Peiping, Sept. 18.
With Chinese troops on the Liang-hsiang front retreating south-westward in an attempt to escape encirclement, the Japanese claim a further twelve-mile advance in the Peiping-Hankow Railway zone.
Japanese troops from Lianghsiang have now secured a line south-west of Chochow from Shihfochuang to Peishanlou, on the edge' of the western Hopei mountains.
Althousa the walled town of Chochow is stil! in Chinese hands, the garrison faces annihilation or surrender, as it is being surrounded by a superior Japanese force.
Simultaneously, the Japanese de—tachment which seized the railway south of Chochow, after crossing the swiftly-moving Chuma River, is now pushing southward along the railway in the direction of Kaopeitien. Japanese planes report that an armoured-train flying a Japanese flag has actually reached that town.
Meanwhile the Japanese left wing has advanced fifteen miles from Niatien chien in the direction of the railway south of Kaopeitien, further menacing the retreat of the Chinese line to Paotingfu.—Reuter.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.