Launching a simultaneous attack upon the advancing Chinese columns, Japanese units succeeded in putting them to fight on March 31. The failure of this manoeuvre decided the fate of Taierhchwang., The peaceful, little town, Japanese officers here said, was designated as {the pivot of the Chinese defence line at the national defence conference in 1935. Powerful fortifications and an intricate system of trenches were constructed in the vicinity of Taierhchwang"in the subsequent years.
When the hastilies broke out, Cen. Chiang Kai-shek placed Gen. Lien-chung in command of the strong Chinese force concentrated north of the Grand Canal The first Japanese units crossed the border into Kiangsu at With their base of operations at other Japanese detachments now the Lunghai Railway.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.