CONTINUED GAINS BY CHINESE

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 218, 10 June 1943, Page 5

CONTINUED GAINS BY CHINESE

Central And Eastern Areas (Received June 9, 8.10 p.m.) LONDON, June 8. The Chinese have completed the occupation of l-tii, 18 miles be ow Ichang, says a Chinese communique. The Chinese are also advancing toward the Sungtze River port between Ichang and Shasi. Several hundred Japanese wore annihilated during (he capture of a strategic point in Hupeh Province, and the Chinese captured six strategic points in the vicinity of Kinhwn, south-west of Hangchow. The victorious Chinese counter-offen-sive on the upper Yangtze has thwarted the main Japanese objectives—to sever communications between Hunan nnd Szechwan Provinces and to break the Chinese rice bowl, said a Government spokesman in Chungking. The Japanese admittedly plundered some granaries, but the damage was small. If the Chinese succeed in recapturing Hwajung, 100 miles south-east of the major Japanese base of Ichang, the whole position will be restored to normal. China needs a bigger air force and heavy armaments, including tanks and artillery, to recapture more important poiitts. Another spokesman said that fears abroad concerning China’s economic plight were “a little bit exaggerated, but," he added, “wo have great need of outside help not only in arms but in all kinds of supplies.”