Hankow, June 3, A series of smashing operations carried out by Japanese troops in the regions both north and south of the Yangtze River during the month of May have resulted in the successful forestalling of Chinese attempts to counter-attack Japanese positions there, the Press Section of the Japanese Expeditionary Force to Central China announced today, Starting action on May 6, one Japanese force attacked Chungking troops of the Fifth War Zone, under the command of General Li Tsung-jen, in northern Hupeh Province, the announcement said, while another Japanese force encountered a considerably large number of enemy regulars and irregulars in southern Hunan Province which is part of the Ninth War Zone.
The communique disclosed that Japanese forces completed their respective operations on May 23 which resulted in Chinese troops abandoning a total of 10,634 dead, while more than 1,700 Chinese soldiers, including 73 officers, surrendered to the Japanese troops with nine heavy and light machine guns, and 6,823 rifles. Other war material captured included 12 trench mortars, 112 heavy and light machine guns, 3,282 rifles and 500,000 rounds of ammunition.—Domei,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.