COMMUNISTS IN CONTROL

Greymouth Evening Star, 23 April 1946, Page 7

COMMUNISTS IN CONTROL

CONFLICT IN MANCHURIA CONTINUES TROOPS STRONGLY DUG IN CHUNGKING, April 22. A Chinese Government military spokesman described as a complete fabrication the claim made by the Communists that a United States aeroplane straffed Communist troops at Szepingkai. The Communist newspaper “New China Daily News” in a dispatch from Yenan, reports that Communist forces shot down an American aeroplane which straffed Szepingkai on Friday. They found an American airman in the wreckage. Lieutenant-General Gillem, the American commander in China, said that he had not received any report on the matter. The Yenan radio claimed earlier that two aeroplanes bearing American insignia strafed a Communist position south of Szepingkai. The Communist News Agency, Hsin Hua. has reported that 200 Chinese Government Peace Preservation troops were killed in the four-day battle for Changchun, capital of Manchuria, which the Communists captured. The Communists took 10,000 prisoners and captured 7000 rifles. The Communists now control most of Manchuria. The Nationalists’ positions are vulnerable from all sides and become more so every mile they advance. The Communists are not only strongly dug in at Szepingkai, but also along the natural defence line in the mountains between Szepingkai and Changchun. A Washington message says that the Secretary of State ,(Mr. James Byrnes) announced that the reparations expert (Mr. Edwin Pauley) was going to Manchuria and Korea to discover what Japanese assets the Russians had removed. Asked whether Mr. Pauley would be able to enter the Russian-con-trolled area of Korea, Mr. Byrnes said: ‘That at least is his mission.” Mr. Pauley was denied entry to Russian-controlled Manchuria during his recent visit to the Far East. Russian removal of Japanese assets has been a controversial point between Washington and Moscow. The United States contends that Russia had no right to remove industrial equipment from Manchuria. Russia has disregarded the latest American Note on the matter. communistsThallenged to PROVE CHARGE (Rec. 2 p.m.) CHUNGKING, Ap. 22. General Marshall has formally demanded that the Chinese Communists either publicly retract or furnish details of their unsupported charge that American planes attacked Communist forces in Manchuria and that one plane was shot down. General Marshall held an inconclusive three-hour meeting with General Chou-en-lai, the chief Communist negotiator, and a separate session with Marshal Chiang Kai-shek. General Chou said he was radioing his field commanders for information on the reported air attacks, which are alleged to have occurred at Szepingkai last week.