Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1948-10-30
Fall Of Mukden
ToChineseR Red
Forces Reported
30 Americans Remain
In City; Gen. Chang
Flies to Marking
BY the Asseeiotsd Press

NANKING, Oct. 30.-Commu-
mist troops swooped on Mukden
today and either wrested that
greatest Manchurian city from
the Chinese government or
were prepared to do so at their
leisure.
Usually reliable sources said the
Reds had won complete control of
the city Other equally reliable
sources late tonight said they had
closely ringed the city, but had not
fully completed its occupation. Muk-
den's population was 1,135,80l at the
time of the 1910 census.
These last accounts stated the last
group of government officials had
fed at pm. in automobiles in a
desperate effort to break through
the Communist circle.
They said no authority whatever
remained in Mukden and the entire
city was in the greatest confusion -
Americans Still in City.
Foreigners left in Mukden includ-
ed American Consul General Angus
Ward and his wife; Mary Eleanor
Braden of Dysart, Iowa, consulate
secretary; Ralph Rehberg of Roches-
ter, N. Y, administrative officer, and
some other members of the Ameri-
can and other foreign consular
stats.
The American consulate was re-
ported well supplied with food under
guard within its compound More
than 80 Americans were reported
still in Mukden.
Whereabouts of the garrison COM
mander, Gen. Wei >Li-huang was
unknown here.
His troops last were reported try
ing to fight their way southwark
from the city. Their objective was
not clear in Marking, but it was
believed they were trying to reach
one of two evacuation ports in Man.
churia-Yingkow and Hulutao, both
on the Gulf of Chilli and about 100
miles south of Mukden.
Battle Ragged for " Hours.
Sources here considered it unlikely
that many of the 10000 Nationalist
troops managed to escape Red forces
who held the corridor to Chinhsien,
125 miles south of Mukden.
Large forces on both sides have
been engaged in seesaw battle for
the past u hours in the Mukden
area. More than 100000 men were
reported committed to battle.
The national government has been
plagued with large-scale assertions
of troops in past months. 1t was
considered likely some Of those in
II divisions the Communists said
they captured near Mukden earlier
this week deserted.
Generalissimo Chang Kai-shek
himself few here late in the day
from his field headquarters at Peip-
ing. where he had been directing the
north operations since october Is.
His arrival was considered by OBJ
servers to mean drastic develop
ments had sent him rushing back
here.
Official military sources have not
confirmed the fall of Mukden Its
loss, Immediately on the heels Of
the loss of Tsinan, Chefoo and
Changchung, would hit the Chang
regime hard.
War Seen Decided.
The national capital was stunned
by Gen. Chiang's failure to recoup
his sagging military fortunes in the
north, and many high Chinese and
foreign sources agreed that the
Chinese civil war had been decided.
Fighting. they agreed, may con-
tinue for months. But, they said,
efforts to defeat the Communists
on national scale have ended
killed by the spiritless, tired govern
ment armies which were no longer
willing to resist, much less attack.
There are still thousands of Gen.
Chiangs troops under arms defend
ing Peiping and Tientsin, Hankow
and the Marking Shanghai areas.
But it is doubted here that the man
who led the government for score