REDS CONTINUE TO PUSH SOUTHWARD IN CHINA; SIX WARSHIPS SUNK

Wanganui Chronicle, 4 May 1949, Page 5

REDS CONTINUE TO PUSH SOUTHWARD IN CHINA; SIX WARSHIPS SUNK

! SHANGHAI, May 3 (Recd. 8.10 pm). ! —The Chinese Air Force sank six of ' eight Nationalist warships capture.! i on the Yangtse by Communists after the fall of Nanking, according to the official Central News Agency. The other two vessels were so badly damaged! as + o be useless, i The report said that after the fall • of Nanking only four of 12 Govern- : ment warships assigned to guard Nanking and the lower reaches of the ' Yangtse escaped, while eight vessels were captured because they were un- ! able to flee to sea through the narrow ; river controlled by Communist artil- ' lery. The main <orce of the Government Air Force is now concentrated . in Shanghai, and in the last few days i has been carrying out bombing and •straffing missions covering ground | forces retreating along the Nank’ngShanghai railway Fierce fighting is raging along the Soochow-Kashing highway near the city of Pingfeng as Nationalist troops battle to Stem the Red drive southward toward the strategic road and railway junction of Kashing. While this northern Red pro ng is claimed to be, temporarily checked, Communist forces pushing east crept closer to Kashing. On the Hangchow front Red spearheads have reached points 15 miles north and west of the city. One rei portjsaid that Nationalist military officials had completed preparations to blow up the Chtent&ng River bridge southward of Hangchow, which is one of the largest steel structures of its kind in China. It was only recently repaired following damage during the Sino-Japanese war.—Reuter.