The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1950-04-27
Behind The
World News
By WALTER RREEDE. JR,,
Assnciafea Press Writer

With the less Of Hainan Island
10 the Chinese Reds the Nation
alists under GenerallSslno Chiang
Kal.Shek have suffered another
severe setback,
The bic Island If HainSn-@l60
miles long ana 90 miles wide
was an ideal ieTnping oft place
for Chiang,S hamberS in their
hit-run attacks on the mainland
>oSSt. II could have been an ideal
base for a counter-invSSion.
AS far rs can be aSeertalned at
this time, the Chinese comtnun-
lists win get five Nationalist
armies, numbering l2S000 first
line troops. along with Hainan
Island.
According to the best available
information, the island was sur
rendered without a fight, Chinese
Communist troops FROM the main
land marched into the Hainan
capital looking rested and re-
fteShed, rot at all like men who
had fought battle.
There was no formal surrender.
Chang merely ordered the total
evacuation Of the island. This
nave was in harmony with the
strategic pattern he had follow
ed in the retreat before the Com
nppnists on the Chinese mainland.
That was q strategy of pull out
rather than fight--a strategy of
trading space for space, as long
as there was still plenty of terri
tory left for trading. The Nation
ahsts wound up with three is
lands off the China coast, while
the Communists overran China
proper.
i The cloSest-in of these three
islands was Hainan. its northern
tip separated from the Commun-
list mainland by no more than ten
miles of open water.
That was the point chosen by
the Communists for their invaS-
ion, At first Chiang's fighters and
hombers and gunboats held the
invading Communists at bay.
Last week the Communists began
their big push. u
I0ng-range guns were set up
on Nle mainland, and under
cover of land based artillery. the
invasion fleet set sail. This time
the invaders made it all the way
acrosS-arid in sufficient strength
to gain toe-hold once they got
to the island shore. There they
were met by an underground
army of Red guerrillas. who had
maintained their organization in
the mountains of the island for
the last nine years. Hollow, the
capital, fell to the invaders, Civ
ing them complete control of the
Hainan Straits--the narrow body
of water separating the island
from the Chinese mainland.
The Nationalist give two rea-.
sons for their defeat-bad wealth
: er and not enough troops. And
the Hainan defenders tell a most
:. interesting story Only last week.
they sent word to Nationalist
headquarters on Formosa, re-
questing reinforcements. But, say
the. Hainan Nationalist, Chang
KaisShek said mo" AS one Of
the, Hainan generals tells it.
Chang was jealous of his two
top commanders on Hainan, and
50 he refused to give the troops
they needed to put up a success
ful fight. The charge is that the
Generalissimo sacrificed Hainan
to his own political ambitions.
All of which may or may not
be true. The Nationalist have
been constantly hampered by
political pickering and intrigue,
with cut-throat politics the rule
rather than the exception. So
this latest story, regardless of its
accuracy, is certainly not out of
: character.
/. Even so, it's hard to believe
: that even politically-minded
commandcr-in-chief would let a
prize like Hainan fall to the
enemy without a struggle. Aside
from its nuisance value as a
bombing base, the island has
plenty of room for concentrating
troops-a total area of more than
Is 500 square miles. While a good
deal of this is densely wooded
mountain country. the coastal
area is flat. Hainan is a sort of
tropical paradise, Astounding in
cocenuts, rubber, sugar and
spices, and mahogany and other
. rare and costly hardwoods. Its
mineral resources have never
been tapped. They are believed
to include three and a half mill
lion tons of iron ore and valuable
coal and oil deposits.
Undoubtedly the invaders re-
ceived valuable help from the ma
tive fifth column, said to be CO.
900 strong.
So the outlook for the Nation,
alists seems darker than ever. AS
one general puts it:
IF we leave Hainan now Wen
never be able to come back. We'd
have the Reds in front and the
guerrillas in blackwell have no
natural defense line"