It seems clear from the telegrams published during the week-end that the long expected struggle for the Lunghai Railway has now commenced and that a period of bitter fighting may be expected until the issue is decided one way or the other. Comparing the reports emanating from Chinese and Japanese quarters the two opponents have been jockeying for position for weeks past, and it was only towards the end of last week that the real fighting began-The Japanese right wing has been making some advance in west Shansi and to counter the advance made there Chinese reinforcements are being rushed to the spot. Should the Japanese carry the day in that area it is believed that Chinese troops depending upon the Reds for supplies will find their communications cut, while the Japanese themselves by extending their gains and consolidating them should be able to protect their flank while they negotiate the crossing of the Yellow River. In shantung developments are occurring which appear unfortunate for the Chinese. Tsining has been Occupied and the Chinese troops have been Obliged to retreat west of the Grand Canal Unless the Chinese can stop the advance west of Tsining the fate of the Lunghai Railway will be sealed and it is because of that that Hankow has issued orders for the southwestern portion of Shantung to be held at all costs. Should the Japanese obtain command of the railway it would seem that the fall of Hsuchow would then be only a matter of time, for the further south the Japanese manage to get the more will the neck of the Hsuchow salient be reduced, making Chinese withdrawal from the vicinity imperative if it is desired to maintain the Chinese forces intact. This would by no means put an end to the Chinese defence of Hankow, Wor it has been reported that the Nationalist Government intends to offer the most stubborn resistance to the Japanese advance on the provisional capital, and that if that defence is beaten down, then, and only then will the Chinese forces retreat into the mountainous districts of western China thence to continue a campaign' of guerilla warfare designed to make Japanese successes more costly in the future than they have already been in the past. Chinese activities south of the Yangtze appear to have been planned for the purpose of holding as many Japanese troops in that area as possible from being sent north tu reinforce the Japanese armies there, though, from the reports, it is apparent that the Japanese realizing the stubbornness of the resistance which they were likely to meet there have already been drafting in reinforcements which have assisted those already in the field to make the comparatively slow progress they have made.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.