PAYING DEARLY

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 118, 21 May 1942, Page 7

PAYING DEARLY

JAPANESE IN BURMA

Chinese Contest Every Foot

Of Ground

Rec. 1.30 p.m

LONDON, May 20

The American volunteer group have daily carried out low-level bombing attacks against Japanese motorised units since the beginning of the enemy advance against Lashio, says the Times Delhi correspondent. American flyers and Chinese troops have made the Japanese pay so heavily for their advance into Yunnan towards the Sahveen River that the enemy has been brought to a standstill.

The Chinese are still challenging every foot of the invaders' advance in Yunnan and Burma. The Chinese scattered their units under a prearranged plan but they have now regrouped to meet the Japanese advances. The cost in casualties to the Japanese of a further advance up to the Burma Road will certainly be more than they can afford to pay.

Reinforced Japanese are driving southward in Chekiang along a portion of the Chekiang-Kiangsi railway which is still held by the Chinese, also along the coastal highway.

A Chungking communique admitted that the Japanese occupied Chukihsien, 45 miles south of Hangchow, after a street battle. The Japanese have also occupied Chenghsien, 80 miles south-west of Hangchow.

A fleet of 40 Japanese planes is ranging over the front-line sectors in Chekiang, bombing Kinhwa and other centres of resistance. The purpose of the Japanese offensive in Chekiang is to prevent any possible springboard attack on Japan. The Chinese Government spokesman added that the offensive was already gathering way. The Japanese had launched two big attacks, one against the Yunnan Province and the other in the Chekiang Province. A third big push was expected in the Hunan Province.

Simultaneously with the launching of the Japanese attacks, the Berlin radio quotes the Japanese Foreign Office as stating: "If Russia supplies China with war materials, Japan will regard it as a cause of war. General Sir Harold Alexander's forces are still holding out in Burma with their backs to the Bushai Hills, which cut off Burma from India. They are keeping the Japanese at bay while the wounded are taken to India.

A New Delhi communique quoted by the British official wireless states that the Royal Air Force yesterday bombed the Akvab aerodrome and enemy river craft and other targets in the Chindwin Valley. No further land operations are reported.