CAPITAL VICTORIES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 28 August 1942, Page 3

CAPITAL VICTORIES

' GAINED BY AMERICANS & CHINESE REVISION OF JAPANESE WAR PLANS. LIKELY TO BE ENFORCED. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) CHUNGKING, August 27. The American success in the Solomons and the Chinese victories in Chekiang and Kiangsi may be expected to force Japan to revise her war plans radically, says the Central News. Quoting official sources, it declares that both are capital victories, and adds that since the Solomons battle is apparently following along the lines anticipated by the Allies, the outcome is in very little doubt in view of the United States’ victories in the Coral Sea and at Midway Island. The Japanese, it reports, have set fire to Chunsien. indicating that a collapse in their defence is imminent. It is revealed that the American air raid on Lochow on August 11 lasted for 12 hours. It killed nearly 500 Japanese and caused fires in an enemy barracks. The enemy is constructing air-raid shelters in many parts of. Hunan Province. CHINESE TROOPS CLOSING IN ON VITAL AIR BASE. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 9.55 a.m.) RUGBY, August 27. Chinese troops, says a message from Allahabad, are now closing in on Chuhsien, another vital base in Eastern China from which Tokio may be bombed. ENEMY GARRISONS WITHDRAWN IN EASTERN CHINA. AMERICAN AIR ATTACKS IN BURMA. (Received This Day, 9.55 a.m.) CHUNGKING, August 27. A Chinese Army spokesman reported that fighting was under way on the outskirts of Chuhsien and Lishui.' The United Press correspondent says the bulk of the Japanese garrisons in both places have withdrawn, leaving skeleton forces to meet the Chinese assaults. The Japanese looted and set fire to the cities before their withdrawals. American raiders at Lashio (in Burma) shot down two Japanese interceptors and heavily damaged two others. This is the first American raid since August 11. when Yochow, Hunan, Manching and Kiangsi were attacked. The United Press correspondent says the raid followed intelligence reports that the Japanese were concentrating 10,000 shock troops at Lashio for an offensive against Kunming. The United Press representative accompanied the raiders. He said: ‘’While the bombers attacked from a high altitude, fighters swept the troops’ areas with machineguns. Military buildings and the aerodrome burst into flames, while the barrack grounds and the field were: strewn with Japanese dead and wounded. All the Americans returned safely.” A spokesman at Chungking stated that besides the withdrawals from Chuhsien and Lishui, the Japanese forces elsewhere in the Chekiang and Kiangsi provinces are retreating northwards, relinquishing their hold on the important inter-provincial railway which they once held for the entire 450 miles of its length. However, there is no indication that the withdrawing troops are being sent outside China. The Japanese are destroying all towns and villages in a 200-mile wide belt, including the once populous and thriving Shangjao, Kwangfeng and Kiangshan, which are now masses of rubble. The Central News Agency says the policy of wilful destruction and incendiarism is ruthlessly carried out everywhere. Likewise the Japanese are destroying all food supplies and equipment which they 4 are unable to carry.