Evening star., 1942-07-07
Chinu's Sixth War Year


While the planet-wide holocaust
known as the Second World War is
still less than three years old, China
today enters the sixth year of its
| life-anddeath struggle against pred
atory Japan. 1t is just five years ago
that sanguinary clash between
Chinese and japanese troops at the
Marco Polo Bridge near the old Chi
nese capital Of Peking lit the flames
of a conflict which has ravaged al
most every part Of immense China
and has cost many millions of human
lives.
That bridgehead skirmish was
merely the decorating charge which
touched off an explosion whose ma
terials had long been gathering.
Chino-Japanese relations had been
frankly hostile ever since the seizure
Of Manchuria in 1881. The Chinese
government had consistently refused
to acquiesce In that arbitrary act, and
its successful undermining of China
had so alarmed Toxic that the Japa-
nese war lords felt this growing
Chinese power must be broken before
it was too late. So Toxic put forward
demands that the northern provinces
of China be virtually surrendered as
japanese protectorate, threatening
war as an alternative. The Marco
Polo Bridge clash showed that China
did not intend to submit. Therefore,
Toxic applied it's alternative of naked
force.
The japanese war lords began the
conflict with light hearts. Their up
to-date war machine was vastly su-
perior to anything the Chinese could
produce. In fact, Toxic did not
dignity the process of subjugation by
calling it war. 1t was termed THE
China Incident" and was scheduled
to last only few months.
The first inkling of what Japan was
up against came at Shanghai. That
great port metropolis at the mouth
of the Yangtse River, China's Mis-
sissippi, was obviously main objec-
tive in Japans plan for paralyzing
Chinas economic life and isolating
her from the outer world. But the
fanatical fury with which the Chi
nese troops fought the invaders
showed the temper of New China in
startling fashion. Toxic began to
realize the job it had taken on, and
it's war machine was thrown into
high gear.
The ensuing year was filled with
japanese victories. North China was
subjected to the line of the Yellow
River, while Japan's combined mech
anized and naval power drove up the
Yangtse Valley, the heart OF China,
to the ramparts of the mountainous
hinterland whittier the government.
Of Free China had retreated to its
new capital of Chungking. Also, the
japanese occupied many Of China's
port towns, including the southern
metropolis Of Canton.
However, Free China refused to
yield, and the japanese invaders,
though a million strong, could make
no further progress. The upshot was
military stalemate which persisted
substantially unchanged from 1888
until the current year. Economically,
Free China was suffering enormously,
but it kept going, maintained some
contacts with the outer world, and
caused heavy losses to the japanese
invaders.
Japan's sudden stroke at Pearl
Harbor last December caused a
strange paradox in China's situation.
Free China at once gained powerful
allies, America and Britain, pledged
to aid China to the utmost against
the common foe. Yet Japan's
astounding victories in Southeastern
Asia, eliminating with the closing OF
the Burma road, left China tempo
rarily more isolated and exposed
than ever before. Japan is now en-
gagged in a supreme effort to subju-
gate China and knock her out OF the
war. Never has the strain on Free
China been SO intense. Outside aid
is imperative, from bombers and
transport planes to generous dona-
tions to United China Relief, the
organization devoted to the succor of
the hard-pressed Chinese civilian
population, wrestling heroically with
| famine and imitation. That is where