The Japanese offensive was directed against Yingshan from the north, south and east, but first to fall was the western gate of Yingshan. This three-sided Japanese attack left to the Chinese only one avenue of escape—the road extending west from Yingshan to Lotien over the Anhwei-Hupeh border.
In the Lotien sector, Domei dispatches from Hankow said, Japanese troops in pursuit of the remainder of 2,000 Chinese who abandoned the town on Thursday reached the vicinity of Hochiatsu, five kilometres north of Lotien.
Striking to the south-west and east of Lotien, other Japanese detachments were reported to be engaged in vigorous mopping-up operations, Driven Out of Trenches Engagements were said to have occurred on the Chungchieh River, five kilometres south-west of Lotien, where about 400 Chinese entrenched on the eastern bank of the stream were said to have been routed, while another Chinese force of undetermined strength was reported as having abandoned hills to the east of the Yehchia River, eight kilometres east of Lotien, before the Japanese advance.
Another Japanese column was reported to be in the vicinity of Taipingchiao, 16 kilometres south-west of Lotien:
Along the lower Yangtze, Japanese troops were also active in anti-guerilla operations, Domei reports said.
In a surprise attack upon Fachiahsiang, 10 kilometres, south-west of Yangchow, on the north bank of the Yangtze opposite Chinkiang, a guerilla band belonging to the Chinese Fourth Route Army, a newly organized unit consisting mostly of irregulars, was said to have been put to rout. The Chinese left 40 dead behind, according to a Domei dispatch.
Meantime, dispatches based upon aerial observation reports indicated a widespread movement of Chinese troops along the south bank of the Chientang River towards Siaoshan, the railhead opposite Hangchow.
This was interpreted in Japanese military circles as foreshadowing a wholesale retreat of Chinese troops from north Chekiang in an effort to salvage men and equipment in the face of a Japanese threat to their rear from the direction of Nanchang.
Large Chinese forces, however, were still reported to be in the vicinity of Ningpo.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.