Hemmed in by Japanese forces advancing into southern Shansi from three directions. 250,000 Chinese troops are threatened with being pushed backwards into the swirling Waters of the Yellow River, a Japanese military spokesman claimed last night.
Tu thrusts aimed at the Taiyuan-Pucheng Railway. bisecting the: province from north to south. Japan-cee columns were advancing along. almost parallel routes from the south-west. Following the capture, of Tsiguan in northern Honan, one Japanese unit struck directly to the west towards Yuangu, in southern Shansi, on the northern bank of, the Yellow River. From here, the spokesman intimated, the column would Veer to the north towards Chiang.
Farther east, another Nipponese detachment was moving northwest from Teinyang, Honan towards Tsinshul, with Kuwo as its objective, the spokesman revealed. Chinese troops ousted from Tsiyuan were fleeing directly north to Yangchen, Shansi, the Japanese officer stated.
From Luan, in south-eastern Shansi, another Japanese column was advancing upon Lingfeng. the temporary provincial capital, thereby. threatening the Chinese defenders of Lingshib, to the north, from the rear. To the west, a Japanese column had already taken Sihsien, 50 kilometers from the Shansi-Shensi border. The resent disposition of the Japanese forees, the spokesman declared, gave the Chinese no ollier alternative but fall, back towards the Yellow River.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.