CHINESE CLOSING IN

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 20874, 28 August 1942, Page 3

CHINESE CLOSING IN

TWO KEY CITIES HEAVY U.S. BOMBING JAPANESE-HELD BASES (By Telegraph—Press Assn. —Copyright.) (10.30 a.m.) CHUNGKING. Aug. 27 The Chinese Army spokesman reported that fighting is under way on the outskirts of Chuhsien and Lishui. The correspondent of the United Press of America says that the bulk of_ the Japanese garrisons in both places have withdrawn, leaving Jceleton forces to meet the Chinese assaults. The Japanese looted and set fire to the cities before their withdrawals. The spokesman stated that besides their withdrawals from Chuhsien and Lishui, the Japanese forces elsewhere in Chekiang and Kiangsi provinces were retreating northwards, relinquishing tneir hold on the important ir.terprovincial rairway, which they once held for its entire 450 miles in length. However, there is no indication that the withdrawing troops are being sent outside China. The Japanese are destroying all towns and villages in a 200-mile wide belt, including the once populous and thriving Shangjao, Kwangfeng and Kiangshan, which are now masses of rubble. The Central News Agency says that a policy of wilful destruction and incendiarism is being ruthlessly carried out everywhere. Likewise, the Japanese are destroying all food supplies and equipment which they are unable to carry. Chinese troops are now closing on Chuhsien, another vital base in eastern China from which Tokio may be bombed. The China Central News declares that the Japanese set fire to Chuhsien, indicating a collapse of Japanese defence is imminent. It is revealed that the American air raid on Yochow on August 11 lasted 12 hours, killed nearly 500 Japanese, and caused fires in enemy barracks. The enemy is constructing air raid shelters in many parts of Hunan province. .. ✓ 1 Attack on Lashio Allied bombers blasted barracks, supply dumps, and started many fires during a heavy raid on Lashio, the main Japanese base in eastern Burma. The American raiders at Lashio shot down two Japanese interceptors and heavily damaged two others. This was the first American raid since August 11, when Yochow, in Hunan province, and Nanchang, in Kiangsi province, were attacked. The United Press correspondent says that the raid on Lashio followed intelligence reports that the Japanese were concentrating 10,000 shock troops at Lashio for an offensive on Kunming. The United Press representative who accompanied the raiders said: — “While bombers attacked from a high altitude, fighters swept the troops’ areas with machine-guns. Military buildings on the aerodrome burst into (lames, while barrack grounds and fields were strewn with Japanese dead and wounded. All the American planes returned safely.” The American success in the Solomons and the Chinese victories in Chekiang and Kiangsi provinces may be expected to force Japan to revise her war plans radically, says the China Central News. Quoting official sources, the paper declares that both are capital victories, and added that since the Solomons battle is apparently following the lines anticipated by the Allies, the outcome is in very little doubt in view of the United States victories ill the Coral Sea and Midway.