Most of the shooting It said to be at Tong range, tke very nature of the open country on which the campaign being slaged exposing any. Teed beltiring party that attempts to. {are Into "no-man's land" One port has it that a. great deal of Munition {8 being fred away by both sides, nan attempt to gauge each other's "probable strength, When a Barrage is not answered, troops vance under cover of their own fre While the. enemy force retreats to avert being overwhelmed. 'The mort= ality' fy thus kept down' toa minlum, "When the enemy returns shot for shot, both sides marke time and "When points of advantage must points of advantage mus seized, skirmishes ensue and. ifthe defence Is plucky, as Was the case for the Mongol defence of Olanhottok COinitrodka) on February. 12, "the engagement resembles a barile. Tie Kewantung. Army is in the habit of ing. to clashes 0s incidents"
invasions by. the" Outer Moi {qols" which' Invariably end" in. the Enemy being "routed" Even when the Japanese and Manchoukuo forces {ake the offensive It is a case of the thorny being "repulsed" In the absence of fels a true. picture of tenes atthe "front" cannot drawn, but" observers seem. Kwane {ting Army press releases bold strokes hae Tepresent a skeleton of what might Be taking place "Continual Advances"
Japanese and Manchoukuo forces, for instance, are seen steadily creep-Ing towards Outer Mongolia. They fare advancing without retreali The Mongols are seen harrying the advance forces and In concentrated ftlacks upon weaker portions of the! far-flung Japanese-Manchoukuo line, 'The Kwanlung Army and Manchoukuo officially have announced that their troops are on a mission to oust every Outer Mongolian soldier from Manchoukuo territory. A umber of hostile soldiers, it is' orted, WMegally and by fore still occupy several Manchoukuo out posts along the frontier, Outer Mongolia claims that the Japanese and Manchoukuans are stealing their tond and have raised the ery of "self-preservation." Soviet support, It 1s understood, "has en couraged the Mongols to contest with 'i. dangerous show of arms the ad-Wanee of the Nipponese and Manchu troops.
It {6 recalled that Japan and chouleuo strenuously had sought to] establish "friendly "relations "with Outer Mongolia. Wren the protracted Manchouli negotiations" to-(wards such an end collapsed November, Japan and Manchoukuo realized they: could -nat, employ nor~ mabgneans to pry open a country closed?by Soviet Russia. Attempis fo intimidate the hermit nation produced alarming results, for a sleeping dragon was. sroused, allegedly by Soviet Russia, to sink its hostile fangs into Manchoukuo territory.
So reckless grew the defiance of the Outer Mongolians, according to Hoinking, that finally the Kwantuny. Army and Manchoukuo found themselves obliged to call out their armed forees to "discipline" the Mongols and restore: order along the frontier.
Manchoukuo characterized Outer Mongolia as a mysterious and hostile land, desiring to be lett alone by the Japanese and "Manchoukuo for some iniquitous purpose, Although geographically contiguous and the people of the same blood as the Mongols of Manchoukuo, Outer Mon-folia has cast her lot with Communism which Japan believes. will undermine the safety.of the world and which in Outer Mongolia must either be Mung back or parried. If left unchecked, the fear is that the Soviet thrust through Outer Mon-olla will plague and imperil Man-
Out Mongolia apparently regards Manchoukuo's political status dis-painfully, although she ts to Soviet Russia what Manchoukuo Is. to Japan. One conclusion observers} draw Is that the Outer Mongols are too proud to submit to the ruling influences of another Oriental nations but less particular if their patron guardian should be, as the case Is, 1 people not their kin, relatively neglected frontier, sparsely populated and far from the highways' of the world, the Ouler Mongol-Manchoukuo border has become a most significant battlefield on which the giant forces of Communism and Imperialism are in mortal combat.
Tk Is not known how far the combined' Japanese and Manchoukuo forces will proceed against the Mon-gobans. Officially, it has been announced that the' forces merely are to uphold the principle of territorial Inviolability. Understanding, how-fever, conflicts as to the correct lino of demarcation between Outer Mon-olm and Manchoukuo, giving rise overlapping claims to territory.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.