Word: ichang
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...your footnote in the Nov. 10 issue on last confirmed use of gas, by Italians in Ethiopia, following the story of Jack Belden, a fellow correspondent in the Far East who encountered Japanese use of gas in the battle of Ichang...
Correspondent Belden, fresh from the central front, last week, verified Chinese claims that the Japanese used gas in the battle of Ichang four weeks ago (TIME, Oct. 20). The Japanese had denied it. Jack Belden had seen soldiers suffering from gas blisters as large as tennis balls, whose skin was turning black...
...hills outside Ichang the Japanese had built strong defenses; when the attacking Chinese finally broke through, the Japanese poured in gas shells from the flanks. One of the Chinese divisions participating in the attack reported gas casualties as high as one-third its total strength. Because the Japanese used gas, the Chinese evacuated the city quickly, leaving many victims behind...
China had just passed through six of the most active weeks since the fall of Hankow in 1938. The Japanese had withdrawn troops from Ichang, lunged at Chinese-held Changsha and seized it, only to be driven out. The Chinese, in turn, had smashed at Japanese-held Ichang and held that city for three days; then they, too, had been driven out. The two campaigns balanced. They proved that the Japanese could not withdraw troops from extended outposts without jeopardizing them, could hold no new positions without reinforcements. They proved that without artillery the Chinese had no hope of putting...
...victory of Double Ten was not as durable as the republic of Double Ten. Within three days the Chinese turned about face and abandoned Ichang at double time. The Chinese Military Operations Board announced, Japanese-fashion, that the Chinese had "accomplished their objective of diverting Japanese pressure" farther north...