Japanese troops to-day threatened Kaifeng, capital of Honan, following their capture of Changyuan in southwestern Hopei, Changyuan, about 72 kilometres south of Puyang and eight kilometres west of the Yellow River, was occupied by the Banzai detachment yesterday morning according to dispatches received here this morning from field commanders.
As a result of their occupation of Changyuan the Japanese troops were in a position to-day to strike at Kaifeng almost at will. This strategie Honan capital was expected to be the objective of an immediate Japanese thrust for the purpose of cutting the Lunghai Railway at that point The column which occupied Cha:
an launched its drive from Puya)
ud scattered Chinese troops east of the Peiping-Hankow Railway to the south.
About 1,000 Chinese troops were reported to have been slain in a battle which preceded the capture of Changyuan. Changyuan is thirty kilometres north of Lanfeng on the Lunghai line.—Domei,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.