On the Peiping-Hankow Railway which runs almost for its whole length along the mass of mountains leading over to Shansi, communications are quite uncertain. Irregula: are constantly raiding it from these hills, and the country between the railway and the foothills is ravaged by their raids and the counter-raids of the Japanese. Three weeks ago irregulars penetmted to the small town of Wangtu on the line south of Paotingfu and having wiped out the small Japanese garrison held up the line for twelve hours, until driven out by Japanese reinforcements, None of these raids are ever announced in the official communiques.
In Shansi the hold of the Japanese forces is still more insecure. They hold the line from Shihchiachuang to Taiyuanfu, but with considerable difficulty. It is their main line of communication. In the first place it is a narrow-guage line, and the Chinese having carried off with them or destroyed the greater part of the locomotives and rolling-stock, it is impossible to replace them for the time being.
In the second place, the line runs through very wild gorges, and the Chinese sitting in the hills above roll down boulders on to the line and then open up with machine-guns on the standing train and the repair gangs. The Japanese hold Taiyuanfu, Yutzu and Taiku, and that is all. The country immediately adjoining these places swarms with irregulars, and ihe Japanese do not venture outside the city walls, Formerly wearing glasses constantly, many now
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.