EBB AND FLOW

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 171, 22 July 1942, Page 5

EBB AND FLOW

WENCHOW BATTLE Japanese Again Dislodge Chinese Forces United Press Association.—Copyright. Rec. 1.30 p.m. LONDON, July 21. Severe fighting around Wenchow, the important seaport on the east coast of China, is reported in a Chungking communique. The Chinese cut the enemy's supply lines and killed 300 Japanese in an engagement near Juian. The Chinese are said to be gaining the upper hand in an endeavour to expel the Japanese from Wenchow for a second time. The Chungking spokesman admitted that the Japanese had again entered Wenchow 24 hours after the Chinese recaptured the city. Mr. Laughlin Currie, Administrative Secretary to President Roosevelt, who is in China on a special mission, had a conference with Chiang Kai-shek on war problems. The Chinese spokesman said Mr. Currie's visit will be even more fruitful than his first. China was putting every ounce of energy into the war, but needs still remain which can be filled only from outside. China will ask from Mr. Currie more planes and also a rather long list of other war tools. General Cheng Tse-huen, Director of Conscription, in a stateemnt said that China will need 2,000,000 additional soldiers annually for the next three years. General Stillwell's headquarters announce that United States bombers sank two Japanese ships, totalling 4000 tons, on the Yangtse River 90 miles north of Nanchang. All planes returned undamaged. The Central News says that a widespread and well organised guerilla campaign has opened in the Chekiang and Kiangsi provinces, where many peasants have been armed. Japanese efforts at suppressing them are of no avail.