Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1938-05-22
FOES CRUMBL|NC,
JAPANESE REPORT
Hankow Goal of Nipponese,
Says Commander in
Central China.

| BACKGROUND
Capture Of Sucsow completed one
phase OF japanese ca,bpot0n to
conquer China and gaze them base
from, Which to operate against
Che,tgchom, junction of Peiping-
HankoU and Lunghai Railways.
From there japanese expect to
| tollow the rail line to Hdnkow,
temporary seat of fugitive Chinese
Nationalist government.
BY the Asse eiated Press.
SHANGHAI, May 21.-Japanese
plunging deeper through the heart of
China from conquered Suchow, re-
ported tonight that Chinese resistance
along the vital Lunghai Railroad
rapidly was crumbling.
Maj. Gen. Shunroku Hata. COM
mander of Japan's armies in Central
China. belittled Chinas defensive
strength and declared we intend to
go to Hankow.'
The generals statement to an As
ISOLATED Press correspondent was the
first he has given foreign newspaper
man since assuming his command.
Lunghai Railway Broken.
Capture of Suchow, which broke
the Lunghai at its junction with the
important north-south Tientsin-Pu
kow Railroad, apparently is to be only
phase of campaign aimed at OBJ
liteTating the forces Of Generalissimo
Chang Kai-shek
Japanese declared they had cap
tured Gen. Tan Tao-yuan, commander
in chief of China's 22nd Army, near
Suhsien, north of Suchow.
Japanese at Peiping said all
survivors of Gen. Tan's stan also
we're captured when Japan's forces
seized his headquarters Is miles
east of Suhsien. Army COM
muniques there said military rail
traffic from Tientsin to Suchow
would be established tomorrow or
Monday "and very soon beyond
Suchow.')
Officers of Gen. Hata's staff, who
directed the assault on Suchow from
the south, declared the remnants of
China's central front armies were
trapped and faced surrender or an
Inhalation.
They estimated several hundred
thousand Chinese we're encircled by
Japanese within an area Is by Is
miles from which there was virtually
no escape:
Three More Towns Taken,
japanese military dispatches late
tonight reported occupation Of three
towns between Kweiteh and Lang
fang. west of Suchow along the
Lunghai.
They said two Chinese divisions re-
treated after losing the unidentified
towns. leaving 800 dead.
The fall of Lanfeng, japanese said,
was imminent and the next step in
welding the Lunghai corridor to
Japan's conquests in North and Cen
trail China would be Kaifeng, about
$50 miles inland from Suchow.
Beyond Kaifeng. the next objective
in Japan's 500-mile drive westward
toward Hankow, China's temporary
seat, would be Chengchow. where the
Lunghai crosses the Peiping- Hankow
Railroad, china's second important
north-south line.
Missionaries Imperiled.
Spread of Japan's main armies
westward imperiled thousands Of Chi.
nese civilians and almost 200 foreign
missionaries
Twelve Americans were believed tt
be at Kaifeng, where japanese all
raids already had caused heavy DAM
age. American Free Methodist mis-.
sionaries are stationed at Kaifeng
Cheinliu and Kihsien, southwest Of
Kaifeng, one of the towns bombed BY
japanese warplanes carrying Out
sweeping raids in advance of the
ground forces. Five Americans were
believed to be at Pohsein. in Northwest
Anhwei Province. the farthest vesl
the japanese have stuck.