JAPANESE REMNANTS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 13 December 1943, Page 4

JAPANESE REMNANTS

WIPED' OUT NORTH-WEST OF CHANGTEH ENEMY AGAIN USING POISON GAS. ACCORDING TO CHINESE COMMUNIQUE. (By Telegraph—Press Association— Copyright) I (Received This Day, 10.5 a.m.) I CHUNGKING, December 12. Enemy remnants between Changteh and a point 13 miles north-westward have been completely wiped out, says a Chinese communique, which adds that Jananese troops, under cover of a gas attack, counter-attacked Chinese positions at Leichiapu, resulting in many Chinese officers and men being poisoned. North of Changteh, as far as Shihpan, and north-east near Chinghoshis, the Japanese counter-attacked, and fighting is continuing. An earlier Associated Press message reported that Japanese troops, fleeing from Changteh, clogged the main Shasi Highway. Allied aircraft are strafing the fugitives. The message added that independent reports confirmed that the Changteh fighting was the severest since Shanghai. General Stilwell’s communique states that China-based Liberators bombed the Hanoi railway yards and adjacent warehouses. Fighter-bombers, supporting Chinese troops, attacked four villages on the Salween front. Japanese bombed a forward American air base, but caused only minor damage. Three bombers were shot down and possibly two others. One American plane was lost.