Chinese reports stated that on the Peiping-Hankow Railway front, movements of Japanese forces were nóted on March 20 and the following day when "4,000 Japanese troops moved out in detachments from their barracks at Sinhsiang, on the Railway, heading eastward for Fengchiu, on the north bank of the Yellow River, opposite Kaifeng, the capital of Honan Province."
On the Shansi front, a Chinese communique declared, three Japanese detachments, escorted by war "planes, had advanced towards western Shansi, to the south of Taning, and heavy fighting was now going on there. Gunfire was audible at Ping-tu kwan and Taoyuantse.. Despite the Japanese reinforcements from Suiyuan province to Hochu, an important city in northwest Shansi, on the east bank of the Yellow River, the Chinese had recaptured Paoteh on March 18, the communique stated. It added that Chinese troops were at present pre-of whom were presumed dead some time ago.
The occupants were Flight Lieutenant F. S. Gardner, Flying Officer G. A. D. Thomon, and Sergeant George Hicks.
The flight round Britain was preparatory to a non-stop dash to Australia to recapture the long-distance world record for this country.—Reuter.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.