Tokyo, Feb. 10.
Nearly a million Japanese and Russian soldiers are massed along the border between the Soviet Union and Manchoukuo. They are prepared for war, reports the United Press staff correspondent after a tour of inquiry.
Throughout the late summer, the autumn and early winter, Japan has been keeping up a steady movement of troops and supplies to northern Manchoukuo. The movement is still In the late November the port of Dairen was being used as a concentration area from which troops could be sent to the north or to China. At that time the daily average was four troop or supply trains northward.
Japanese officials say it is necessary for Japan to prepare for defence against possible independent action by Marshal Vassilli Bluecher and his Far Eastern Red Army.
Foreigners who have watched the situation develop from occasional border incidents to large-scale war preparations, say there is a definite feeling among some leaders of the Kwantung Army, representatives of Japan's military might in Manchoukuo, favouring a—"show-down" against the Soviet while Japan 1s mobilized for war against the Chinese.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.