Word: yihsien
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Dates: during 1938-1938
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Shantung Campaign. The historic first defeat in modern times of a major Japanese force, when Chinese fortnight ago drove the invaders out of Taierhchwang and chased them 20 miles back into Yihsien, brought down overwhelming Japanese reinforcements from Tsinan and Tsingtao last week. These raised the siege of Yihsien, from which 20,000 Chinese retreated, and approximately 150,000 Japanese effectives were said to face perhaps 400,000 Chinese along the broad "Chinese Hindenburg Line" paralleling the Lunghai Railway. Greatly alarmed, responsible Chinese newsorgans editorialized last week "Suchow is our Verdun," admitted that if Suchow is taken by the Japanese...
...CHINESE CLOSE IN ON FOE AT YIHSIEN...
...Japanese since their Empire was Awaked up by Commodore Perry. Continuing last week to taste Japanese blood in a big way, the Chinese pushed northward through bombed, shelled and ruined Taierchwang in which not a house was left standing according to white eyewitnesses, chased Japanese 20 miles to Yihsien, where the Mikado's routed forces finally made a stand. Chinese artillery was moved up into the surrounding hills, shelled Yihsien fiercely until half this ancient city was in flames...
Wave after wave of Chinese troops bravely assaulted the heavy walls of Yihsien from three sides, and wave after wave broke, receded under withering Japanese machine-gun fire. The defenders' ammunition soon began to run low. Japanese planes then started dropping ammunition and food into Yihsien. With Chinese batteries blazing away this was ticklish work. Much of what the Japanese dropped fell outside the walls, helped the Chinese attackers...
Since the Chinese knew that powerful Japanese rescue forces were on the way from Tsingtao and Tientsin via Tsinan, beating their way down railways harassed by Chinese Communist guerillas, Yihsien had to be captured quickly if at all. Therefore some Chinese Christian soldiers formed on the spot "The Good Friday Battalion," vowed to take Yihsien before Easter Sunday or die in the attempt...