The Waterbury Democrat., 1942-07-20
U. s. BOMBERS
 HIT LAPS HARD

(Continued from Page 1.) ed the series of Chinese attacks which in 48 hours had wiped out four weeks of Japanese conquest in the same general area of southeast China.
 Towns Recaptured
 The towns of Iyang and Hengfeng on the Nanchang- -Hankchow rail- way were recaptured and 175 miles to the east the Japanese were trapped or driven into the sea as the Chinese reentered the port cities of Wenchow and Juian.
 There were indications that the Chinese were inflicting heavy casu- alties on the Japanese in their drive to force the enemy out of the prov Gnces of Kiangsi and Chekiang, where airbases within bombing dis tance of Tokyo are located.
 Half the Japanese garrison at Iyang was reported killed and the Japanese at Wenchow and Juian who were not driven into the sea were trapped and faced annihila- ton.
 (Chungking radio quoted military authorities as believing that the Chinese successes were the result of the transfer of the bulk of the Japanese forces north to inner Mongolia where they may be pre- pairing for an invasion of Siberia.
 CThe troops supposedly were be- ing drawn from Malay, Formosa and Chekiang and Kiangsi provinces and were being transferred to the northern provinces of Jehol, Cha har and Siuyuan)
 Japs Prepare for Russia
 Chungking, July 20-(UP)-Cen- tral Chinese News Agency said to- day that & majority of Japanees troops in southeastern China were being moved to the north, appar- ently either for operations in the Mongolian sector or in preparation for possible action on the Siberian border.
 Chungking radio supplemented the news agency's report with a quotation from an "unimpeachable military source" that the Japanese had begun concentrating fresh waves of troops against Russia this time in inner Mongolia, Jehol, Chahar and Guiyuan provinces"
 The radio report said that the troops, from Formosa, Malaya and the southeastern Chinese provinces of Chekiang and Giangsi were "fill- ing up new positions, building for- tifications and putting themselves In position to outaank the eastern extension of our Mongolia"
 (Outer Mongolia, although tech- | nically Chinese, Is Russian con- trolled. It lies between China and Siberia and is bordered on the east by the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo)
 Central News Agency said that most of the Japanese troops for the northern expansion had been drawn out of the area that bounds the eastern half of the HangchoW-N Nan chang railway in Chekiang province. The move left all key cities on the road, such as Kinhwa, Chuhsien, Shangjao, Yungkang and Yushan under garrisons manned by puppet troops.
 This, the agency and Chungking radio said, may have accounted for the comparative ease with which J Chinese troops over the weekend regained a 25-mile segment Of the railroad including the town of Heng -Feng and Iyang.
 Chinese Recapture
 GA further indication that the Japanese might be transferring forces northward and partly aban- doning the southeastern China cam paign was the Chinese recapture of the Chekiang province ports of Wenshow and Juian within week after their occupation by strong Japanese forces0
 Central News Agency said that before the Japanese turned over the Hang Chow -Nanchang railroad gar- risons to puppet troops they footed all villages within three miles of the line. They took livestock, scrap metals, grains and goods and com- mandeered thousands of laborers. The workers were shipped to North China, presumably to strengthen Inner Mongolian defense and in- vasion- -springboard empiacements.
 Indications that the Japanese might find it extremely difficult to hold southeastern China while de- verting their main strength to the north were given by Central Agency which said the villagers of the Hangchow- -Nanchang railway area were armed and had begun to har- rass the enemy.
 Similarly. the Japanese in the north face well-organized guerrilla bands that have been holding out for almost i've years in the hills and wilds of the northern provinces.
 Tokyo recently has renewed its complaints of Communist attacks" in the provinces of Jehol, Chahar and Suiyuan but Chinese officials here, according to Chungking radio, dismiss the complaints as "camou- dage" of their intentions to invade l Otifar Mnn0oIia and Gfharia