"The Times" on South China Invasion London, Oct. 15.
The Chinese defence is not likely to be negligible, says an editorial in "The Times" today on the Japanese invasion of South China. The Can-(ence make good fighters, the journal points out, and the province, which has suffered worse than any other from Japanese air raids, now has its first chance at retaliation.
In view of Japan's command of the air, it cannot be assumed that the defender will hold up the invader indefinitely; but, unless the unforeseen occurs, the two Japanese divisions, which have so far landed in South China, are not likely to make much headway towards the railway unless they are heavily reinforced.
Questioning whether the Japanese have underestimated the dimensions of the task before them "The Times" concedes that if they have it does not mean that, in the end, they will not perform the task, but it may mean—as it did round Shanghai and Hsuchow—a temporary deadlock, fairly heavy losses and the transfer of reinforcements from other theatres of war.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.