Except for certain blockading and bombing operations in Canton and aerial raids on individual cities, including the capital, Japanese military activity in the present struggle seems to be mainly concentrated on the situation in the North and on the problem of the Shanghai area. In the North definite progress has been made. The Japanese forces have been used with considerable strategic skill and although it would be rash to assume that som^ of the more extravagant claims emanating from their headquarters have been justified, it is apparent that they have virtually secured complete control of Hopei and, disappointed in their hopes of General Han Fu-chu's benevolent neutrality, have initiated an attack on Shantung. The Chinese are believed to be intending to stand on a line running through Changte in North Honan and, in view of the entry of the Shantung troops into the fray, they may be able to put up a firmer defence than on the lines from which they have been dislodged. Even so it is evident that the Japanese invaders have been well tested and their advance would probably have been less rapid if they had been opposed by troops which could vie with them in the possession of artillery, and mechanized mobile formations. Nor should it be imagined that on the right of the Japanese advance it is all plain sailing. To begin with the mountainous country in north Shansi strictly limits the possibilities of deployment and by guerrilla tactics the Chinese forces can still give a good account of themselves in that region. It is to be noted that Chinese reports persist in suggesting that the drive to Taiyuan has yet to be developed in strength, Whether the Japanese forces advancing down the Tientsin-Pukow line through Hopei can continue sai ly to penetrate into Honan without clearing the ground in Shansi and Shantung is open to doubt. Moreover the lengthening of the lines of communication' offers opportunities of which Chinese irregulars may be expected to make due use.
For two months now the Japanese have been engaged in developing an offensive in the Shanghai area. In the first phase of this local struggle they were on the defensive. Later the landing of a large number of military reinforcements at three points to the northeast bf Shanghai enabled them to gain ground, supported as they were by the guns of their warships in the Whangpoo. The pressure of Chinese forces in the Pootung peninsula produced a secondary campaign which has been ftfully conducted by the Idzumo and attendant destroyers with aeroplanes overhead. Wet weather, accentuating the difficulty of negotiating the numerous creeks in the area between the Settlement and Woosung, has enabled a doughty Chinese defence to make a fierce resistance to the Japanese. In the last few days the development of the struggle has created an awkward salient in Kiangwan which has proved exceptionally formidable to the Japanese. In addition the Chinese positions in Chapei and round North Station have been strongly held. Heavy artillery bombardment and aeroplane bombing have failed to dislodge the defenders, To the north, however, from Lotien the Japanese appear to have gained ground and by crossing the Woosung Creek have accentuated the Kiangwan salient. It is reported that further Japanese activity to the west of Liuho appears to indicate another southward advance with the apparent object of enveloping the Chinese positions in Chapei and Kiangwan. If this advance materializes and is linked up with the Japanese forces to the left it may be that the Shanghai operations will reach another critical phase. The activity of Japanese aeroplanes in bombing possible lines of retirement for the Chinese defenders suggests that this deduction is hot without justification.
Although both in the North and in Shanghai the superiority of the Japanese in the air and by virtue of the heavy equipment available to their armies is evident, it cannot be said that they have by any means broken Chinese morale. In fact the spirit of the Chinese forces, especially in the Shanghai area, has attained to a high standard o fortitude in most adverse conditions. Casualties have been large—so large as to impel reiteration of the view that admirable as has been the tenacity of the Chinese forces in holding their positions near and in Chapei the price paid for thus delaying the Japanese advance has been in excess of the advantages gained, especially as a planned retirement would deprive the invaders of the benefit of support from the warships. Nevertheless the Chinese High Command has displayed considerable confidence and resource. In the North Japanese hopes of. encircling and cutting off the retreat of large bodies of their opponents were unexpectedly thwarted. The same power of elusiveness may come into play here if the enveloping movement which the Japanese appear to have begun should assume dangerous potentialities. The Japanese no doubt will rely on their mobile troops to effect a surprise and their present command of the air seems to prevent the Chinese from making use of aerial observation. On balance it is plain that the struggle is likely to be prolonged unless some hitherto undiscerned factor should intervene. Few observers in August would have believed that the Japanese could be held up in the neighbourhood of Shanghai for such a length of time. These two months of desultory fighting and skirt mishing seem to have shown that the fighting capacity of the Chinese troops and the} pri measures taken for the defence of their positions have exceeded expectations. A potent influence in the maintenance of their morale is the acceptance of the Generalissimo's view that the task of defence against the might of Japan connotes a bitter struggle against heavy odds. This has discouraged facile optimism. which otherwise might have been fatal.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.