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GENERALISSIMO URGES CHINESE TO RISE, FIGHT
KUNMING, June 28 (AP) - With the Japanese engaged on a broad strategic retreat from Southeast China there are increasing
efforts on the part of the Chinese Command to enlist behind-the-lines assistance from civilians in the harassment of the enemy - even with
tools for weapons ....
"Dear countrymen, rise with whatever weapons you have in hand, and even if you have no modern weapons, you at least have spears,
knives or axes.
"Organize yourselves for an uprising when the Chinese Army eventually launches its counter-offensive. Meanwhile evacuate your aged
parents, your wives and children to villages remote from the Japanese strong points to avoid unnecessary sacrifices. That is what we expect
you to do, and it is hoped that you are doing it right now and not too late."
The editorial pointed out that except for a few strategic points of considerable importance the Japanese garrisons in various localities
are not strong - "sometimes less than a thousand or even a hundred men."
The people were urged to organize self-defense squads for armed resistance to save their own lives and property, which the editorial
said was endangered by the Jap retreat. The writer accused the Japanese of "murderous acts" in the withdrawal from the Fukien coastal positions.
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Suicide Squads Hold Field; Chinese Reach Gate To City
HQ., CHINESE COMBAT COMMAND, June 28 - (Special to The China Lantern) -
Although, at last official reports, the Japanese still clung tenaciously to both the former Fourteenth Air Force base at Liuchow and the city
itself, the fall of both these important prizes to the Chinese Army seems imminent this week as converging Chinese columns reached the edge
of the airfield and the southern gates of the city.
The air base, though still apparently in the hands of Japanese suicide rearguard elements and reported extensively demolished, already
has been outflanked by a Chinese thrust from the south which has reached Liuchow's south railroad station and also the south gate of the city
itself, where heavy fighting is reported in progress.
CHINESE NEAR KWEILIN
Meanwhile, north of Liuchow, other Chinese forces, moving in from the west, are posing a threat to the enemy lines of communication and
probable evacuation route northeast to Kweilin, 60 air miles distant. Fighting was reported, as a Chinese column pressed southeast toward
Liuchow along the ...
Farther north, another Chinese force was reported 20 kilometers - less than 15 miles - north of Kweilin, although no hopes are felt in Allied
circles that Kweilin itself is in immediate danger. During the week, the Chinese moved slowly but steadily toward their Liuchow objective.
TATANG CAPTURED
Early in the week Tatang, road junction town less than 25 air miles southwest of Liuchow, which had been by-passed by the Chinese a
few days earlier, fell into Chinese hands. This enabled the Chinese columns moving up the Nanning-Liuchow road from the southwest to make a junction
with forces which had cut north of Tatang from the west. The two columns then joined forces for a combined drive northeastward toward Liuchow,
mopping-up road villages as far northeast as Santu, evacuated by the enemy at the weeks end, possibly as a result of the fact that either Chinese
had reached Liuchow's outskirts almost 15 miles in the rear of the Jap Santu positions.
Elsewhere in China, fighting was sporadic. Near the French Indo-China border, enemy contact was reported in the vicinity of Pingsiang,
which remained in Japanese hands.
Eight kilometers northwest of Hsinning, in Hunan Province, 60 miles southwest of Paoching, the Japs repeated tactics employed
last week in launching an all-day attack on Chinese positions. As on the previous occasion, the attack was repulsed with losses to the enemy.
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