NANKING TROOPS ADVANCE

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21967, 16 December 1936, Page 11

NANKING TROOPS ADVANCE

ATTEMPT TO DIVIDE REBELS

CHIANG KMSHEK STILL A PRISONER

iiITARY ACTION TO PRECEDE NEGOTIATIONS

jIIIIED FitfSS ASSOCIATION-CUI'YKIGHT.) (Received December 15, 10.30 p.m.) LONDON, December 14. The Nanking correspondent of the "Daily Telegraph" reports that thoutands of troops, equipped with German trench helmets, which were obtained by barter, and full war kit, are Streaming northward to drive a we dge between the army mutineers and the communists. The Government intends consolidating the military situation before negotiating with the rebels. The Governors of Shansi, Hopei Jnd Shantung have assured the Government of their loyalty and readiness to assist in the suppression of the rebels. Thirty Government warplanes flew over Sianfu, the capital of Shensi and headquarters of the revolt and dropped leaflets demanding'that Marshal Chiang Kai-Shek be removed to safety. Chiang KaiShek has not been released. He telegraphed to his wife: "I am safe; don't worry." Mr W. H. Donald, who acts as adviser to Chiang Kai-Shek, arrived at Sianfu by air to confer with the rebel leader, Marshal Chang Hsueliang. An.earlier message said: One hundred thousand Chinese in Shanghai have signed a petition against further yielding to Japanese aggression, demanding that the Government immediately mobilise the resources of the nation for defence, insist on the abrogation of agreements establishing demilitarised zones in Shanghai and along the Great Wall, the cessation of unauthorised Japanese flights over Chinese territory, and assurances that the Japanese will cease illegal military movements in China. The Berlin correspondent of "The Times" says that the newspapers give prominence to the mutiny as proof of bolshevism raising its "bjoody head" throughout the world, and justifying the Nazis' attitude. '