CHINA'S VERDUN

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 27, 26 October 1937, Page 5

CHINA'S VERDUN

Press Assn.-

Defence of Tazang REFUSAL TO RETIRE Barrage and Bombardmeirt Fail LINE BENDS BUT HOLDS

(By Telegraph—

-Copyright.)

(Received 26, 3 p.m.) LONDON, Oct. 25. The Daily Telegraph 's correspondent Mr Pembroke Stepliens, writiug from Shanghai, says: — ' ' The flower of Chinese youth is p*saing through a furnace," declares th# Finance Minister, Dr. Soong. "Thousands upon thousands have been killed, but the Chinese line, although bent like a bow, does not break. Tazang, China 's Verdun, still holds out against the whole weight of Japan'a mechaniiation." Despite the fact that Japan has cut communications between Tazang and Nansiang, which are the two objectives of their great offensive, the Ohinese are still stubbornly defending a salient MA deep that the position of the Chinese rignt wing at Kiangwan anT Chapei would appear to ,be hopeless to a Euroi pean army. Never theless, the Chinese are struggiing to maintain their pres-i tige on the eve of the Brussels confer-t ence and Tefuse to Tetreat, regardless of casualties. Any advance has literally blasted forward with the most intensive bombardments. One hundred Japanese warplanes, scores bombing simultaneously and dropping mass discharges of explosives so terrific that single detonations were indistinguishable, to-day concentrated on a five-mile front ba*« rage aftoir barrage, accompanied by bombings. After that, 30 tanks followed by ar« moured cars, advanced over the smash-i ed defences, but in the next creek, a few hundreds yards to the rear, imi pertur.bable Chinese machine-gunnere reopened fire on the Japanese infantry, and the vast mechanical apparatus had to recommence operations. It is estimated that 200 were killed and 400 wounded in a Japanese aerial bombardment of Sunkiang, 18 miles south of here.