The first was that there was a Soviet attempt to divert Japanese attention from the conflict in China by staging these incursions into Manchoukuo territory in the hope that they would cause a shift of Japanese effectives, This, the spokesman stated, might be carried out with the connivance of, or at the request of, the Chinese government.
Secondly the raids were carried out owing to the prevailing unrest in Outer Mongolian affairs which had arisen over Soviet policy in that area. Most of this unrest was in the form of religious resistance, especially from the Lama Buddhists, whom the Soviets had tried to wipe out, Therefore came the raids to divert the attention of the Outer Mongolians, who were being led to believe that their territory was being invaded by Manchoukuo or Japan.
That the Soviets were seeking not to precipitate a large scale attack was evident from the targets that they had chosen during these aerial attacks, the spokesman added. Most of the places bombed, he said, were monasteries and their small settlements in Western Manchoukuo, Kanjurmal, he stated, was about 18 miles east of the border.
"It the Soviets were really serious about this they would attack something more important" he continued. "This mass flight over the Manchoukuo border is an attempt of the Soviets to regain their lost prestige since the combat on May 28 when more than half of their Air Force was shot down"
The Japanese planes that did mot return, he went on, were believed to have been lost but the result achieved of shooting down 49 planes out of 150 by 18 machines atoned for the loss of the five. It was an extremely good record. Just because both forces lost about one-third of their effectives seemed to suggest that the two forces were equally matched in equipment and technique. it was an accepted maxim, he concluded, that in aerial warfare two forces of the same numerical strength would lose about the same number of planes.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.