The Chinese claims to substantial victories Lover the Japanese forces operating along the Tsinpu Line require to be accepted with considerable reserve. The enthusiastic reports emanating from Hankow may, of course, be substantially true, but other such allegations in the past have been found to be inaccurate, and, in view of the emphatic denial given by the Japanese Army spokesman, there is just the possibility that minor successes have been magnified, either because of enthusiasm over any reverse inflicted on the Japanese, or because of the necessity of bolstering up the morale of the Chinese. The coverage of these hostilities since their outbreak in August last, has been one of considerable difficulty. When the Chinese were around Shanghai it was possible to obtain information from both sides. It is believed that neither of them was imbued with a whole-souled devotion to truth, Military necessity naturally made them that way. Nevertheless, it was possible, by comparing the stories from both sides, to arrive at some fairly accurate idea of what was happening, and taken on the whole, the day to day assessment of the position was as accurate as it could be in the circumstances.
The removal of the Chinese spokesmen from ihe locality, and their establishment in Hankow, meant a delay in Chinese information reaching Shanghai and the practical surrender of the news situation to the Japanese. In the absence of facilities for checking the different reports received, it is necessary that they should be closely scrutinized by readers. The various local journals do their best with the material at their disposal, but, without access to the fronts, and where that is possible, without ready means of communication with Shanghai, the handling of the news has to be somewhat on the principle that "you pay your money and you take your choice." It is not a very reassuring state of affairs, it is true, but Shanghai at the present time is almost entirely gut off from the interior of China, and whatever news does come in, is naturally coloured by the channels through which it passes, The Chinese claims represent a very circumstantial story of some advantage gained over the Japanese, but there are earmarks of exaggeration which it would be dangerous to disregard. For some months past the Japanese have been seeking to effect a union between their forces moving northward along the Tsinpu Line with those in Shantung moving southwards. At first it seemed as though they would endeavour to make a sudden push towards. Hsuchowfu regardless of the Chinese forces in Shansi threatening their flank, When, however, the Chinese threw reinforcements into that province, it became apparent that the movement along the Tsinpu Railway would have to be halted while the Japanese forces sought to protect their right flank by driving the Chinese forces out of the province and across the Yellow River, where it runs north and south, thus providing themselves with adequate protection in that area. With that objective more or less achieved—for it must be remembered that, while they have succeeded in driving the main Chinese forces out, there are still guerilla forces continually harassing the Japanese in the province—it was possible for the Japanese again to turn their attention to the Tsinpu front which for some time had consequently been neglected. The renewal of activity in that area saw the Japanese make some advances, but they encountered a resistance which not only held them up, but by counter-offensives offset some of the initial gains which they had made. Those have undoubtedly considerably heartened the Chinese who may be expected to continue in their stubborn defence of the key position of Hsuchowfu. Up to the present they have managed to protect that city with an efficiency which speaks well for the determination of the Chinese forces, and leads to speculation as to what would now be the position in Shantung if Han Fu-chu had defended his province with the determination which the National Government demanded of him.
The battle for Hsuchowfu has not yet been decided. The successes which the Chinese claim, even if they are accepted in all their entirety would not necessarily mean that the city had for ever been relieved of the Japanese menace, or that the Chinese had established invincible superiority in that area, Reduced to their proper perspective all these reports indicate is that, in one phase of the battle for Hsuchowfu, the Chinese have achieved a success, and an unexpected one at that, All this is written in no sense disparage ing the Chinese. Poorly equipped and trained as compared with the Japanese, and, in the main, not particularly well led, the Chinese armies have fought with a spirit which tends to offset many of the advantages which operate in Japan's favour, and the fact still remains that, despite months of endeavour, the Japanese have not yet succeeded in closing the gap between the Japanese forces operating northwards and southwards along the Tsinpu Railway. Because of the persistence with which the Chinese have offered resistance to the Japanese onslaughts it is quite possible that, with present Chinese reports properly moderated, they may give a fair idea of what is happening. On the face of them the Chinese are giving the Japanese command a particularly hard nut to crack, and it is more than likely that the latter will require considerable reinforcement in men and material before they will be able to bring about the downfall of Hsuchowfu and thus secure union between the troops operating in the north and those in Central China. Whether eventually the Japanese succeed in doing this or not the fact emerges that they have undertaken a task which is proving not so easy of fulfilment as it was anticipated in those months before they embarked upon this adventure in China, It leads to the conclusion that the end of hostilities is, from a military point of view, still very far, away, and it is this, and not military reverses which may be tending, as the "Manchester Guardian" alleges, to sober the Japanese nation.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.