees below zero military operations are impossible, as even the machine-guns are frozen and cannot be used. Ponies outside Pekin finishing a cross-country race returned with beards of icicles three inches long.