NORTHERN SOLDIERY RETREATING NORTH.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18465, 17 May 1928, Page 11

NORTHERN SOLDIERY RETREATING NORTH.

(United Press Assn. —By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright.) SHANGHAI, May 15. The latest reports indicate that the Feng-tien troops are already preparing to retreat to Manchuria. Guns and troops are passing through Pekin and Tien-tsin in sufficient quantities to indicate that the withdrawal has commenced. Japanese reports state that the Fengtien forces however, are preparing three lines of defence against the advance of the Shansi forces under Yen Shi-shan. The defence is unlikely to be of avail owing to the determined movement against Tien-tsin which, if successful, cuts the main line of the Feng-tien retreat, forcing a movement via Kalgan. A general attack against Japanese forces in Shantung is not regarded seriously in local Chinese circles.—United Service. SPEEDING UP DEFENCE WORK AT TIEN-TSIN. SHANGHAI, May 16. The foreign garrisons at Tien-tsin are speeding up defence works, and expect to complete them to-morrow. Motor-cycle and cavalry patrols are already operating on the outskirts. Japanese volunteers have been mobilised. The Northerners apparently intend to make a stand at Machang, thirty miles from Tien-tsin, though foreign observers, considering the demoralisation of the Northerners, do not anticipate an effective holding of the position. —United Service.