Developments in the North suggest the imminence of a decisive engagement in which it is expected that the Japanese forces will make a strong attack on a wide front stretching from Tatung in North Shansi through Lianghsiang and Machang. The recent decision which has absorbed the former Communist forces into the Chinese Army has provided the defenders with useful material in North Shansi where apparently the Japanese will try to turn the Chinese left flank and so ease their apparent difficulties just south of Peiping. The result of this battle is said to be regarded ds of great importance. That view may or may not be correct.. The idea that the two contending armies will be so heavily engaged as to stage a single battle along so wide a front does not seem to tally with the known disposition of the troops concerned. The messages rather hint at that doubt for when it is stated that the Chinese front is not continuous it shows that a series of engagements may be the more probable outcome. In view of earlier Japanese reports it is interesting to note that the Chinese line is further northward than those reports originally suggested.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.