793.94/5903
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Chinese Legation94
Peiping reports gave a detailed account of a fierce battle fought between the Chinese and the Japanese at Kailu on February 6. The Chinese troops under Li Fang-ting bore the brunt of the Japanese attack, resulting in heavy casualties on his side. The Japanese at first succeeded in pushing Li’s forces back for some fifty or sixty li but, reinforced by Chieh Kuo-chum and Kuo Erh-chia and the Fifth and the Eighth Divisions, Li’s forces were finally able to force the Japanese to retreat on February 9. The forces under Kuo, in cooperation with the Fifth and the Eighth Divisions, pressed on until the Japanese were compelled to evacuate their occupied territory in the morning of February 10. In the afternoon of February 10, the Japanese launched a counter-attack with more than three hundred soldiers and seven armored cars armed with machine-guns but were severely repulsed by the Chinese.
- Translation of telegram transmitted to the Department by the Chinese Legation on February 14.↩