Hankow, May 5.
'APANESE forces have launched a "May offensive" along a 250- kilometre front extending from Tsungyang, 120 kilometres south of Hankow, and west of the Canton-Hankow Railway in south-eastern Hunan, southward to Tungcheng, south-westward to Fengsin and Nanchang, Japanese military authorities here disclosed today.
A Japanese detachment which dislodged guerillas operating in south-eastern Honan around Yochow, Sintsiang and Tungcheng late last month resumed a drive on Chinese concentrations southeast of Tsungyang on Wednesday.
The Japanese routed the Chinese there and continued onward to Painichiaochen, eight kilometres east of Tsungyang, where they defeated another force.
The detachment was reported to be still pushing south, Another Japanese column was engaged in a drive south of Tung-cheng at the same time. Chinese survivors of the Wuning battle on the Siu River front and those troops dispatched from the Changsha sector with orders to recapture Wuning have been marking time in the sector south of a line connecting Tsungyang and Tungcheng after the collapse of their brief offensive. These troops, comprising several divisions, were reported to be falling back to new positions.
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