Asked if any signs of the much-"heralded Japanese "big push" had been seen the spokesman said that fighting around Lotien indicated the beginning of the "fourth push."
Japanese allegations that "a contract for the purchase of 45,000,000 rounds of dum-dum ammunition in an unnamed foreign country" had been discovered when they occupied the Civie Centre was branded a pure fabrication by the spokesman. Likewise, the charge that Chinese troops had been using "sneezing shells" was denied again. The spokesman said it was "an absolute canard and is evidently being circulated for: the purpose of preparing the ground for gas attacks by the Japanese."
Chinese troops in Chapei opened up on Japanese planes with antiaircraft guns yesterday for the first time since the hostilities began. As Japanese bombers circled over the district, their deadly "eggs" on intersections in the Woosung Railway where roads crossed the line, Japanese Artillery Said to be}
Ineffective "Do gall the bombing and pounding they want, the Japanese will find it impossible to make much of, an impression on our defence lines in Kiangwan and Chapei," Lieut-Gen. Sun Yuan-liang, divisional commander in charge of the Kiangwan-Chapei sector, told the Central News Agency yesterday.
Since September 25, General Sun said, the Japanese have made numerous attempts to destroy Chinese positions by concentrated artillery and aerial bombardment, fung as many as 2000 shots añ hour, but because of their poor marksmanship they have failed to do any damage to Chinese defence works.
A different story was claimed by the commander in the case of Chi-mese artillery batteries, which he said have been instrumental in, doing considerable damage to the Japanese lines whenever they opened up.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.