Nanchang, Sept. 8.
I have just returned to Nanchang from a hurried visit to Tehan, where I witnessed the Chinese retreat from Mahweiling.
It was an unforgettable sight. I found the main road leading to Tehan from the north packed with troops, carrying all their equipment.
The officers were mounted on ponies and mules, while the wounded were either walking or being borne in stretchers, Occasional trucks, filled with the worst cases, mingled with the troops.
Re-entering Tehan, which I had left only three days before, I found the town even more hopelessly wrecked than before, lanes blocked with masses of debris brought down by exploding bombs.
I had to search out devious routes through the wrecked houses in order to reach the English Brethren Mission, where I was to spend the night.
The mission house was deserted, and had been partly wrecked by the concussion of big bombs.
The doors had all been blown off their hinges, the windows and frames had been blown in, the ceilings were down, and the only living thing within sight was a Scottish terrier, kennelled in the yard.
Throughout the night, the shouting of troops on the march and the noises of cars and trucks continued.
Next morning, the stream of men was seen to be still undiminished.
Besides those on the road, hundreds were following in the small footpaths leading southwards.
Large numbers of Japanese aeroplanes flew over the road, but the morning was cloudy, and they apparently found the low clouds too great an obstacle for bombing operations. They therefore disappeared without attacking.
Had the weather been finer, the slaughter might have been terrific amidst the retreating army of tired men, who offered wonderful targets as they wandered wearily down the road, or slept in dozens by the roadside.
Along the road, Chinese peasants were making the most of unexpected customers, in the shape of this retreating army, selling cigarettes, food and water, and doing a roaring trade.
The Red Cross stations at Tehan are doing magnificent work, caring for the foods of wounded who are pouring in ceaselessly.
Along the Tehan-Nanchang road, troops are now marching northwards in large numbers as reinforcements.
Military trucks carrying supplies, and occasional pieces of heavy artillery, were also to be seen moving up to the front.
The Chinese hope that if the cloudy weather and poor visibility can continue for a day or two longer to keep off the Japanese bombers, they may possibly reorganize the Chinese armies, and, aided by reinforcements from Nanchang, reform their line to the north of Tehan.—Reuter.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.