But as s0 often during this eonflet in China, Japanese theories fail. to come up to practice. From what Chinese returning from those parts! have to tell, the Long Trench ts by means completed, nor ever likely to be. The unfortunate villagers, who during the day have been forced to dig out the trench by the Japan ese, re made to fil it in gain at night by the guerillas, "Their work, at any rate, is never done, Nor, even where. completed, is it of much use as any kind of barrier. If the trenches stop anyone at all, thes only do so in the daytime.
At night the majority of the crossings remain unguarded. AL the approach of dark the Japanese retire to their railway blockhouses telling the Chinese to call them, if there is any sign of trouble, And the Chinese police then retire Into the nearest walled town oF village. In any ease, the guerillas have no dimeulty in sloping off the sides of the trench in very short time and climbing into and out of it without any undue exertion.
The Long Trench, however, does have certain military advantages, if perhaps not of the kind that were expected. For in the otherwise open plain it provides ideal cover for any sniper who feels inclined to take a pot-shot at a passing train. And the railway people have been complaining that the trains have been having a worse time than ever since the trenches were constructed.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.