China's Black Week Less than a fortnight after their landing
at Bias Bay, the Japanese troops entered Canton on Sunday. The fall of the city was preceded by heavy fighting at Tsengshin and Tamshui. The Chinese troops fled in panic, and the city was abandoned and by the time the Japanese entered was in flames. The fall of Canton was followed by the fall of Hankow, Hanyang, and Wuchang after the Chinese Military Council had announced that they would not be defended ; they also were fired before being abandoned. Japan has now captured the six greatest cities of China, and it is natural there should be rumours of negotiations for a truce. The Chinese leaders, however, declare that a truce is impossible without a recognition of China's territorial sovereignty by Japan, and Marshal Chiang Kai-shek himself asserts that there is no possibility of resistance coming to an end. The abandonment of Canton and Hankow is represented as part of the policy of luring Japan far into the interior of China. But by now Japan has secured the opportunity she needs for consolidating her position, and Chiang's retreat into the interior raises the difficult problems of supplying his armies and keeping them in being and of maintaining his communications, especially with the North. Canton was his greatest source of supplies and Hankow the centre of his communications.
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