Hankow, May 11.
Outfanked: by Japanese troops closing the gap in a vast U-shaped encircling movement northern Hupeh, nine Chinese divisions were doomed, the Japanese Expeditionary Force to Central China claimed here in a communique issued et 10.30 o'clock this morning.
Intercepting Chinese troops seeking to flee from the Tsaoyang area, 130 kilometres north-west of Sinyang, in Honan, Japanese forces advanced during the night of May 9 to 10 to a line linking Huhochen and Ssuchwang, the announcement said. These forces were continuing to exert heavy pressure upon the confused Chinese ranks, the communique declared.
The headquarters of the lst column of Gen. Tang En-po's forces. the communique continued, appeared fo be within the Japanese cordon. Many staff officers, it said, were surrendering to the Japanese forces—Domei.
Million Troops Engaged Tokyo, May 11.
A million Japanese troops at present are engaged in large scale operations in Central China intended to "speed the collapse of the Chiang Kai-shek regime", the Japanese navy spokesman revealed here today.
The announcement was the first disclosure of the number of Japanese troops active in Central China.
The spokesman said these troops were stationed mainly east of th Han River, west of the Pinghan rai way, south of the Yangtze and between Nanchang and Changsha, (Continued on page 8)
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