HOT PURSUIT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 4 October 1941, Page 6

HOT PURSUIT

OF JAPANESE TROOPS IN HUNAN i FOLLOWING ON CHANGSHA DEFEAT. CHINESE ON TURNING POINT IN WAR. (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright) LONDON. October 2. The Japanese army is fleeing northward frsm Changsha, in the Hunan province, and Chinese troops are in hot pursuit. Chungking describes the battle as “the turning point in the Chinese war," and claims that the Japanese have suffered 40,000 casualties. .. INTEREST IN LONDON JAPANESE STATEMENTS DOUBTED. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 10.20 a.m.) RUGBY, October 3. British newspapers display considerable interest in reports of big Chinese successes in the region of Changsha, from which' town the Japanese now admit that their forces have been withdrown. Competent, observers express the opinion that it is more likely that the Japanese offensive against the Chinese in Hunan is designed to relieve the pressure on the troops defeated at Changsha than as a semi-official statement alleged, that it is part of the same campaign to obtain possession of the Hankow-Canton railway. HEAVY LOSSES SUFFERED BY JAPANESE. CHUNGKING GIVES DETAILS. (Received This Day, 11.50 a.m.) CHUNGKING, October 3. A special despatch from army headquarters asserts that the Japanese have suffered 79,500 casualties in the North Hunan Province. Seme 33,600 Japanese bodies were found on the battlefield, and 796 Japanese officers were taken prisoner.

BLOW TO JAPAN FAR-REACHING RESULTS EXPECTED. TOKIO CLAIMS SUCCESS IN NEW DRIVE. (Received This Day, 12.55 p.m.) LONDON, October 3. “China’s crushing victory in the Hunan Province dooms Japan’s immediate hopes ' of diverting forces against the Soviet in Siberia or southward,” says the “Daily Mail's” Hong Kong correspondent. “It gives renewed hope to China to fight on and will help the Allies greatly in gaining time for preparations in the Pacific. “For Japan, this defeat does not mean so much losses in men and material which are heavy, and will take much time to reorganise, as in morale inside Japan. . The Japanese people, taxed and sacrificing almost past endurance, have been murmuring and the militarists hoped that this new offensive might end the war. The Japanese offensive was launched a fortnight ago and’two major enveloping movements began, from Hankow and Canton, with the object of seizing the Hankow-Canton Railway and Changsha, the main Chinese base and communications in the centre. At least 100,000 Japanese advanced from Hankow, preceded by waves of bombers, which caused enormous damage in Changsha. The Chinese General Hsue Hyueh did not fall into the trap. Dividing his forces, he withdrew hjs mainarmy of 300,000 men eight miles north of Changsha, where he outflanked the Japanese. After a forty-eight-hour battle, the Japanese retreated, leaving 40,000 dead and wounded. General Hsue Hyueh claims that the Japanese have been lured into a trap and are now facing annihilation. He says 50,000 Japanese are still encircled. Chinese guerillas are now harrying the retreating Japanese and taking a heavv' toll.” The Associated Press Shanghai correspondent says the Japanese Army claims that a new drive in the Hunan Province has reached within six miles of the vital railway junction of Chengchow and smashed the Chinese 98th Army. The Chinese lost 2.000 killed, including the commander. Five thousand were captured and the way is now opened for the occupation of Chengchow.