Shanghai, Feb, 22.
AIDING Lanchow, the important base on the Sino-Soviet "Red Route," Japanese Army aircraft on the afternoon of Feb. 20 shot down 36 Chinese aeroplanes in aerial combat besides destroying various military establishments and aerodrome facilities, a communique issued by the headquarters of the Japanese Expeditionary Force to Central China at noon yesterday jaimed. This was the second mass aerial attack on Lanchow in a week.
One Japanese bomber, hit by Chinese bullets, deliberately, crashed into a Chinese military establishment, blowing up the structure, the announcement said. This machine, it was understood, carried a crew of seven.
'The Japanese air armada, consisting' jot "scores" of planes, the com. Tunigué stated, circled "above Lanchow from 245 pam. on February 20"to 405 pin, bombing the aerodrome and other military establishments. Chinese machines on the ground were also destroyed in addition to these shot down combat.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.