STRUGGLE FOR MANCHURIA

Press, Volume LXXXIIi, Issue 25302, 30 September 1947, Page 7

STRUGGLE FOR MANCHURIA

GOVERNMENT CLAIM SUCCESS

COMMUNIST ADVANTAGE IN FIRST PHASE

(Rec. 7 p.m.) NANKING, Sept 28. Pro-Government reports say that Chinese Government troops routed the Communist forces assaulting Chinhsi, in south-west Manchuria. Observers believe, however, that in cutting the Peiping-Mukden railway 30 miles south-west of the Great Wall, thereby neutralising Hulutao, th© Government’s supply port, the Communists have obtained the advantage in the first phase of the latest battle for Manchuria. Earlier reports said that fighting continued for Chinhsi, which is 85 miles north-east of the Great Wall, on the vital Tientsin-Mukden railway. Pro-Government dispatches said that war planes were aiding the Nationalist defenders of the city. South of the Great Wall Communist guerrillas made new raids on the railway between Tientsin and Shanhaikwan, where the Wall meets the sea. The Chinese Prime Minister (Mr Chang Chun) in Peiping predicted that General Cheng Chang would soon bring about an improved situation in Manchuria. The Chinese Communists were reported on Saturday to have. captured Government mines tapping one of the world’s largest molybdenum deposits, 15 miles from Chinhsi. The mines were operated by the National Resources Commission. Other pro-Government reports claim that Nationalist forces captured th© Communist supply port of Lungkow, 60 miles west of the important Communist base of Chefoo. The Nanking newspaper “Hsin Min Pao” reports that 1000 Communists were killed when the Nationalists captured a town 55 miles south-west of Loyang.