MANCHURIAN BATTLE

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24868, 7 May 1946, Page 5

MANCHURIAN BATTLE

COMMUNIST FORCES ROUTED

REMOVAL OF THREAT TO MUKDEN MUKDEN, May 5. General Tu Li-ming, the Chinese Government commander at Mukden, said that Government forces had routed 60,000 Communists in a two-day battle for Pemhsihou, the main Communist stronghold south-east of Mukden. The Government forces inflicted from 5000 to 7000 casualties on the Communists and took 3000 prisoners. The battle has removed the Communist threat to Mukden. The Communist leader, General Chou En-lai, said that the Russians recognised the futility of trying to operate the Changchun railway jointly with China while a civil war was raging. Hence they had withdrawn their diplomatic and railway representatives from Manchuria.

Marshal Chiang Kai-shek, speaking at the tomb of Dr. Sun Yat Sen, the “father of the Chinese Republic,” in ceremonies celebrating the Government's return to the historic capital of Nanking, exhorted the Chinese people to “consolidate our victory in war-torn Manchuria as well as in the rest of the nation, and advance towards our promising future.” He added that this could be achieved by practising. the eight virtues embodied in the Chinese New Life Movement, namely, politeness in conversation, unselfishness, humility, neatness, discipline, thrift, and frankness. Marshal Chiang Kai-shek gravely demanded- that the nation rally in a peaceful struggle to preserve the gains achieved after bitter sacrifices in eight years of defensive war against Japan. He said that he had not singled out a special area such as rich Manchuria, but included it in his challenge to all China.