RETREAT FROM NANKING.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 19 August 1927, Page 5

RETREAT FROM NANKING.

DEFEATED SOUTHERN TROOPS,

ARRIVING AT SHANGHAI

BY CABLE- PRESS ASSOCIATION COPYRIGHT SHANGHAI, Aug. 17.

Five troop trains carrying approximately 12,000 troops, forming the vani»uard of the retreating Southern army, are due to arrive at Shanghai beioTe midnight. General P?oit*Sun-Chi, form oily act* ing-e.ommander ot‘ the Nanking N_a _ tionalist forces, arrived ahead of the troops, entering Shanghai accompanied by the chiefs of staff and a large retinue, indicating the complete withdrawal of the Cantonese element from the Nanking army, the majority of which consists of the erstwhile Northerners, who reverted to the Nationalists at the time of the occupation of Nanking by the latter. The international settlement authorities are adopting the usual precautions. The police have been trebled and machine gun, armoured ear units and volunteers have been instructed to be prepard to lie called out. Phe police aie confined to barracks and the discipline, of the British forces has been tightened. Passenger trains from Nanking and intervening stations have brought in thousands of refugees striving to reach the safety of the settlements ahead of the retreating Nanking army. They brought reports of booming guns audible at Nanking, which is being bombarded from Pukow.

The north bank of the Yangtsze is now occupied by Sun-Chuan-Fang’s forces. Yangchow, the Yangtsze terminus of the Grand Canal directly opposite Chinkiang, is also in the hands of Sun-Chuan-Fang. The Nationalist troops have made no attempt to cross the Yangtsze. The Shanghai forces are being remodelled hastily at the settlement points facing the railway station, where the retreating troops are due to arrive to-night. Nationalist flags, which lately floated in thousands in the settlement, have now entirely disappeared. The situation is so serious in Nanking that foreigners arc hurriedly evacuating the city and panic-stricken Chinese are fleeing in thousands. British warships are concentrating at the port for the protection of British residents. Sun-Chuan-Fang’s White Russian troops were responsible for the Capture of Pukow. Armoured trains are preparing to bombard Nanking and cross the river. The Nationalists are stampeding to Shanghai. The Japanese are co-operating with the British in the defence of the settlement.