Frenzied Escape Scenes

Northern Advocate, 1 December 1948, Page 5

Frenzied Escape Scenes

American pilots of Chinese commercial airlines, who had been running supplies to beleagured Hsuchow and evacuating wounded, said today that all air connection with the city would soon be severed.

Hsuchow airport was now in complete confusion. The United Press correspondent quotes pilots who returned from Hsuchow today as saying that Nationalist troops were scrambling to escape in frenzied scenes, reminiscent of the last days of Mukden. So desperate were the troops that one Chinese officer dashed into the whirling propellor of a transport and was cut to pieces. Other officers, carrying baggage, tried to force their way aboard and had to be fought off. Rice and other supplies flown in for the encircled city were dumped in the mud and forgotten in the mad rush to escape.

The wounded, too, were being abandoned by troops, who were entirely without discipline, and were storming any aircraft leaving the city. They managed to pack so tightly into Chinese military transports that some could not leave the ground. When forced from the aircraft some clung to the doors as the transports taxied for the take-off.

Some transports reached Shanghai with as many as 70 men aboard. The Associated Press Nanking correspondent says there are increasing indications that the Government is preparing to abandon Nanking should the Communists push south and cross the Yangtse River.

Many Ministries and firms are already evacuating their dependents Rail, sea and air passage from Nanking is booked out for days ahead. The wharves are jammed with people and the stations are so crowded that the trains are finding it hard to move.