Evening star., 1938-05-02
Victories Exl,iIarate Chinese.
But Stamina Is Still Question
Continuance of Munitions Supply Is
Vital for Ultimate Outcome
of Japan's Campaign.

whole Lunghai line. A further item
in Japan's strategy is. of course, even
tual uniof Of its Shantung army with
the southern army which captured
Nanking. A final development - but
this seems long way off-might be a
thrust south from Wuhu to Man.
chang. then a westward march to
cut the Canton Hankow Railway near
Changsha.
Advantages on the Chinese side are
the following:
First. the country is united politi-
cally as never before. Genuine will to
resist Japan. to fight to a finish, to
commit national suicide rather than
meekly suffer dismemberment, Is
strikingly manifest. The united front
has ended a l0-year-long civil war,
and the Communist army is fighting
side by side with Chang Kai-shek.
Observation-Disclosures Of men bare
foot and without weapons - have
marched hundreds of miles to join
the national army, from provinces as
remote as Yunnan, and from regions
like Szechwan, where the central gov
ernment has never before been strong.
Second, the facility of the Chinese
in guerrilla warfare. In many sec
tors, japanese troops Of Occupation"
hold only the railway lines.
Third. help from German technical
advisers and Russian pilots, as we'll as
gradual bettering of aviation tech
nique.
Fourth. as mentioned above, the
stupendously difficult job the Jap
anese have apparently set themselves,
i.e., the actual conquest Of China.
which means a staggering financial
as we'll as military burden,
Fifth, the fact that Japan's stand
ard of living is bound to be lowered
as the war goes on, while China can
feed itself and clothe itself without
reference to foreign trade.
China's Disadvantages.
On the other hand, one should not
minimize China's disadvantages, which
are very considerable:
First, the Japanese have virtual
command Of the air. They bomb
Chinese cities. even those deep in the
interior, almost at will
Second, the Chinese army, despite
its improvement. is woefully deficient
in the real muscle Of modern war
fare-artillery.
Third, the Japanese are better pro-
visioned than the Chinese, better
equipped, and better armed.
Fourth, the Chinese high command,
in spite of considerable advance, has
not yet created completely unified
and integrated national army. Pro-
vincial feeling is strong. some of the
war lords still like to dance to their
own tunes and it is still impossible to
construct or reform army divisions
except on a provincial basis One
difficulty is language. A man from
Yunnan may not understand orders
in a Chekiang dialect. Another Is
food. The man from the south wants
rice, but the man from the north will
eat only millet.
Fifth. the Chinese still have to fight
an old enemy in the supply services
graft or squeeze" despite stentorian
efforts to clean it out.
Munitions Vital.
The outcome Of the war may very
we'll depend on munitions. The Chi
nese can fight only as long as they
have guns and powder Lack of
money. the Japanese occupation Of
the northern ports, the virtual block
ade in the south, have made num-
tions supply vital point. At the mo-
ment the great Chinese channel for
munitions is the Hong Kong-Canton-
Hankow route. The Japanese bomb
this railway line almost every day,
but they haven't succeeded in putting
it out OF action. They have dropped
hundreds of tons of bombs on this
thin line Of steel, but the trains still
chug slowly upward with their metallic
cargoes.
II the Canton Hankow line should
be cut or broken the Chinese have four
other possible routes. The first is
motor road roughly parallel to the
Hankow Railway. But if the railway
were permanently cut, presumably