Hankow, July 5 has now been officially confirmed that the dykes.on the northern bank of the Yangtze river have been broken in two places, one being at Hwayang near Matung and' the other at Foofingcheng near Hukow.
The Japanese assertion that Chinese troops destroyed these dykes intentionally is denied by the Chinese authorities, who state that the damage was done by increased. water pressure against the dykes which had not been repaired for a long period—Trans-Oceai ture the hotly contested position of For virtually 48 hours Chinese troops entrenched inv hills command. Ing the only rond leading westward subjected the Japanese forces to a withering fire, Heavy artillery, sel @om used by the Chinese, brought into play.
Deter jo Line Plereod When the Chinese line of defence was pierced, Japanese troops had in their possession nine pieces of heavy field artillery, four field guns, two antiaircraft guns, 10 heavy machin ssu tomatic rifles, machine-gun ammunition, 100,000 rine ammunition 1,000! rounds of artillery ammunition, one searchlight, 25,000 _hand-grenades, three military motor ears, one motorcycle, one caisson, 71 horses and 20 rifles Once this line had been broken the Jepanese advance was comparatively ensy, At 3 o'clock in the afternoon fof June 26 Matowehen village was captured by Army forces.
By 8 o'clock the following morn-the forts had been reduced by an attack from the land, permitting. for the first time naval engineers to approach the boom.
At i1 o'clock on June 29 a channel blasted open.
'On. the. same' morning Japanese troops maching westward along the southern bank of the Yangtze occu-pled Pengtseh, a walled town halfway between Slangkow and Hukow. The, Niangniangmiao forts were captured on June 30, opening the way for a march on Hukow=—Domei, Progress Recorded Shanghai, July 6.
Points occupied by Japanese forces in their advance on Hukow and the dotes of their capture were as fol lows: Slangkow, June 24; Matowchen, June.26;. Pengtshen, June 29; Shihpaling, ° Jine 29; Matowehen Boom, June' 29; Niangni Sune "30; Tienshan, July 1; July Vapaniese war vessels, sweeping. their own channel in the mine-laden waters of the Yangize, yesterday receded the vicinity of Hukow, a Japanese China Seas Fleet communique ismied at noon yesterday announced.
Tu advancing, the Japanese river fleet not only cleared 2 path through mine fields" but also shelled and silenced Chinese artillery batteries on the northern bank of the river.
Forts at Hweichiachen, above Kiu-king, were bombed on' Monday by an aerial squadron commanded by Lieut, Tetsuo Kobayashi, the announcement, added.
4 the Japfanese had yesterday advanced to within "17 Kdlometres of Hukow and that the gunfire which could be plait ly heard around Hukow all day ye terday had ceased towards evening It is, moreover, admitted in Chinese reports that the Japanese have occupied the whole southern bank' lof the Yangtze to a length of 60 kilometres from Hsiangkow via! Matung, Pengtsch, Niangniangmiao to Liushichiao, 'The Chinese - reports declare, however, that the Japanese land connections are weak, since the Japanese troops on the southern bank' of the river are being incessantly Jattacked by the Chinese, Boom Still Formidable particulars of the position at the Matung boom were available here up to this morning, it beng merely reported that the Japanese have cleared part of the boom so that small vessels can pass, though not larger warships. In particular Jabout 50 Japanese warships cancer trated at Hsiangkow cannot pass the [boom until it is completely destroyed. Chinese reports declare,- "however, that Chinese planes are' preventing the Japanese from working on the boom by keeping up an uninterrupted
ships.
Bombardment of the Japanese war-Tt appears os if the Chinese had kept the upper hand in. the recent fighting north of the "Yangtze, according to reports reaching here, It Is reported that considerable numbers of Chinese troops have been concentrated in the vicinity of Tslenshan, Up to now these forces have not succeeded, however, in recaptun ing Tsienshan' which is occupied by strong Japanese garrison, but have fat least prevented the Japanese from advancing on Talhu,—rans-Ocean,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.