Napoleon's tactics are being used by the Japanese forces in Honan, according to the army spokesman at yesterday's press conference here. In answer to a question on the latest situation, he said that the Japanese forces in Honan have returned to their original positions. Chinese propaganda agencies, he said, had been trying to construe the movement as a Japanese retreat but the Japanese objective was not to occupy certain positions, It was rather, he said, to deal a severe blow to the enemy, This mobile kind of campaign, the spokesman stated, could be traced to Napoleon who once declared that if the enemy is dealt a serious blow, victory must be secured, It had been ascertained that Central troops were planning to move eastward, the army spokesmen said, and the Japanese campaign in Honan had been carried out to block the Chinese plan, There were strong forces of Chinese troops in the mountains north of Ichang, the spokesmen stated, and these were suffering from lack ofi food. They were trying to move down to the Yangtze valley where food was ample.
The rift between Central and Communist troops in the Chinese army was partly political and partly owing to trouble over territory, said the spokesman, The reports of an imminent Japanese move southward were just Chinese propaganda, said the spokesman, indicating that the Chungking position was so weakened that such a move was necessary for its salvation, the assumption being that such a Japanese move would bring to a halt the attack on Central troops, Japan will continue to fight, said the spokesman, until the Chungking government ceases to resist,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.