Evening star., 1945-07-31
Progress in Chino


three airfields, formerly the biggest
American air base in South Central
China, highlights the mounting
momentum of the Chinese counter
offensive which is general rather
than localized in character. Its
broader significance can best be
estimated by comparing the present
situation with that of year ago, dur
ing which time the whole strategic
balance south Of the Yangtse has
shifted in China's favor.
1t was in the spring OF 1914 that
the japanese high command under
took its ambitious plan of splitting
Southern China in twain by launch
ing co-ordinated drives southwark
from its strongholds on the middle
Yangtse and northward from Its
base at Canton, China's southern
port-metropolis. The immediate OBJ
iective was control OF the trunk
railway running from Hankow on
the middle Yangtse to Canton. to-
gether with the branch line running
to Manning, not far from the 1ndo-
Chinese border. The ultimate OBJ
iective was the establishment OF
secure land communications across
China with the Japanese conquests
in Southern Asia, from French lndo-
China to Burma and Singapore.
This had been rendered necessary
by the threat to Japanese sea routes
already visible through the pre-
ponderance of American sea power
in the Pacific and its attendant
island hopping military offensive
toward the Philippines.
Before the end of 1914. Japan's
immediate objectives had been at
tanned. Not only were Canton and
Indo-China linked by land but also
all the American air bases in South
Central China we're captured and
the way seemed open for an attack
on a Chinese section of the Burma
Road-perhaps even. stroke at
Chungking itself from the south.
Those ultimate threats to Free
China were foiled by a supreme ef-
fort of GeneralisSimo Chang Kai-
shek which coincided with the re-
opening of the Burma Road conse-
quent upon the breaking Of the
japanese hold on its Burmese end.
But these defensive successes OF
Chang still left the strategic initi-
ative in japanese hands.
The real turn of the tide came
last spring, when China's new
army" organized under American
supervision, equipped by mounting
supplies from Burma, and aided by
an expanded American air force,
began its drive into Kwangsi, China's
southernmost province. This drive
has severed the Japanese route to
Indo-China, has regained numerous
air bases. and is driving up the rail-
way from Manning, its southern
terminus, toward the junction with
the Hankow-Canton trunk line
Even more significant Is the revived
strength of the isolated Chinese
forces in Eastern China, which are
pressing hard on the japanese and
threaten to cut the trunk line, while
they have already liberated a long
stretch of the eastern coast, thereby
making possible American aid and
even landings in strength.
How much these successes are due
to increased Chinese striking power
or how much to reported japanese
strategic withdrawal from Southern
China, leaving only delaying garri-
sons at key points, 1t is difficult to
say. Perhaps the rapid progress Of
the Chinese counteroffensive can
be explained by a combination of
those two factors. However, the
progress itself is indubitaple, and
there seems no likelihood that the
present trend will be reversed.
Henceforth the japanese must be
definitely on the defensive, both in
China below the Yangtse and in the
conquests beyond, where a British
counteroffenSive from reconquered
Burma obviously impends when the
monsoon season ends in the coming