THE CHINA MAIL DOUBLE TENTH 'SUPPLEMENT.
10
THE WAR IN CHINA
NE of the most decisive
Valley as the only approach. But battles of the Three King-this course is fraught with dan- gers for the invader, whose fleet dom period (221-265 A.D.) was fought at Wu-chung, and it was could be caught between two booms won by China's most renowned and whose land forces might find strategist, Chu Ko-liang, over the their communications cut off by wlly, redoubtable Tsao Taao, who the rising waters. It is therefore had set out with 800,000 men likely that the Japanese drive will be directed across Po-yang Lake from North China in order to con-
towards Nan-chang, with the at- 'quer the south. The story goes that Chu Ko-liang was sitting on tempt to strike at the Hankow- a peak near Wu-chang watching Canton Railway south of Wuhan the movements of his enemy, · and thus cut off the latter from its When night fell he went
main line of retreat. At the same time the Chinese troops, com- more to the peak and prayed for
prising Chang Fah-kwei's famous the east wind. In the dead. of
"Ironsides," are offering a most the night he ordered his men to
stubborn resistance, and the Chin- sneak into the enemy's line with fire brands. The wind actually ese air fleet during the month of July had the opportunity of caus- blew from the east and with its help: the invaders camp went up ing considerable damage to the Japanese fleet concentrated in the in a huge conflagration, forcing
River; proof of which was furnish- Tsao Tsao to abandon his plans
ed by travellers who near Shang- of conquest.
hai saw several warships, including a small aircraft carrier, being towed downstream.
once
TRIPLE SETTLEMENT Once again the attention of the world is riveted on this place in Central China, where Hankow, Wu-chang, and Han-yang form a triple settlement called the Wuhan cities. With the fall of An-king, capital of Anhuei Province, on 13, the Japanese advance against China's present national capital got under way. Hu-kou or "lake- mouth," at the spot where the clear waters of the Po-yang Lake flow into the muddy waves of the Yangtze, was captured after long and sanguinary fighting on July 5, and Kiu-kiang on July 26. War has entered Northern Kiangsi and is close to the border of Hupeh. The region is familiar to the historian as well as to present- day travellers of China. Who ever has taken the trip up the Yangtze River to Hankow will re- member the picturesque walled town of Hu-kou; the famous "Big Orphan" Island, a steep rock near the conflux of the two waters where Tseng Kuo-fan fought with the Taiping; Kiu-kiang, in the shadow of the Lu Shan massive, with its many porcelain shops, the wares of which used to be manu- factured in the many kilns at the shore of Po-yang Lake; Kuling, located 3,000 feet up in the Lu Shan, a popular resort and for several years past China's sum- mer.capital Now, Kiu-kiang is a dead city, the kilns have long stopped turning out their much admired products, and Kuling, ac- cording to the latest reports, has become a refugee centre.. From Kiu-kiang to Hankow is only some 120 miles, as the crow flies.
AT ALL COST
Hankow, it was declared on several occasions, will be defended at all cost, and many, observera. look to the forthcoming battle as: a decisive one. It is not surpri- sing that they should have looked: up H. G. Well's prophesy in his "Shape of the. Things to Come": wherein, in 1933, he prophesied with amazing accuracy many features of the present Sind- Japanese war. He forecast also the siege of the Wuhan cities by converging Japanese armies in the summer of 1938, the, failure of the 'slege and the eventual with- drawal and collapse of the "Vic- torious Army in 1989.
F
Whether actual events will also in this instancy, fulfill the pre dictions made. the British
Meanwhile the Japanese air force is continuing the bombing of Canton, Swatow and other Chinese
cities, having recently added. Kiu- klang and Hankow to the list of its abjectives. The question "Has the Canton bombing been indiscriminate?" has been answer-. ed with "Yes" in a pamphlet issued recently by the Canton Committee
J
By R. F.
(in the "China Journal”)
a
for Justice to China, in which it is stated that the bombing of po- wer stations, government offices, residences of government officials, as well as of cultural institutions such as the Sun Yat Sen Memorial and the Sun Yat Sen Univerity show
deliberate effort to paralyse the life of the civilian and not the military population:
In spite of the daily bombing, the Hankow-Canton Railway manages to maintain operations almost without interruption; it has shown a Ch. $4,000,000 profit for the first six months of this year, and recently announced the establishment
·
of a bi-weekly
through passenger train service between Kowloon and Hankow. By this railway twenty-six German military advisers, headed by Gen-
·eral Von Falkenhausen, left: Han- kow on July 5 in-obedience to the order of the German Government and hundred-ten, British Blue- jackets left Hongkong for Han- kow in order to reinforce the British garrison' in the Wuhan cities.
.
been
GERMAN ADVISERS- Much speculation has aroused concerning the real moti- vations underlying the recall of the German advisers and of the German, Ambassador to China, but whatever may be the diploma- behind the tic
considerations scenes, it is notable that, in con- newspapers, trast to the Italian German press opinion continues favouable to China," a fact which, in a totalitarian state like Ger- many, clearly indicates that the ruling powers are not taking a hos- tile attitude towards China. This feeling was emphasised by a re- (Continued on Page, 20)
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