The China Lantern Liuchow Threatened
WINGS OVER TOKYO - Nosing into billowy clouds, B-29 formation of 21st Bomber Command heads for Tokyo for another raid on burning city. When Jap capital is demolished, Marianas-based planes will carry their deadly cargo to other spots on Nippon homeland.

  Chinese Liberate Thousands
  As Jap Withdrawal Continues

  HQ., US CHINESE COMBAT COMMAND, June 7 (Special to The China Lantern) - The possibility increased this week that another former Fourteenth Air Force base may again fall into Allied hands as the Japanese in Kwangsi Province continued last week's steady withdrawal from the Nanning area toward the former US air base city of Liuchow.
  As the week ended, the Japanese, after having given up the relatively important Nanning-Liuchow corridor town s of Pinyang and Tsinkong had reached the area of Tatang, less than 35 miles from Liuchow. Though closely followed by the Chinese forces and subjected to harassing rear guard actions, there were no indications that the enemy withdrawal was not according to plan, thus strengthening the Allied belief that a change in overall Japanese strategy for the interior of South China has occurred, the full implications of which can only be surmised.
  Planned or otherwise, however, the fact remains that each day of the past seven found more hundreds of square miles of formerly Jap occupied Chinese territory in Chinese hands and more tens of thousands of Chinese civilians liberated from enemy domination. The Chinese advance northeastward from Nanning through Pinyang and Tsinkong to the Tatang area represents a gain of 115 air miles since the reoccupation of Nanning on May 27 indicating the scope of the enemy withdrawal.
  Elsewhere in the China Theater, there was little ground action. East-northeast of Liuchow, in the area of Ishan, Japanese forces have stopped their retreat from the former Hochih salient. Southwest of Nanning, the Chinese re-occupied Sohu and have reached the area of Suilu near the French Indo-China border in the Paoching area. In western Hunan combat lines are now drawn in essentially the same positions as those from which the Japanese launched their abortive offensive toward Chihkiang early in April.

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Evacuation Dates of Fourteenth Air Force Bases
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Situation in China



Lantern Named World's Top Service Newspaper In Contest

  The China Lantern has been awarded the Grand Prize in the 1945 Camp Newspaper Service contest among service publications all over the world. In taking top honors among all newspapers and magazines published officially by the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, Women's Auxiliaries and Canadian Services, the China Theater's newspaper won praise from the three contest judges, Leland Stowe, Pulitzer Prize winner and famed correspondent; John S. Remaly, editor of the Endicott (NY) Daily Bulletin, and Basil L. Walter, executive editor of the Chicago Daily News.
  In typical China Theater fashion, The China Lantern operates over what is believed to be the most extended supply line in the world, maintaining editorial offices both in Kunming, China, and Calcutta, India.

OVER 500 ENTRIES
  Over 500 service publications were entered in the contest in which the Lantern won the Grand Prize. Fifty-nine publications earned honorable mention. Letterpress newspapers in the honorable mention category include "The Dispatch," published at APO 523, New York; "The 45th Division News," APO 45, New York; "Front Line," of the Third Infantry Division, APO 3, New York; "The Stars & Stripes," APO 413, New York and "TTF," APO 83, New York. Of these the "Front Line" was considered in the finals.

OTHER AWARDS
  Other publications received awards in domestic, offset, letterpress, and mimeograph categories.
  The first edition of the China Theater newspaper, published on February 9, was considered as the Theater's entry in the contest. The name contest was announced in that issue of the paper which bore the temporary name of "The China Theater Command Post." A large plaque, symbolic of the Grand Prize, will be awarded to The China Lantern. Six Oscarettes will go to the category winners.

JUDGES' COMMENTS
  In commenting on the award to the Lantern, Leland Stowe said, "An all around newspaper with much world news vital to its isolated theater . . . an excellent product." John Remaly's comment was, "Complete coverage of all theaters of the war and home. Good copy and art, excellent layout, interesting from a reader standpoint."
  The China Lantern is printed by Amrita Bazar Patrika in Calcutta, India, and flown to China in less than five hours on the Air Transport Command's air express, the "Trojan."


14th Air Force Punching Way Back To China's 'Bataan' - Liuchow
THE AIRFIELD AT LIUCHOW, now inactive, evacuated by the Fourteenth Air Force on November 7, 1944. Liuchow, vital railroad and highway junction in central Kwangsi and in the path of the Japs' withdrawals from the Lung Valley and Siang corridor, last week was the target for damaging blows by the Flying Tigers.


  HQ., 14th AIR FORCE, June 7 (Special to The China Lantern) - Keyed by a destructive blow which gutted vital enemy concentrations at Liuchow, the hub for traffic into both the Siang corridor and the Lung Valley of South China, the 14th Air Force, during the week ending June 6, hammered disorganized Japanese troops, communications systems, shipping, aircraft, and storage dumps from as far north as Peiping and into the heart of French Indo-China.
  The three June strikes against Liuchow, where 14th Air Force advanced operations were conducted until the air base south of the Lung River was evacuated under pressure from enemy ground forces on November 7, 1944, began with the silencing of some 20 anti-aircraft positions by Mitchell medium bombers. That accomplished, the Mitchells and Mustangs then bombed and fire-bombed on both sides of the river for more than an hour, destroying 90 percent of the warehouse areas in the Jap-held city. The fires were intense. Smoke rose to the level of final elements of attacking aircraft.
  This strike against the city of Liuchow, following the re-occupation of Nanning by Chinese ground forces the preceding week, was part of a pattern in which the retreating enemy, hard hit in every phase, was withdrawing
RELIGION EN ROUTE - Sunday service at the edge of a Chinese cemetery being conducted by Chaplain James N. Kelly, Jr., Harriman, Tenn., of the Fourteenth's "Service Commandos" for a group of men en route by convoy from one base to another.
from the Siang corridor and Lung Valley.
  A prelude to the strike at Liuchow came when Mustangs sweeping the West River from Tanchuk and the Pinglo road-net hit an enemy artillery column and others destroyed seven trucks and damaged six armored vehicles.
  On June 4, strafing Mustangs blasted Jap road traffic in the Liuchow-Kweilin-Pinglo sector and, the following day, fighters returned to destroy troops and wreck fixed installations and storage dumps.
  Earlier in the week, operations were concentrated in Honon Province and the Yellow River area. On May 30, Chinese Air Force fighters won a major victory near Nanking when, after destroying a transport on the ground, they shot down ten of 30 new-type Zeros which intercepted.
  Waning Jap air power in China took another punch on June 2 when 14th Air Force Mustangs destroyed a Lily bomber and an Oscar, and damaged a Judy and two fighters at Tsinan airdrome in Northeast China.
  Throughout the week, rail systems in the Yellow River area sustained a merciless pounding, with a total of approximately 60 locomotives and 300 railroad cars destroyed or damaged.
  Other strikes hit shipping on Tungting Lake and along the Yangtze River in Hunan Province, where Mustangs returned to Poaching, blasting remaining Jap warehouses in the devastated city.


JAPS PREPARE FOR INVASION

  LONDON, June 7 - Tokyo radio reports, picked up in Melbourne, state that between 400 and 500 Allied infantrymen with 100 tanks made a new landing early on Tuesday on the western shore of Oraku peninsula in southern Okinawa.
  Today Adm. Nimitz lifted the 48-hour news blackout on ground operations on the vital airbase island, 350 miles from Japan, to reveal that one quarter of the territory remaining to the Japanese had been wrested from them by hard fighting US Marines and that the vital Naha airfield is now completely in US hands.
  As carrier-based planes again raided the southern Japanese home island of Kyushu, Tokyo broadcasts interpreted the raids as paving the way for an imminent invasion.
  "The moment of the battle of decision on our soil is rapidly approaching," the Tokyo newspaper Yomiuri warned, while the Japanese news agency claimed that elaborate fortifications of a type never seen before were being constructed to counter the expected attack.


US AIR PROWLERS GET 1,220 JAP PLANES

  MANILA (ANS) - American planes prowling Jap sea lanes sunk or severely damaged 21,482 tons of shipping this year and destroyed 1,220 planes, Gen. MacArthur announced this week.


RANGOON FOLLOWS HUMP ROUTE, ROAD,
AS CHINA SUPPLY SOURCE

  RANGOON (AP) - The storied road to Mandalay from the reopened port of Rangoon and beyond to China may be used to haul material in the final phases of the battle of Japan but its former importance as an Allied lifeline no longer exists.
  At best, it will be no more than an emergency route, and there is the amply recognized possibility that the Far Eastern war may be ended by the time it is tidied up behind the Japanese in Burma.

THIRD IN IMPORTANCE
  The changing fortunes of war have reduced this route to a tertiary position as a line of communication and supply to China. First in importance now and in the foreseeable future as a lifeline to China is the aerial "hump route," and second is the Ledo Road from northeast India to the Bhamo vicinity where it picks up the old Burma Road for the last laps into Kunming.
  Oddly, the air supply to China has been brought to a degree of economic operation that exceeds current operations over the present land routes.
  The Ledo Road however, serves two vital purposes: 1) It passes sorely needed wheeled vehicles to China which cannot be readily ferried by plane and 2) it operates part way as a service road for the oil pipelines pouring fuel from the Calcutta docksides over the Hump to China.

AIR ROUTE MOST ECONOMIC
  It is argued on some sides however, that the vehicles which make their one-way payload entry into China and remain there required much servicing after the long, hard haul over the mountain road which cost millions of dollars and many lives for construction and maintenance. Aerial delivery of stuff to China remains considerably less expensive than land routing - now that the summing up of war costs is at hand. (It may be disclosed now that a nebulous plan was projected several months ago to open a northerly land route to China behind the Himalayas from Persia but that it was abandoned as too difficult and costly.)

ROAD NECESSARY FOR OIL PIPELINE
  During the Stilwell regime in China-Burma-India it was an ill-kept secret that the oil pipeline was the urgent and primary objective of the Ledo Road project. The pipeline does not follow the road over all its tortuous course but it does serve the Army engineers responsible for delivery of fuel for Allied planes and vehicles on the China side.
  Disregarding the possibilities that the China war will have ended or that it will be too remote for aid from this side when the American forces reach the Asiatic mainland from the Pacific, there is the prospect that the road to Mandalay may come into use before the end of military necessity puts a sudden stoppage on Lend-Lease to China.

RANGOON A RAIL-RIVER-ROAD ROUTE
  There is a repairable railroad line from Rangoon to Mandalay and thence the Irrawaddy waterway, with ample river shipping material within reach, to Bhamo for transshipments by the upper reaches of the old Burma Road to China.
  The "road" from Rangoon to China with the best immediate prospects for use, if necessary, thus is a rail-river-road route which needs some repair not beyond the capabilities of engineers accustomed to rugged countrysides and improvisations to overcome them.


Weart Promoted To Major-General
PROMOTED TO MAJOR GENERAL, D. L. Weart, deputy chief of staff of the China Theater, receives the second star from an old friend and West Point classmate, Maj. Gen. H. S. Aurand, new CT SOS chief.


  REAR ECHELON HQ., USF - CHINA - Promotion of D. L. Weart, deputy chief of staff to Lt. Gen. A. C. Wedemeyer, and commanding general of troops, Rear Echelon, to major general was confirmed by the Senate last week.
  The second star was pinned on Gen. Weart by an old friend and classmate at West Point Military Academy, Maj. Gen. H. S. Aurand, newly-appointed commanding general, Services of Supply, CT. Both generals were graduated in the famed class of 1915 which included such generals as Eisenhower, Bradley, McNarney, Stratemeyer and Covell.
  Formerly chief of staff of the Caribbean Defense Command under Lt. Gen. George H. Brett, Gen. Weart has been in China since February of this year.
  Following his graduation from West Point as a second Lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers, he served in the Mexican Border campaign in 1916, attended the Engineer School, and went overseas to France as a captain of a company of the First Engineers, First Division, in August 1917, where he participated in four major campaigns throughout the next two years.
  After World War I Gen. Weart held several important engineer positions in the United States, including that of assistant to the president, Mississippi River Commission, and US Division Engineer in the First Service Command.
  He also served in Panama as assistant engineer of maintenance, The Panama Canal, where he won the Legion of Merit for his outstanding work.
  Appointed a brigadier general in December 1942, he was made chief of the staff of the Caribbean Defense Command, for which service he was awarded an Oak Leaf Cluster to the Legion of Merit. He also holds decorations of the Latin American countries of Columbia, Panama, Ecuador and Peru.


Col. Apgar Given Bronze Star Medal

  HQS., SOS, KUNMING - Lt. Col. Sterling E. Apgar, Bound Brook, N.J., has been awarded the Bronze Star Medal "for meritorious service during the period March 15 to May 24, 1945," by Maj. Gen. H. S. Aurand, commanding general, Services of Supply, China Theater.
  The medal was presented by Col. Douglas L. Crane, Tampa, Fla., deputy commander of SOS, at a station hospital, where Col. Apgar has been resting for a few days and recuperating from strenuous work on the communications line east of Kunming.
  He came to China as a battalion commander in a famous Quartermaster Truck convoy which established a record for the largest convoy in military history by completing a sea, rail and highway trip of more than 6.000 miles from the Persian Gulf to China.
  Later, as acting commander of the big unit in China, Col. Apgar had much to do with inauguration of the "block system" of truck operations over some of the world's longest supply lines. Under this system the truck travels the entire line of communication, stopping only briefly for inspections, refueling and minor repairs, while drivers interchange, working in assigned blocks.
  That the system worked well was proved in the recent battle for Chihkiang when an uninterrupted flow of supplies was trucked to the Chinese fighting forces.
  Col. Apgar was high in his praise of the men in the Quartermaster outfit, "Our boys were ready to go to work the moment they reached China," he said. "They brought their trucks here intact over the long convoy route. They have pride in their achievements and they do what they set out to do. They are a wonderful group."


'MAN WITHOUT COUNTRY' REJOINS 'TIGER' GROUP

  AN EAST CHINA WING FIGHTER GROUP, 14th AIR FORCE - M/Sgt. Gerhard Neumann, China veteran who was recently featured in LIFE magazine as "the man without a country," has returned to China for his second hitch with the "Flying Tigers" Fighter Group.
  Neumann, a German citizen by birth, flew to Hong Kong in 1939 from Germany. He joined the American Volunteer Group as a civilian late in 1941. On 4th July of the following year, when the "Flying Tigers" Group was activated as successor to the AVG, he enlisted in the AAF.
  Later, he received a commendation from Gen. H. H. Arnold for rebuilding a wrecked Jap "Zeke" fighter, which was used for demonstration and testing purposes. The sergeant was to have accompanied the "Zeke" on a Stateside bond selling tour, but immigration authorities refused him permission to enter the country.
  In October 1944 Neumann was rotated to the US, after ten months service with the AVG and more than two years duty with the Fourteenth Air Force. Never having lived in the States he was unable to qualify for citizenship under existing laws. Political and military leaders became interested in his case, however.
  He is now sweating out a special Congressional bill which will, if passed, admit him as the first US citizen ever to be accepted under such circumstances - in this instance with no established period of residence in America.
  In the course of the military and legislative considerations involved in his application for citizenship, the master sergeant found himself famous. LIFE magazine printed a full-page photo and caption on the case in a November 1944 issue, and several nationally known newspapers devoted considerable space to "the man without a country."


Bixby Appointed CCC FA Officer

  HQ., CHINESE COMBAT COMMAND, KUNMING - Indications of further intensified cooperation between American and Chinese forces in the field were seen this week in the announcement from the headquarters of Maj. Gen. R. B. McClure, commanding general, Chinese Combat Command, of the appointment of Col. Lawrence B. Bixby as Artillery officer for CCC.
  Col. Bixby will represent all CCC personnel of the Artillery arm in matters within jurisdiction at CCC headquarters.
  In the past, lack of adequate Field Artillery and training in its use has been a recognized weakness in the Chinese field armies. Col. Bixby's appointment is only one of a number of steps included in CCC's overall program of intensifying coordination with the Chinese forces and assisting them to increase their striking power against the Japanese.
  Prior to his present appointment, Col. Bixby was executive officer of a CCC Field Command. His home is in Buttonwoods, Warwick, Rhode Island.


Calcutta-Kunming Telephone Service Launched This Week
THE FIRST CALL was officially set up over the new Calcutta-Kunming line by M/Sgt. Robert D. Jenkins, St. Paul, Minn., who played a part in the construction of the line.


  KUNMING - One of the world's great long-distance telephone lines was formally opened May 30 when a new line from Calcutta to Kunming was officially used for the first time.
  Maj. Gen. Douglas L. Weart, deputy chief of staff of China Theatre, and Maj. Gen. Henry S. Aurand, commanding general of Services of Supply, China Theatre, were on this end of a conference hook-up and declared the line officially completed while arrangements were made to put through a call to Lt. Gen. Dan I. Sultan, commanding general of India-Burma Theatre in New Delhi.

2,000 MILES LONG
  M/Sgt. Robert D. Jenkins, St. Paul, Minn., who has been with India-Burma troops for 18 months, was given the honor of testing the line and setting up the first call. With him was Maj. Edmond B. Johnson, Newburgh, N.Y., commanding a Signal Construction battalion. They had a part in starting the line from Calcutta and in completing it into Kunming.
  The line is approximately 2,000 miles long and consists of four pairs of copper-steel wire. It will carry several conversations at the same time and also be available for teletype operation at points along the route.

FOLLOWS ROAD, PIPELINE
  Roughly it follows the gasoline pipeline and Stilwell Road from India to China and may be used in operation of both of these transport agencies. It is under complete supervision, control and maintenance of US Forces and will be used exclusively for military business.
  Troops of Signal Construction battalions did most of the work on latter phases of the construction. One line built from Calcutta to Chabua, in Assam, was wholly constructed by GI effort. This line is tied to the new construction into China. The Ministry of Communications of the Chinese government has co-operated in the latter phases of the work and more than 500 Chinese technicians, linemen and laborers have been employed in construction work.
  Calls were made to Bhamo, in Northern Burma, and other intermediate points on the Calcutta-Kunming circuit.
  Brig. Gen. William O. Reeder, signal officer for India-Burma Theatre, was here when completion tests were made.


HUNAN YIELDS RECORD CROP OF JAP PRISONERS

  CHUNGKING, June 7 (UP) - A Chinese Army spokesman announced that the number of Japanese casualties in the West Hunan campaign, April 9 to May 28, totals 28,000 and said that 15 Jap officers and 230 men were taken prisoners; 1,469 rifles, over a hundred machine guns and 24 artillery pieces were captured.
  The spokesman added that it was "the largest catch of Japanese prisoners in a single battle during the past eight years of war."


'Mars' Units Now In China With CCC

  HQ., CHINESE COMBAT COMMAND, KUNMING - The presence in the China Theater of two United States Army Ground Forces units, the 475th Infantry Regiment and the 124th Cavalry Regiment, was announced this week by Maj. Gen. R. B. McClure, commanding general of Chinese Combat Command.
  It was disclosed that both the 475th Infantry and the 124th Cavalry have been in China several weeks.
  Nearly all men and equipment of these two US units were flown from Burma to China by the Air Transport Command. A small part of the movement was over the Stilwell Road.
  Both the 475th Infantry and 124th Cavalry were part of the "Mars Task Force," an American combat team famous for its operations against Japanese forces in the mountainous jungles of Burma in late 1944 and early 1945.


Yunnan Convalescent Camp

  Nestled in the Yunnan Hills, a China Theater convalescent camp provides CT soldiers 'on the mend' with all the facilities necessary for health and relaxation. Housed in the former home of a Chinese general, the camp offers solid comfort in an atmosphere picked to nurture soldiers to perfect health and efficiency.

Bicycle riding and hiking keeps camp routine from becoming monotonous.
Volleyball game in progress at the convalescent camp.
Calisthenics class on the lawn in front of the main building, the former summer house of a Chinese general.



USF ABSOLVED
Chungking Street Quarrels Blamed On 'Enemy, Traitors'

  CHUNGKING, June 7 (UP) - Quarrels, street-scenes and disorders in Chungking are caused by "enemy and traitors who engineered the ill-feeling between Chinese and Americans in an attempt to destroy the intimate war cooperation that exists between China and America," according to Chungking's mayor, Ho Yao-tsu. The director of the Foreign Affairs Bureau, Gen. Ha Hae-joe, shared the mayor's views saying that the imbroglios in Chungking are the enemy's latest success in alienating Chinese and Americans.
  The disturbances are engaging the full attention of the Foreign Affairs Bureau of the National Military Council and the city of Chungking.

US TROOPS COMMENDED
  Recently both the mayor and Gen. Ho held a conference with local newspapermen and declared that American troops in China were generally more polite than those in Europe and elsewhere and added that thus far there has been no report about any illegal acts on the part of United States Forces. They urged the local press to guide society in correcting the wrong impression on pure, ordinary friendships between US Armed Forces personnel and Chinese women.

SEEK COMMON GOAL
  Mayor Ho Yao-tsu published an article in China's leading newspaper, Tu Kung Pao last week saying that American troops befriending Chinese women do so from the point of view of mere brothers. He said their naivete innocence was unquestionable. On the other hand, he added, Chinese law gives women over legal age full freedom. Even if they fall in love and get married, it is nobody's business and nobody has a right to intervene, he continued.
  "American Forces, far from home, are fighting in our Theater for our common goal of defeating the enemy's and traitors' wicked attempts to alienate us merely on the ground of the American Forces befriending Chinese women," Mayor Ho said.


Funeral Saddens Success Of CT First Helicopter Pickup

  US AIR BASE, CHINA (AP) - The first use of helicopters in the rescue of downed airmen in this theater was a remarkable success recently, but was a success saddened by a strangely touching funeral in a remote corner of China's "Hump" zone.
  Christian converts of Yuankiang in the Red River Valley of the frontier region south of Kunming sang "Rock of Ages" in Chinese to an old portable organ played by a German Missionary who later prayed for the repose of the soul of an American flier killed bailing out.
  "It was the kind of a funeral that does something inside you," said Capt. Knute Flint, who led the flight of three helicopters to Yuankiang to pick up the three survivors of the four-man crew that bailed out of their C-46 when they lost an engine.
"Fresh, spirited American troops, flushed with victory, are bringing in thousands of hungry, ragged, battle weary prisoners." (News item.)
This drawing won for Sgt. Bill Mauldin, Stars and Stripes famed combat cartoonist, the 1944 Pulitzer Prize for cartoons.


"AN ENEMY"
  Rev. Hugo Brunner, ten years in China for the Lutheran Church, stationed with his wife and a small child at Yuankiang, six days walk from the nearest foreign family, was scrupulously correct when he introduced himself to the survivors rescuers as "an enemy," then sought to help them in every possible way.
  Frau Brunner entertained them in her clean-swept, white-washed house on a little knoll where the helicopters landed, and fed the hungry Americans such things as Bavarian strudel. Her husband conducted the funeral for the dead co-pilot at his regular Sunday service at the little chapel.

HAND-HEWN COFFIN
  The co-pilot, who died with his legs tangled in the shroud lines of his parachute, was laid out in a coffin of hand-hewn boards with his body wrapped in the nylon parachute and a small American flag. Ferns gathered from the lush growth in the green mountain-walled valley decorated the crude bier. The flag was a printed silk one which one of the fliers ripped out of his flight jacket.
  Brunner preached his sermon in difficult English, interspersing his own translations to the attending Chinese. The service ended after prayer with a hymn which the minister led in German.

CHINESE GRAVEYARD
  "He told us it was a German hymn and he doubted whether we knew it," Flint related, "So we were surprised when we heard the tune was "Home Sweet Home."
  The body was buried in a Chinese graveyard next to the grave of an American Missionary who died of dysentery years ago. Brunner made arrangements to have a stone carved with the co-pilot's name, rank and serial number.
  The C-46 was crossing the "Hump" when the engine failed and stopped. It carried, besides the four crewmen, eight Chinese soldiers. As the plane swooped low between the mountain walls of the Red River Valley, the Chinese and Americans bailed out. One Chinese, who ripped his chute at the door, was dashed to death against the plane's tail. The crashed plane burned out in a bamboo thicket.

HELICOPTER PICKUP
  The Americans landed near Brunner's house. The missionary, a stocky gray-haired man of 55, ran out to them and helped them find the co-pilot's body. The new Search and Rescue outfit, attached to the 14th Air Force, located the wreck two and a half hours after the C-46's radio operator gave the distress call and the map coordinates.
  That phase of the search was handled from a C-47 transport, but the pickup had to be by helicopter. The rescue unit has been in China only a short while and only one of its Sikorsky A-6's were in commission. The two others were put in shape by mechanics working all night and the rescuers took off at daybreak.
  Flint, who brought the outfit overseas with the helicopters broken down and carried in transports, led the first mission. The other rotaries were flown by Lt. Joseph D. Phillips, Dallas, Texas, and Lt. Granville H. Wright, Roscoe, Cal.



ON THE JOB - Morton Mannheimer of Burbank, Calif., is one of the first soldiers discharged under the points system to enter the war industry. The former corporal will work in an aircraft plant until Japan is licked. He then will resume higher education.
G.I. Shakespeare In China . . .

Reconversion

When the bugles sound their final notes
And the bombs explode no more
When we return to what we did
Before we went to war.

The sudden shift of status
On the ladder of success
Might make some worthy gentleman,
Feel like an awful mess.

Just think of some poor captain,
Minus his silver bars,
Standing behind a counter
Selling peanuts and cigars.

And think of all the majors,
With their oak leaves far behind,
And the uniforms they are wearing,
Are the Western Union kind.



Shed a tear for some poor colonel
If he isn't quite himself;
Jerking sodas isn't easy
With your eagle on the shelf.

Tis a bitter pill to swallow
Tis a matter of despair,
Being messenger and clerk again's
A mighty cross to bear.

So be kind to working people
That you meet where ere you go,
For that guy washing dishes
May be your old CO.
- Anonymous




PEASANTS IN 'SLOW DOWN'
Japs Applying 'Squeeze' To Bolster Manchuria's Output

  CHUNGKING, June 7 (UP) - The Japanese overlords of Manchuria are applying harsh control measures to bolster the supplies of food and other materials for the Japanese war machine, according to word reaching Chungking from persons recently escaped from Manchuria.
  As a result, these sources say, Manchurian peasants and laborers are engaging in "slowdown" practices and are looking to Allied successes in the Pacific as assurance of their liberation.
  Farmers are said to have been ordered by the enemy to produce specified foodstuffs. Following the harvest they were required to sell most of their products to the Japanese, leaving them only a scanty supply for their own families. Each farmer is permitted to retain only 19 pounds of miscellaneous foodstuffs each month. No Chinese id permitted to eat rice or wheat and anyone who does is said to be liable to arrest. Residents of the cities and towns are given a monthly ration of 19 pounds of kaoliang (ordinary sorghum) and any deficiency has to be made up through purchase of bean-cakes bought at exorbitant prices from black market operators.
  The Japanese have closed all banks and monetary concerns in Manchuria to tighten their financial control over the people. Private industrial products can be purchased only by the Japanese and by puppet officials.
  All men between the ages of 18 and 23 years are conscripted by compulsion.


Manchuria - Japan's Inner Fortress

  (ANS) - Manchuria, almost as unknown to most Americans as Shangri-La Tibet, but where the opening guns of World War II were fired, may, if the Japanese warlords have their way, be also the last citadel of the remaining partner of the now defunct Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis.
  Now that American Armies have reached back across the Pacific from Pearl Harbor and Australia to the front yard of the Japanese home islands - Okinawa; now that the Navy has won its freedom to roam at will in the "sacred Japanese seas" and our Super-Fortresses are methodically razing the major cities of the Nipponese homeland, the Japanese are looking to a new inner fortress from which to continue their long-laid plans for world domination if the home islands are conquered.

STARTS AND ENDS IN MANCHUKUO
  On February 26 of this year the Tokyo radio declared, "T0-day, when raids on Japan itself are growing in intensity, the country which will be able to take the place of the (Japanese) mainland in the industrial field is Manchukuo (Manchuria)."
  Manchuria's position "in the corner of Asia becomes very important when it is possible to forecast that the Chinese continent will become the main battlefield for our troops and the United States."
  On April 9, the Tokyo radio announced that the Japanese "at this time when the war is becoming serious, trust much in the role that Manchukuo plays in the war. The Current war, I believe," added the commentator, "starts from Manchukuo and ends with Manchukuo."

MUKDEN "INCIDENT"
  Japanese military control of Manchuria dates back to 1931, but large-scale Japanese interest started in 1905, after the Russo-Japanese War, when the Chinese were forced to cede to the victor all the rights that had been acquired by Russia. However, in 1931, the blowing up of some railroad ties on the South Manchurian Railroad, near Mukden, by "bandits" gave the massed and alerted Kwantung Army the pretext for the complete conquest and domination of all of Manchuria. Later, the puppet government of Manchuria was set up with Henry Pu Yi, that last of the Manchus, on the throne. Then the Japanese set about reaping the fruits of victory by transforming Manchuria into an arsenal for world conquest.
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THREE TIMES AS LARGE AS JAP HOME ISLANDS
  The complete area of Manchuria has never been accurately determined, but it is estimated at 503,113 square miles - three times as large as the Japanese home islands and more than twice as large as the state of Texas. The country is rich in natural deposits which include iron, gold, coal, magnesite, and oil shale. The principal crops are soy beans, kaolin, millet, maize, and wheat - enough to sustain a sizeable Army. The population is estimated at 30 million, of which 27 million are Chinese, one million Mongols, one million Koreans and 100,000 Russians.
  The Japanese systematic attempt to transform their puppet country from an agrarian to an industrial economy, has to a large degree been successful. Anshan, one of the larger cities, has become an important steel and chemical producing center. Coal mines have been developed at Penishu. Finished war materials are being turned out at Mukden and Dairen. A substantial part of the estimated 15 million to 32½ million barrels of synthetic oil products that Japan claims from plants in her inner area, come from Manchuria and Korea. They, plus China, produce nine of the 11 million tons of iron that is the Japanese Empire's estimated yearly yield. There are also aircraft factories in Manchuria.
  How successful the attempt at industrialization has been can be seen in the decision of the 20th Air Force to bomb Mukden and Anshan last year - at a time when Super-Fortresses were still coming off the assembly line in limited numbers.

KWANTUNG ARMY ONE OF JAPAN'S BEST
  The Japanese Army in Manchuria, the Kwantung Army, has always been the most rapidly imperialistic and fanatic of all Nipponese Army groups. Gen. Hideki Tojo was one of the original members of the "younger officer's" group which was the driving force behind the Manchurian Army.
  Before Pearl Harbor, Chungking estimated there were approximately 30 Japanese divisions in Manchuria. In the fall of 1942, when the fall of Stalingrad appeared imminent, Chinese sources reported a great increase in Northern Manchuria - a total of 1,000,000 men at one time and at another time 75 divisions. Chungking also reported construction of secret fortifications along the Manchuria-Siberian border.
  Last year, when Nazi military might in Europe declined sharply, Japan began to stress the amiability of her relations with Russia and the movement of troops of the Kwangtung Army was out of Manchuria. At the beginning of this year the Army was estimated at between 600,000 to 750,900 men - 12 to 15 infantry divisions, numerous independent brigades, tank groups and special garrison units. In addition, there was a small Korean Army.

JAPS USE CHINESE SLAVE LABOR
  When Russia denounced the Russo-Japanese neutrality pact the trend in Manchuria again reversed itself to face the possible threat from the North. On April 14, Chungking reported Japanese mechanized forces that had been moved from Manchuria to the Shanghai area were being rushed back to their original positions. It can safely be assumed that further strengthening of the Manchuria forces will take place.
  The so-called 2nd Japanese Air Army has usually been attached to the Kwangtung Army. It probably has been weakened to make up for the heavy air losses that have been sustained in recent months in the skies and on the airfields of the Imperial home islands. Another weakness is believed to be in tanks.
  Since 1931 the Japanese, using Chinese slave labor, have built an estimated 10,000 miles of railways in Manchuria, most of them for military use.
  To the north of Manchuria sprawls Japan's oldest enemy - Russia in Siberia. Japanese-Russian relations along the 3,000-mile Amur River, which separates Soviet Asia from Manchuria, have consisted of an almost unbroken series of border incidents, culminating in two pitched battles at Chungkufeng in 1938 and at Nomanhan in 1939 when the Japanese High Command set out deliberately to test the strength of Russian resistance. The Japanese were repulsed with heavy losses both times.


A CHINESE ARMY MOVES BY AIR
FIGHTING FRONT BOUND Chinese troops march to the airfield from which they will be flown to a new sector.
STRAW PADDING used to line the side of a truck to prevent the animals being transported in it from becoming bruised during the rough ride to a new battle sector somewhere in China.
CHINESE TROOPS AND EQUIPMENT amid swirling clouds of dust, being loaded at the airport for a flight which would have required days of weary foot travel.

THEY'RE OFF - On their way to a battle sector, these Chinese troops, fully equipped, are tense as the C-47 carrying them leaves the ground.
"BROADWAY CAFE" somewhere in China, being passed by Chinese troops on their way to the bivouac area near the airport. This is the end of the line for the movement.




CRITICAL POINT
Advancing Chinese Troops Threaten
Hengyang Communications Hub

  CHUNGKING, June 7 (UP) - Hengyang, Jap-held former Fourteenth Air Force base in Southeast Hunan, 75 miles from captured Paoching, is regarded as the critical point in present operations in China.
  The Japs are expected to make a vigorous defense at Hengyang which is the key to the eastern arm of their trans-China corridor. The loss of Hengyang, which is strategically located at the junction of the Hankow-Canton and Huna-Kwangsi railroads, would cut the communications line from Hankow to Canton and sever the main remaining escape route for the Japanese in South China, French Indo-China, Thailand and Malaya.

DIRECT ROUTE CUT
  The direct route to the western arm of the 'corridor' was cut with the fall of Nanning and is now completely denied to the Japanese by the Chinese advances along the 110 miles of the defunct rail line leading to the Indo-China border. As long as the Japanese manage to hold Canton, it will be possible for them to evacuate whatever Japanese troops can be transported there over the dangerous sea route which is subject to constant Allied air patrol and attack. There the network of roads leading north and east from Canton end but the loss of Hengyang and the eastern arm of the corridor would add great difficulties to the problem. Guerilla forces are active along many of the remaining routes.
  Now that Paoching has fallen to the Chinese, Hengyang will be seriously threatened. The Japanese, despite their withdrawals, are reported to have a sizeable force - possibly 200,000 men - including puppet troops - located at the rear bases of Hankow and Changsha and they are willing, as seems likely, they could make a long, vigorous defense of the former Fourteenth Air Base city.


Japs Conscripting Chinese Workers

  CHUNGKING, June 7 (UP) - Millions of Chinese are being ruthlessly rounded up by the Japanese in Peiping and other occupied areas of North China and are being herded into Manchuria, Northeast China and Inner Mongolia to work on enemy defenses and in enemy war plants, according to reports reaching Chungking.
  Recently, according to sources in Peiping, each business firm in the city was ordered to send one employee for service in city and suburban air defense works. Later a meeting of these employees was held after which a large number of them disappeared and have not been seen since.
  An indication of what has become of them is seen in a recent report released in April by the puppet "North China Workers Association," a Japanese labor conscription organization. It showed that during 1944, 750,000 conscript Chinese laborers were sent to Manchuria and 60,000 were sent to Inner Mongolia. All were taken from North China.
  It is believed that an even larger number is being taken this year, but the enemy has announced that hereafter no figures will be made public. Unofficial sources say that this year 80 percent of the conscripts will be sent to Inner Mongolia.
  In line with the increased conscription of labor, the most strict census ever taken in North China was begun by the Japanese and puppets in April of this year.


STOPPED ON THEIR TRACKS by B-25's of the "Lucky Lady" bomb squadron of the "Flying Hatchet" fighter group of the Fourteenth Air Force. Jap trains won't be traversing this bit of road for a long time. Track of the Wuchang-Liuchow railroad between Yochow and Chansha was twisted into wreckage by one of nine hits scored recently as part of the Flying Tigers coordination with Chinese ground forces which resulted in defeating the Jap drive on the US air base at Chihkiang. The B-25's were escorted by P-40's.



Communists Gain 22 Hsien Cities

  CHUNGKING, June 7 (UP) - The Communist organ, the New China Daily, said that in the first four months of this year the Communist forces recovered 22 Hsien cities, thus placing the total Hsien cities under Communist control behind Japanese lines at 55. Sixteen Jap highway lines were destroyed or damaged and Jap garrisons were forced to evacuate a large number of populated villages during the same period, the newspaper said.
  Communist forces established a number of "strategic base areas" including the newest "Honan strategical base area," also a number of new "war districts" including the newest, "Kiangsu Chekiang war district" where they are preparing to welcome Allied forces which may land on the China coast, the New China Daily said.



JAP DREAM EXPLODED
Tigers' Unspectacular Blows Neutralized Japs' Advantages

  HQ., 14TH AIR FORCE (UP) - The Japanese dream of a greater East Asia empire has definitely exploded with the interdiction of their continental corridor by their withdrawal from Nanning, Maj. Gen. C. L. Chennault, commanding general of the Fourteenth Air Force, stated in an interview here.
  With the severing of their land link with Southeast Asia, Gen. Chennault said, the Japanese still retain a heavy hold on the Asiatic mainland, but their entire effort over the past year to forge a land line of communication and supply across East China, joining the Yangtze and French Indo-China, proved almost a total failure.

CORRIDOR FAILED TO YIELD GREAT GAINS
  Just a year ago the Japanese jumped off in a drive southward from Hankow which rolled through Hengyang, Kweilin, Liuchow and drove the Fourteenth Air Force back from its eastern bases. Gen. Chennault stated, "I don't believe that the Japs can point to a single outstanding achievement as a result of having opened the corridor. The enemy threw troops away when they were desperately needed elsewhere - the Japanese divisions employed in the east China campaign, if they were thrown into the Philippines, might have altered the military picture considerable."

10,070 SAMPANS HIT
  As an example of the type of air force operations which made Japanese exploitation of their corridor to Southeast Asia impossible and therefore not worth expanding troops in holding, Gen. Chennault pointed to his attacks on enemy inland shipping. Since the Jap southward drive got underway on May 27 of last year, airmen of the Flying Tigers have hit 2,410 junks and 10,070 sampans in unspectacular and routine strikes which made the Japanese logistical position impossible.
  Gen. Chennault said that in the recent Chihkiang campaign, the prisoners captured were hungry and short of clothing. With the exception of a single Japanese mortar unit, the prisoners had not been supplied with ammunition for over a month.
  As an example of how ruthless his airmen struck at Jap concentrations in the corridor, the general mentioned a fighter pilot who was forced to bail-out after a house filled with ammunition blew up on a strafing mission and knocked his plane down.

"ONLY ACADEMIC INTEREST"
  The general, who remarked that he now had "only an academic interest in the Japanese Air Force," said the enemy's dream last year of a land line from Manchuria to Singapore was fantastic at that stage of the war.
  The commander of the Flying Tigers said that the enemy left his former air base at Nanning in easily repairable condition and indicated that even though the Japanese have been reported as firing on Liuchow, no base could be made unserviceable for any length of time. Chennault concluded that though he still maintained the greatest overall contribution of airmen based in China for the war against Japan and was hitting approximately 1,000,000 tons of enemy shipping along the China coast, making the enemy's corridor to the south untenable, it would have the greatest effect upon the war on the mainland.


MOST OF JAPS MATERIAL POWER IS IN CHINA

  SHANPA, SUIYUAN, June 7 (UP) - Reports reaching the local Association of Japanese Revolutionary Comrades from Japanese sources indicate that Japan is dependent principally on the homeland as the source of her military manpower but has two-thirds of her material power centered in the Chinese provinces of Kirin and Liaoning and northern Korea, where needed resources can be obtained locally and where transportation facilities are most easily provided.
  The remaining one-third of Japanese material resources are located in Japan proper. It is claimed that through new inventions and simplification of processes, the Japanese aviation industry had increased its production capacity to 6,000 planes monthly, prior to the beginning of heavy bombing of Japan by Superforts.


Memorial Services Held At Kunming's American Cemetery
FLAG AT HALF MAST - Maj. Gen. H. S. Aurand, commanding general, SOS, CT, addresses Chinese and American civilian and military personnel at Kunming's Memorial Day services.


  KUNMING - With traditional rites, American soldiers and high Chinese military and civilian officials gathered at the American cemetery here last Wednesday to honor America's war dead.
  With the slow, measured beat of the funeral march echoing away in the distant hills, a solemn invocation was pronounced by Chaplain Alvin Fine, Portland, Ore., Jewish chaplain. The Theater Band then played "Onward Christian Soldiers" and brief selections from the Bible were read by Chaplain Revere Beasley, Protestant Chaplain, 14th Air Force.
  Maj. Gen. H. S. Aurand, commanding general, SOS, representing the theater commander, spoke briefly of the significance of the day and reminded the assembled troops at the ceremony that they stood in place of parents and relatives who were observing the day in the US.

"OURS IS BEFORE US"
  Paying tribute to the soldiers who have given their lives in the China Theater, the general observed, "Nothing we may do will add or detract from the sacrifice they have made. Their work is done; ours is before us."
  Gen. Aurand was followed by Lt. Gen. Yang Chu-An, representing Gov. Lung Yun of Yunnan Province. His address in Chinese, expressed the deep sorrow of the Chinese Army and people for the Americans who had died in the common struggle.
  The generals, together with Dr. Ernest K. Moy, WASC director, placed wreaths of red and white carnations at the base of the cemetery flagpole.
  A final benediction pronounced by Chaplain Joseph P. McNamara, Providence, R.I., theater chaplain, followed by three volleys fired by the Guard of Honor and the ceremony was concluded with the hushed echoes of "Taps."


JAP PEACE OFFERS EXPECTED WEEKLY

  WASHINGTON (ANS) - Under-Secretary of War Robert Patterson said last week that the enormous problems created by the end of the war in Europe mean that the Army's job in Europe will not be finished for many months to come. Back from a three-week tour of Europe, he restated the Army's determination to pursue a "tough" policy.
  Discussing the pacific he said he did not believe reports that Japan had offered to surrender but had been turned down, but commented "these reports are going to be frequent now, about one every week, I should say."
  He said from now on "it is safe to say there will be almost daily strikes against Japanese industries" by air attack. Patterson said any French forces committed to the war against Japan will be accepted by the Combined Chiefs of Staff.


  BETTY'S BACK with the Grable gams gorgeous and appendages to match.
How many points do you have ?

Entertainment Guild To Serve GIs

  AIR BASE, APO 627 - The "Area Entertainment Guild, APO 627" an organization composed of professional personnel trained in all phases of entertainment, has been formed to promote soldier shows with the best available talent for all members of the Armed Forces in the APO 627 (Kunming) area.
  With two Broadway comedy hits scheduled for production in June and July, the Guild is seeking all available talent to strengthen its staff. To facilitate activities, department heads, all experts in each department, have been appointed.
  The Guild's activities will be broad, with opportunities to work in the following departments: music, costumes, graphic arts, settings, dramatic talent, variety acts, dance talent, directorial talent. Interested enlisted men, officers and female personnel with American agencies are invited to discuss their respective talents with the Guild.
  "Room Service," long-run Broadway comedy, directed by Lt. John Hampshire, ATC Special Service, is set for a late June opening. July's theatrical fare will be the George S. Kaufman - Moss Hart riot "The Man Who Came To Dinner," directed by Corp. Merritt Stone. Base special service talent is wanted for tryouts for these two productions.
  The third production, a musical show, has been assigned to Pfc. Martin Goldstein, Station Hospital Special Service, for casting and directing.





LIFE'S LIKE THAT    By Fred Neber
"I don't see WHY the fish wouldn't go for it...
you did!!!"
 
"Ye Gods! I've made a mistake! Pfc. Fogarty hasn't go 85 points after all!"
LAFF-a-DAY--
"How long does this art exhibit last?
I'm getting hungry!"


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  Unless specifically stated, news and features appearing in the China Lantern do not necessarily represent the views of the War Department; the Commanding General, USF, CT, or any other official source.
The CHINA LANTERN is the weekly newspaper of the United States Forces in the China Theatre and is published by Lt. Lester H. Geiss, Editor-in-Chief, for military personnel only.  Lt. Harry D. Purcell, Managing Editor; Sgt. Maurice Pernod, Production Chief.  Editorial offices: Hqrs., SOS China Theater, Kunming, China, and Hqrs., SOS, Calcutta, India.  Printed by Ajit Kumar Sinha at the "Amrita Bazar Patrika" Press.  Hypertext Markup Language version by Carl Warren Weidenburner.













JUNE 8, 1945    


Original issue of The China Lantern shared by CBI Veteran Wendall Phillips

Copyright © 2007 Carl Warren Weidenburner




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