Hankow, Sept. 1 Under cover of a smoke-screen and also a heavy artillery and. aerial bombardment, the Japanese today succeeded in crossing the Pai River and reaching Tushancheng, southwest'of Hoshan, in the course of their drive into north-eastern Hupeh from north-western Anhwei, according to a Chinese military communique.
Another column of Japanese troops are said to have also crossed the Pai River in the vicinity of Suichiapu and are stated to be now engaged by the Chinese in the vicinity of Kang-"|ehiapu, south-west of Luan.
The communique also reveals that a large Japanese force has been landed in the vicinity of Kweichih above Wuhu, opposite Anking.
Chinese circles here are of the opinion that the landing is for the Purpose of preventing the constant shelling of Japanese warships and transports on the Yangtze at that point by the Chinese.
Furious fighting continued to rage yesterday on the slopes of the Lushan and Tapieh mountains, south and north of the Yangtze, as Japanese forces advancing on three fronts encountered stubborn Chinese resistance, On the northern bank of the river, Japanese columns skirting the senti ern extremity of the Tapieh mountains reached Shuanchengi, halfway between Hwangmei and Kwangtsi in Hupeh at sunset on Wednesday, dispatches from the front stated.
On the northern edge of the Tapieh range, another Japanese column operating out of Hofei, progressed towards the Honan border as Hsu-kiaotsi, -20 kilometres north-west of Huan, fell into Japanese hands at 10 o'clock on Wednesday morning.
To the south-west, a raid conducted by a Japanese flying column operating out of Tushanchen was claimed to have inflicted more than 150 casualties on a Chinese force of 500 men de-
Regarding the situation on the Yellow River front, well-informed Chinese sources doubt the reported intention of the Japanese to cross the waterway at Tungkwan, where the river current is swiftest and powerful Chinese artillery commands the channel.
Chinese reports state that a Japanese attempt to cross the river yesterday was repulsed, and also that the Japanese are moving eastward along the north bank, probably in an attempt to cross in the vicinity of Pinglu.—Reuter.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.