Nanchang, Sept. 7. [HE Present Japanese drive towards Tehan is developing to one of the fiercest engagements in the present hostilities. Natural defences in the hills, all overgrown with thick foliage, make any attack a long and difficult process.
Japanese aircraft and artillery can do much to upset the morale of the Chinese forces, and blast them out of certain positions, but for @ final assault charges with bayonets and hand-grenades up the slopes and through the thickets are needed, and in this type of warfare the superior numbers of the Chinese necessarily prove more effective than in the open country.
1 was able to watch the opening stages of the Japanese offensive fiom a magnificent vantage-point on the top of Kuling Mountain, 3,500
side, foet above the surrounding country-
In company with two other pressmen, we were the only foreigners allowed to proceed to Kuling since the fall of Kiukiang.
After obtaining permission from the Chinese military authorities, the party set out for the only path up Kuling mountain which could still be used—a goat track up the south-slopes of the mountain.
This necessitated proceeding duc north from Tehan, "almost through the Chinese front line defences.
As we started, the Japanese were the process of launching a pre-luminary bombardment, Many Japanese Planes There was not five minutes of the day when we were out of sight-or hearing of Japanese planes, which were harassing the Chinese with a relentless barrage of bombs and machine-gun fire, We ourselves were frequently obaged to take cover. once hiding for ver half-an-hour while nine bomb-cers subjected the surrounding area a heavy bombardment, Finally, we reached the foot of the Lushin Mountains, and here we embarked on a gradual climb up the slopes to Kuling, At this point, the menace of the aeroplanes became tess, since the wooded slopes provided plenty of cover, while the few aircraft which posed overhead appeared to be enaged only in scouting, Down the steep track between bamboo glades, tramping along in the hot sun, came a weary and endless procession of refugees from Kuling, carrying their babies and their belongings.
Many of them, obviously, were small trades-folk, unused to. walking and carrying loads.
Intermingled with the refugees were a few wounded and sick Chi-neve soldiers, some shaking with malaria, and hardly able to walk.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.