Hankow, Feb. 15.
Chinese and Japanese troops are locked in desperate fighting north of Hweiwei, on the Peiping-Hankow Railway, as the battle for possession of the Lunghai Railway approaches a climax.
The Chinese forces are making a gallant attempt to hold their so-called "national defence line" in this sector despite continual pounding by Japanese artillery and bombing by Japanese planes. Chinese troops are being Tushed up the railway to reinforce the Chinese line.
Gunfire was audible at the vita: railway junction of Sinsiang to-day as Japanese troops engaged in a flanking movement from the east tried to push along the 93-mile long Taokow-Chinghua Railway, which intersects the Peiping-Hankow line at Sinsiang.
Fighting raged to-day at Fengchiu, near the north bank of the Yellow River, which is being attacked by the Japanese column which swept through the southern tip of Hopei and entered Honan. Fengchiu is only eighteen miles north of Kaifeng, capital of Honan.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.