Japanese Within 35
Kim. of City Flying columns of Japanese infantry were less than 35 kilometres from Chengchow yesterday and the capture of the important town at the junction of the Lunghai and Peiping-Hankow Railways is expected in a very short time, according to a message from the Japanese Army Headquarters in Peiping.
The dispatch said a Japanese detachment driving west along the Lunghai from Kaifeng captured Chungmow, half way between Kaifeng and Chengchow and only?5 kilometres east of the objective, at 2 o'clock on Tuesday afternoon.
Other Japanese columns which are driving south-westward threaten to cut the Peiping-Hankow Railway south of Chengchow, the dispatch stated.
Chinese troops who attempt to retreat west from Chengchow were said to be facing the danger of artillery fire from Japanese forces on the northern bank of the Yellow River.
Chinese Already Retreated Japanese reports from the front claimed that about half of the Chinese forces in Chengchow, which first were estimated to total 15 divisions of 150000 men, already have retreated from Chengchow southward or westward.
Gen. Hu Tsung-nan, commander-in-chief, was reported to have gone with his staff to a place in the southern section of the Peiping-Hankow line. The leaderless Chinese troops were said to be disorganized.
In a clash with a Chinese force between Hsiaopa and Tangshan along the Lunghai line, Japanese troops captured numerous locomotives, pi senger and freight cars, a message from Peiping said. This rolling stock is aiding the movement of troops, the message stated.
A ing to reports reaching Tokyo, the Nationalist Government is planning to wage a decisive battle in the Hankow area. These reports said the Chiang Kai-shek Government had decided to "reduce all of Hankow to a great fortress Work was said tp be going on to construct all sorts of defence works at Hankow. including artillery positions, anti-aircraft batteries and dugouts, Copyright by Bertram Park, His Majesty The King as Field Marshall Today is the birthday of His Majesty King George VI and will be celebrated by British communities throughout the world, This is His Majesty's latest photograph and shows him in the Field Marshal, uniform of
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