NEW JAP. OFFENSIVE HELD BY CHINESE

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 120, 23 May 1942, Page 7

NEW JAP. OFFENSIVE HELD BY CHINESE

ON COASTAL FRONT

Many Sanguinary Battles

Reported

United Press Association.—Copyright.

Rec. 1 p.m.

LONDON. May 22

The Chungking military spokesman has announced that a Chinese counter-attack repulsed Japanese troops who landed at the mouth of the Min River. Foochow, in the Fukien Province, though under shellfire, is still held by the Chinese.

It is officially reported from Chungking that the Japanese troops who landed on Chuanshih Island, at the mouth of the Min River, below Foochow, have been driven back to their ships, leaving many dead.

Central News dispatches describe sanguinary battles along the 200-mile front in Chekiang, with 1000 Japanese killed in one engagement. The Chinese casualties were also heavy.

A Chungking dispatch says the Japanese threw large numbers of planes into their major sweep in Chekiang to-day, toward Kinhwi, against bitter Chinese resistance. The positions of the four Japanese spearheads thrusting south-west in Chekiang were not disclosed, but the foremost was reported to be 50 miles north-east of Kinhwa, and to-day American and other missionaries departed.

Effort to Knock Out China

The Japanese, apparently intent on knocking out China, or at least seizing forward areas from which Japan might be attacked, have supplemented their broad offensive in Chekiang Province with a landing in force on the north bank of the Min River, below Foochow, under coyer of a barrage by escorting warships, says the Associated Press correspondent at Chungking in an earlier message.

The Japanese are believed to have about 125,000 troops in the Chekiang, Fukien and Kiangsi provinces. The Foochow action has created a second highly active front in the ChekiangFukien seaboard area and has constituted a new threat to the rear of the Chinese forces.

Enemy Objectives

The New York Times correspondent at Chungking expresses the opinion that the present Japanese drive in Chekiang aims to destroy possible springboards for Allied air attacks against Japan. The correspondent says the Japanese have made 22 raids, using 554 planes, since April 18, searching for fields where the American bombers landed after bombing Tokyo.

The correspondent adds that the best evidence that the Japanese flyers have failed is that the Japanese have now resorted to a land campaign employing an advance force of 20,000 to 30,000 men, who will carry out a fanlike attack in Chekiang from a base at Henghchow. The correspondent explains that subsidiary motives for the attack against Chekiang are an effort to blockade China and to eliminate guerillas, who arc increasingly endangering the Japanese position.

The landing force engaged in heavy fighting with the Chinese defence forces. The invading force arrived in a dozen transports, which proceeded up tbe Min River near Foochow city.

Admiral Shen Chung-zieh, Chinese Minister of Agriculture, said China was not worried about food, regardless of the outcome of the Japanese drives in south-west and central China. He predicted that the overall harvest would be 20 per cent higher than in 1941. Wheat alone was 40 per cent higher.