Evening star., 1942-06-07
Jupun's Drive in China

With each passing day the great
Japanese offensive Is developing
against Central and South China on
at least half a dozen fronts in the
most complex and far-flung opera
ton ever simultaneously attempted
by the Nipponese invaders. Starting
with the push from Burma up the
Burma Road into Yunnan province,
the next phase of this multiple
offensive was clear across China,
$500 miles to the eastward, in the
coastal province of Chekiang. Hard
ly had that campaign got started
when a Seaborne expeditionary force
landed farther south near the port
city Of Foochow, the last important
seagate of Free China with the outer
world. Then the Japanese became
active at their outpost at Nanchang,
in Central China. threatening to
take the Chekiang defenders in the
rear. And now large Japanese forces
are tanning northward from the
great southern metropolis Of Canton,
especially up the railway line toward
Changsha, the key to Central China's
| defense.
Unless plotted on map, these
multiple operations may be confus-
ing. But a brief sketch of the topo-
graphical background will aid in
understanding the pattern of jap
anese strategy.
China is roughly the size Of the
United States. The northeastern
segment of the country, bordering on
Manchukuo and the Yellow Sea, is
pretty much under Japanese control.
From this base the Japanese have
pushed into the heart of Central
China up the broad valley of the
mighty Yangtse River. China's Mis-
sissippi, until the valley ends at the
mass of mountains which covers
Western China, amid which nestles
Chungking, Free China's provisional
| capital.
The Japanese have never been able
to penetrate mountainous West
China. Neither have they subdued
the vast block of Southern China, a
region of tangled hill and valley,
with no great river system like the
Yangtse up which invasion is easy.
Several times the japanese have
tried to cut off South and Southeast
ern China from land contact with
Chungking. The weakest spot in the
Chinese defense is the relatively low
trough Of connecting valleys which
winds through the hill country from
the Middle YangtSe to Canton. The
key point in that line is the city of
Changsha, from which the Japanese
have been beaten back on three sep
arate occasions.
For the moment, the japanese do
not seem to mediate another drive
on Changsha. But they are ham
mering at every important point
eastward to the seacoast, their stra-
tegic objective being the main rail-
way line which runs east and west
through Central China. Once that
line is in Japanese hands from the
sea to Nanchang, a twofold drive
could be launched at Changsha,
along the railway westward from
Nanchang, and southwark from the
Yangtse. Indeed, if the drive up the
railway from Canton continues to
make progress, Changsha would be
menaced from this third southern
side, as well. In that case, 1t is hard
to see how it could hold out. And,
with the fall of Changsha under
such circumstances, all Southeastern
China would be cut off from Chung
king.
That would be body blow to
Free China, because from those rich
territories the Chungking govern
ment draws large proportion of its
supplies, taxes and recruits. Re-
duced to its remote mountain nu-
cleus, the Chungking regime might
decline to a mere local obstacle
which could be blockaded by rela-
lively small japanese forces and
either subdued in leisurely fashion
or left to itself. Japan would thus
have liquidated what it calls 1.-THE
China Incident" to a point where
most of its forces now immobilized
in China would be freed for other
fields Of conquest. That Is the meas
ure of the present stakes in China.
Probably never before in its five
year struggle against japanese
aggression has Free Chinas situa-
tion been so grave as it is today.