TOWARDS SHANGHAI

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27081, 16 May 1949, Page 5

TOWARDS SHANGHAI

COMMUNIST. FORCES

SPEARHEADS NEAR GATES OF METROPOLIS N ZP A—Copyright Rec. 11.11 p.m. SHANGHAI, May 15. Two important points on Shanghai's front doorstep were abandoned to-day with a garrison announcement that the Nationalist forces had evacuated Hwangtu and Nanziang, 13 and 9 miles west of the metropolis. The communique claimed to have repulsed the spearheads of two Communist divisions after the Communists drove to within eight miles of Shanghai's north gates. The Communist radio claimed that Communist forces were invading South China from the coast. In their first reference to the battle of Shanghai. the Communists claim the capture of a cluster of towns on the perimeter of the metropolis. On the ChekianoKiangsi front, the Communists are sweeping south from Hangchow. Striking deeper into Fukien, the Communists claim the capture of Pucheng and Kienyang, the latter being the southernmost point so far reached. East Kiangsi Communists claim the occupation of Nancheng. 80 miles south-east of the provincial capital of Nanchang. The Communists have more than 100,000 guerillas and 46,000 regulars in South China, according to Peiping radio. These forces are ready to take co-ordinated action with the Red spearheads now pushing south. The radio said the South China Reds control much strategic territory along the borders of Kwangtung, Kwangsi. Hunan. Kiangsi, Fukien, Central Kwangtung, and Hainan Island. Shanghai is in virtual commercial chaos as the Nationalist garrison prepares to implement a scorched-earth policy in the face of the Communist advance on the city, say Reuter correspondents. British Business interests with a big stake in Shanghai think there is little that can be done to change the situation. The business interests said they had confidence that the men on the spot, including the senior British Consul-general, Mr R. W. Urquhart, would ao everything possible to protect British property and lives. The Shanghai correspondent of the New York Times, who fled from Shanghai to Hongkong to file an uncensored message, bitterly criticises the Nationalist Shanghai Garrison command. He says Shanghai’s residents are more fearful of their trigger-happy Nationalist defenders than of the Chinese Communists prodding at the city’s outskirts. “ The harsh and bloody measures taken by the Shanghai garrison are converting from contempt to anger the feeling the residents have for the men assigned to defend the city,” he says. ‘‘Military edict, enforced by arms, is now law for Shanghai. Legal looting by the soldiers—who never were distinguished for their respect for other people’s property—now goes under the alias of ‘requisitioning.’ With ‘volunteer ’ labourers the army is gouging out trenches, erecting pillboxes, uprooting villages and burning down houses on the outskirts of the city. “ Military, and those political figures who are allowed to speak, all prattle solemnly about a lastditch stand and boast that Shanghai’s defences are like Stalingrad’s. Yet probably not more than a handful of Shanghai’s'residents believes the garrison even will try to defend the city.” The first RAF fighter aircraft to strengthen Hongkong’s defences arrived to-day from Malaya. They com-

prise nine Spitfires and two Mosquitoes. It was the last hop of a four-day ferry trip in which the Spitfire squadron lost one plane that crashlanded in Borneo. The fighters are led by a Battle of Britain fighter pilot, Squadron Leader R. D. Yude, D. 5.0., D.F.C.. of Invercargill, New Zealand. Squadron Leader Yude has eight German fighters to his credit from World War Two, and in the last 10 months has led his squadron in nearly 50 strikes against Communist bandit hideouts in the Malayan jungle. He said to-day that the planes he brought to Hongkong carry similar equipment to what had been used m Malaya, including machine guns, cannon and rockets. About 60 ground staff arrived after the fighters in supporting Dakota and Sunderland aircraft.