Evening star., 1955-01-24
7ih Fleet Ready
To Aid Tachens
II Il Is Ordered
CONTINUED From First Page.1


were pretty general and vague. .
the admiral declared.
Amy Expansion Serious.
He said the Communist air. sea
and land attack on Yikiangshan.
which fen Thursday. was well
executed but did not represent
the Communists maximum eff
fort. Asked what he thought
about Yikiangshan's fall. he COM
mented:
Any expansion Of the Com
munist perimeter is serious"
The admiral said he didn't
know whether the Communists
would oppose evacuation Of Ma
tionalists from the Tachens.
Only the Communists know" :"
he said.
Admiral Pride said the Ma
tionalist navy would most de-
cidedly" assist in an evacuation
of the Tachens. 200 miles north
Of Formosa.
He said he had expected to
sail from Keelung this morning
but his orders had been changed
and he would be there about
two days longer.
He said the 7th Fleet would
be in a position to take the
Nationalists OF the Tachens
within very few days" of
receiving orders from Wash
ington.
Reinforced Recently.
The feet was reinforced in the
last few days by the carriers
Essex, Yorktown and Kearsarge
from Manila.
It has stood guard over For
mosa since 1850. It now may be
assigned to job of protecting GER
tain strategic Nationalist islands
of the Red China coast and pos
sible evacuation of others like
the TachenS.
Both steps are contingent upon
orders from President Eisen-
hover. who is expected to ask
Congress today for approval OF
American help In redeploying
Nationalist forces now garrison
ing islands stretching for $50
miles along the Communist coast.
Likeliest candidates for evacu-
alton are the Tachen Islands
nearby. Yikiangshan was taken
by the Reds last week. A high
Nationalist official said here the
Reds could invade the Tachens
on two hours notice.
Nationalists Reluctant.
The Nationalist agreed, APP
parently with reluctance, to
withdraw troops from the Ia
chens if President Eisenhower
orders the feet to help in the
operation, according to sources
informed of details of Admiral
Pride's conferences here with
Chang Kai-shek. UniteG States
Ambassador Karl Rankin, and
Maj. Gen. William c. Chase,
chief of the United States Mill
tary Assistance Advisory Group
here, Joined in the talks,
Other islands which might be
evacuated include the Yu Shan
group. 35 miles northeast of the
Tachens, Pisnan island 80 miles
to the southwest, and other small
islands of the coasts of Chekiane
and Fukien Provinces.
The other side of the coin is
new American commitment
subject to Washington's approval
Ito help defend such strategic
islands as Quemoy, near the
Communist city of Annoy at the
south end of the Nationalist
screen of outpost islands; Matsu
Island, dominating the Min River
estuary of the Red port of
Foochow, and Nankinshan Is
land, lao miles northwest of
Formosa and % miles of the
Red coast,
Previously, specific American
protection has covered only For
mosa and the nearby Pescadores.
Ready to Intervene.
Indications here are that il
President Eisenhower orders the
fleet to aid in evacuating the
Tachens the operation will be
executed with maximum speed.
1t is assumed that the fleet
would intervene If the Reds
should try to take the Tachens
before they are evacuated, and
that 1t would go into action In
a big way If the Communists
should attack an evacuation
after it begins.
A dogfight broke out yester-
day south Of the Tachens when
Chinese Communist planes In
tercepted fight Of four Ma
tionalist fighter-bombers. No
damage to either side was re-
ported.
The Nationalist Defense Min
istry said an attempt by 10
Communist armed junks to raid
an island near the Matsu group,
100 miles northwest of Formosa.
was broken up by Nationalist
shore guns yesterday. The min
iStry said five vessels were dam.