OUTER MONGOLIA: Quits

Who started the current game of frontier sniping along the Khalka River is not clear, but last week the Japanese were ready to call it quits. Kwantung Army communiqués announced the destruction of 39 Soviet Mongol planes, bringing its total claimed bag to nearly 500, but beside some of the earlier paper triumphs this was scarcely worth mentioning. The Japanese have learned that the more smashing victories they claim the rougher the Russians play. While Soviet bombers continued their out-of-bounds forays, nothing more was heard of the Japanese threat to carry the war into Siberia if the bombing of Manchukuoan towns was not stopped. Despite repeated reports of imminent annihilation, Soviet Mongols were still on the “wrong” side of the Khalka River, and the Japanese were “reluctant” to dislodge them. Manchukuoan Government-controlled newspapers hinted that if the Soviet Union the would negotiate Japan was ready to call the two months of border warfare a draw. But after a brief lull heavy artillery was again booming along the Khalka as the Soviet Mongols were reported attacking.