893.00/11–2645
The Navy Department to the Department of State 74
The following dispatches, dated 21 and 22 November 1945, from the Commander, Seventh Fleet, are paraphrased for the information of the Department of State:
21 November 1945
“Due to track damage, it was necessary for one of two trains carrying coal to Tientsin to return to Tangshan. A repair train on a slightly damaged railroad bridge, south of Cha Tien was reported to have been fired upon. Further damage to the railroad north of Tsanpkou Airfield is reported. Conditions continue quiet Tsingtao–Tientsin. 1000 troops of the Northeast China Command are at Chinwangtao. More than 10,000 Japanese civilians are reported to have been placed in Peiping Concentration Camps and 15,000 are reported at Chiahsing. A Japanese Battalion at Liu Ting Airfield was attacked by Communists, who also destroyed a railroad bridge and sections of track south of Liu Ting.”
22 November 1945
“General Tu Li Ming moved to Sui-Chung following its capture by Nationalist troops. Shanhaikwan and Chinwangtao Nationalist troops are being sent eight miles north of Shinen to clear out a pocket of 2000 Communist troops previously bypassed. There are an estimated 27,500 Communist troops in Jehol Province. After the Russians withdraw, the Chinese intend to transport 12,000 members of the 5th Division into Manchuria by air. It is reported that there are now in North China 326,375 troops of the Japanese 43rd Army. The majority of Japanese troops in North China areas under American Army [Page 679] control have not yet been disarmed, it is claimed by the Communists. In Peiping are 88,300 Japanese civilians, according to report.”
Rear Admiral, USN
- Sent from the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations to the Division of Foreign Activity Correlation.↩