Tuesday, 4 July

Our army recovered Tengchong, while Hengyang is still in a bloody war. Military Attaché Guo said that the enemy planned to attack Guilin through Hengyang, then Yishan, and from Yishan via Binyang to the Vietnam highway, and to link up with the enemy in Nanyang. This is because firstly the topography of this route is smooth, and secondly the road itself will have great political and economical influences for us. Also in the area around Lechang to Xiangnan of the Guangdong-Wuhan railway it is mountainous and ragged. It is difficult for us to dispatch an army there. Even though it was opened forcefully it is not easy to guard. For our side, our troops will more easily come out from the mountains to cut it off again. If we use the air force, it is also easy to destroy a certain small section of the railway. What he said is quite reasonable. So our hardships will be much greater, and our Cantonese will suffer most in particular. Because all the elites of Hong Kong and Guangdong have moved to Guilin and stayed there for several years, if it falls they will face occupation again, their sufferings will be enormous. I feel very sad for it. My family members all stayed in areas around Guilin and Liuzhou, it will be very hard if they escape again, but hopefully as I have many relatives there there will not be any great danger. Also this is to be expected as a result of the War of Resistance, it is our duty to suffer in terms of lives and wealth. It is also a blessing for the bad luck that my mother did not live to see it.

The Soviet broadcast said that Vice-President Wallace has returned to the United States via Lanzhou and Xinjiang. It means he has changed his plan not to pass through Outer Mongolia so as not to arouse our misunderstanding. This is also fine. That the Soviet side made a special announcement about this with regard to the route is probably not to arouse our misunderstanding.