CAMPAIGN AGAINST GUERRILLAS

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 9, 6 October 1943, Page 5

CAMPAIGN AGAINST GUERRILLAS

New Japanese Gain In China FIERCE RESISTANCE (By Telegraph.—Press Assn. — Copyright./ ’(Received October 5, 9.40 ip.ini.) CHUNGKING, October 4.

The Japanese, using 120,000 troops ami swarms of planes in a gigantic encirclement campaign against guerrilla forces in the lower Yangtze River area, have scored a new gain in three provinces, in spite of tierce Chinese resistance. Fighting rages along a 100-mile •front from the western shore of Lake Tai to the southern outskirts of Hangchow.

The Japanese captured Kwangteli on Suudfiy, but the Chinese are still resisting in the suburbs. Fighting continues in all sectors of southern Kiangsi. The bitterest struggle centres round Kivang, 60 miles southwest e of Nanking. While observers in Chungking do not. underestimate the new Japanese offensive in eastern China, they said that the Chinese were falling back according to plan. The enemy had not yet seized any major objectives and would be cheeked when Chinese reinforcements reached the front.

Observers point out that the Chinese arc handicapped by lack of aerial support. Most of the American air bases are not within effective range of the battleground. The Japanese, who have been reinforced, have launched a new offensive in south-eastern China, taking several towns, including the Suancheng railway centre, says a Chungking communique. The Japanese are aiming at forestalling attacks against the stronglrolds in the triangle of Shanghai, Nanking and Hangchow.