Since yesterday morning Japanese army aeroplanes bombed Soviet artillery and mechanized units in Manchoukuo more than a dozen times and inflicted heavy losses on them, the messages said.
Accurate shelling by Japanese artillery units routed several Soviet detachments which had repeatedly attacked Japanese forces near the border.
Several Soviet tanks were put out of operation, five of them being set on fire 50 metres from the Japanese positions, the messages said—Domei tinuing.
Observers looked optimistically to Saturday's official communique, in which was expressed Soviet satisfaction that new proposals had been forwarded, as a hopeful indication for the future, but little or nothing was known of Moscow's reactions to the Anglo-French proposals.
It wag only declared that Finland, Latvia and Esthonia remained opposed to any guarantees that might be given them without their express approval. Baltic quarters here also claimed that Britain and France favoured satisfying Soviet claims for guarantees of these small nations de~ spite their opposition to these pledges of their independence and security.—Havas.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.