With their trenches half. flooded with water and the country roads turned into a quagmire by the incessant rainfall of the past three days, the two opposing forces, while grimly watching each other on various fronts, accomplished nothing spectacular during the last 24 hours, according to a Chinese communique.
"With the exception of sporadic exchange of rifle and machine-gun fire and the occasional Japanese hing of Chapei, Kiangwan and Póotung, neither side was able to make any advance.
Meanwhile the rainfall is welcomed by the Chinese soldiers, who are now taking advantage of ihe wet days further to entrench themselves on their new defence line.
In Japanese camps, the rain is regarded as a nuisance, for they want swift movement and not idle moments when they have to wait until it clears up before their motorized tanks and armoured cars can move again.
In spite of the rain, Japanese aeruplanes dropped several bombs on Pootung Point yesterday morning and afternoon. This was probably done in retaliation for Chinese sniping at Japanese gunboats in the Whangpoo, which kept on shelling an area near the M.B-K, wharf in Pootung until about 10 o'clock yesterday morning.
Japanese attacks on Thursday and yesterday appeared to the spokesman to be directed with a view to breaking through the Chinese lines east and south of Kiangwan, although efforts were also made to turn the flank of Lotien and push the advance toward Liuhang. Fruitless, however, had been the efforts of the Japanese.
Along the Hongkew and Chapei front, the spokesman revealed, Chinese defenders launched @ vigorous attack on Thursday on the Japanese, who retaliated with artillery fire towards the vicinity of North Station, The Aikuo Girls School was the centre of a machine-gun duel which lasted well into Thursday night, the spokesman continued. But the attempts of Japanese sailors and infantry to secure possession of the place were attended with little success.
The spokesman said it was reported 4,000 additional Japanese troops belonging to the 9th Division were landed at the Jukong Wharf on Thursday, and were immediately sent to reinforce their compatriots operating west of the Civic Centre Greeted unkindly by drizzling rain which poured, down throughout the day, a company of the Savoy Grenachers, the Italian troops who ar-ived in Shanghai on Tuesday, took over part of the Settlement boundary fronting the Soochow Creek yesterday afternoon, This sector was formerly occupied by British and American forces, and extends from Ferry Road to Jessfield. A company from the Loyal Regiment has been stationed along part of this line during the past week.
The Grenadiers, who are quartered at the Japanese School, Kiaochow Road, will be responsible indefinitely for the defence of this sector, each company being on duty for a week at a time, and the remainder being stationed at headquarters. Eighty men will be in the line at a time.
The Italian troops, in addition to their distinctive rifles, which are long and thin compared with the British type, are using light machine guns for the defence of their sector.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.