Reds Tighten Grip On Tientsin And Peking: Nanking Defence Line

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22825, 21 December 1948, Page 7

Reds Tighten Grip On Tientsin And Peking: Nanking Defence Line

(N.Z.P.A. —Renter— Copyright.) (10.30 a.m.) NANKING, Dec. 20. The Communists continue to win successes in the fighting in Central and North China. Tientsin has been cut off from the outside world except for wireless and river transport. The Communists encircling the city have now driven within five miles at several points.

Even the river traffic is be-* lieved to be unsafe, with the Communists now on some stretches of the bank. Fighting today was reported close to Peking City walls outside which the Nationalists are still demolishing buildings in preparation for a last-ditch stand. Rail and telephone communications between Tientsin and its seaport of Tangku were cut yesterday. Rails were removed and a bridge blasted along the railway east of Tientsin. The Communists turned back a repair train. Inside Tientsin, feverish defence preparations are going on. Engineers are pulling down brick fences for reconver- : sion into pillboxes. General Chiang Kai-shek is believed to have a plan to defend the Yangtse from Szechuan to the sea. The plan, which may be put into effect immediately, calls for defence along 1500 miles of the river's course almost to the war- , time capital of Chungking. The plan also calls for the advance of all existing defence points along the north bank of the river, 20 miles for- ; ward of the px’esent positions.