STILL HELD UP

Wairarapa Times-Age, 24 June 1942, Page 4

STILL HELD UP

JAPANESE RAILWAY DRIVE IN EASTERN CHINA ATTEMPT TO LINK SHANGHAI & SINGAPORE. STOUT RESISTANCE MET. (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright) (Received This Day, 12.55 p.m.) CHUNGKING, June 23. The Japanese have been making a powerful bid for the control of the railways in east China, hoping to link Shanghai and Singapore by rail, but they have been stopped along the vital routes of the Kwangtung and Kiangsi Provinces, said a Chinese spokesman. The Japanese are using more troops and planes in Kiangsi than anywhere else. They have even brought up reinforcements from the South Seas. Nevertheless the fiftymile gap remains. Fighting still rages around Shangjao and Kweiki. The Japanese plan to invade Fukien from Kiangsi has been thwarted. The Japanese have a]so been stopped on all sectors in the Kwangtung Province. The spokesman appealed for more arms and declared that Japan’s achievement of a rail connection be-, tween Singapore and Shanghai, was the key to Japan’s successful continuation of the war. He added: “The Japanese have taken a number of cities, but our troops are penetrating the enemy flanks and rear. Despite preposterous enemy claims the battles are anything but decisive.” AID FOR CHINA DISCUSSED BY ROOSEVELT & CHURCHILL. • (Received This Day, 12.35 p.m.) WASHINGTON, June 23. President Roosevelt’s secretary, Mr Stephen Early, disclosed that the President and Mr Churchill yesterday conferred at length with the Chinese Minister to America (Mr T. V, Soong) regarding China’s military situation.