400,000 Men Hold Chinese Line

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 48, 19 November 1937, Page 5

400,000 Men Hold Chinese Line

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85-MILE FRONT Japanese Claim Further Advances SOOCHOW , WITHDRAWAL

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— (?opvrltlit. '

(Eeceived 19, 11.50 a.m.) SHANGHAI, Nov. 18. The Japanese claim that they have entered Kashing. They also claim that a detaehmeat advancing from Kunshun has oceupied Mengchiangmiao half-way between Kunshun and Soochow. *= Japanese air reconnaissance is reported to have revealed that the Chinese have begun a withdrawal from Soochow towards the north. The Chinese claim that reinforcements in the Quinsan area, west of Shanghai, succeeded in holding the Japanese up and advanced 15 miles east of Soochow. Eoreign military attaches estimate that Marshal Chiang Kai-shek has 400,000 troops defending the 85-mile line west and north of Shanghai. English and American owners who visited their homes in the Hungjao Toad area (Shanghai) found that Japanese troops had looted them, though the homes were flying British and American flags. The British United Press correspondent in the Shansi province describes the province as a "hell on earth." Many towns are blackened ruins. The Chinese forces are killing horses and mules for fcod„