INTENSE FIGHTING

Wairarapa Times-Age, 25 May 1942, Page 3

INTENSE FIGHTING

IN EASTERN CHINA HEAVY JAPANESE THRUSTS IN CHEKIANG. RAINY SEASON OPENING IN YUNNAN. LONDON, May 24. 11l Eastern China the Japanese are continuing their efforts to cut off the Chinese forces from all access to the sea and to seize and occupy areas which might be used as bases of attack upon Japan.

Fighting in the Province of Chekiang has become more intense. A Chungking communique states that Japanese forces are within seven miks of Kinhwa, the capital. A Japanese force of 100,000 men is attacking in three' rfiain columns from the north-east.

The rainy season is starting in the Yunnan Province, where the Chinese are hitting back at the Japanese' forces pushing up the Burma Road. The torrential rains which are experienced in this season are expected to prove a serious handicap to the Japanese motorised columns. The rains are invariably accompanied by malaria. KINHWA BLASTED REPEATED JAPANESE AIR ATTACKS. PAOSHAN ALSO RAIDED. (Received This Day, 11.30 a.m.) CHUNGKING, May 24. A communique said Japanese bombers blasted Kinhwa (the capital of Chekiang) ceaselessly for 24 hours. The Chinese are fighting stubbornly, but lack mechanical equipment and heavy artillery. Meanwhile eight Japanese bombers and six fighters, based on Burma, raided the heart of the important Burma Road city of Paoshan, which is the next objective of the Japanese forces fighting on the Burma Road, in the Yunnan Province.