Next: the Mop-Up

At 52, General Wei Li-huang has what Chinese call a lucky face: smooth features, no pocks or scars. Among generals, such a face is supposed to mean that its owner will not be defeated, killed, wounded or captured by the enemy. But last week, in his new job as Nationalist Army Chief in Manchuria, it looked as though General Wei's luck was fast running out.

In a renewed winter offensive, the Communists had at last fully disrupted the railroad between Peiping and General Wei's headquarters in Mukden. That meant that there was no longer a land corridor into Manchuria for the Nationalists. Ninety-nine percent of the land area of Manchuria was in the hands of the Reds; 1% was in General Wei's. That 1% consisted principally of the cities of Mukden, Changchun, Kirin and Szepingkai--dwindling islands of resistance. What remained for the Communist armies under General Lin Piao was simply the mop-up.

General Wei would try to make the mop-up as costly to the Reds as possible, try to gain time for his side to strengthen North China. But Mukden's defenders were short of food, fuel and ammunition. Planes of General Claire Chennault's commercial airline shuttled in & out, evacuating nonessential government workers, carrying sacks of flour on the trip in. Then the flour ran out. The flour planes found a substitute. To Mukden's cold and hungry soldiers last week came planeloads of almost worthless bank notes.

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