893.00/9–147: Airgram
The Consul General at Hankow (Krentz) to the Secretary of State
[Received September 19—9:03 a.m.]
A–42. The civil war again entered the Hankow district at the close of the month, after several months when there were no important CP forces in the district.
In the closing days of the month roughly 110,000 CP troops under the command of CP General Liu Po-cheng swung rapidly west from Shantung north of Suchow, thence south into Honan as far as the Hupeh border, apparently, in the initial stages, without even coming into contact with National forces.
The First and Seventh CP Army Corps, plus an independent brigade came southeast of and paralleling the Pinghan railway, capturing Shangtsai and Junan. The Second and Sixth CP Army Corps roughly followed the Honan–Anhwei border, capturing Kushih, Hwangchuan, Kwangshan and Hsihsien, southern Honan.
A group of about 2,000 crossed Pinghan railway between Hsu-chang and Hsincheng destroying bridges and track, said now to be restored. This group moved southwest of the railway and reached Pingchangkwan near Changtaikwan on the railway. The railway garrisons are said to have successfully repulsed numerous attacks on the line. At any event trains were arriving from Hsinyang on the 31st. The railway claims the line is operating all the way to Kaifeng.
Latest reports indicate that National forces under General Hu Tsu-tung have recaptured Junan and are pressing south. One division from the Kaifeng garrison is said to be protecting Hsinyang and one brigade is defending Loshan.
The lines at latest reports ran from Hsinyang through Loshan southeast through Popiho to Shangcheng near the Anhwei border.
According to the Chief of Staff of the Generalissimo’s Headquarters here, the objective of the CP forces is to get back to their previous [Page 270] stronghold in the Tapieh mountains of Southern Honan and Anhwei, from where they could harass the railway and this area generally.
The Chief of Staff admits that there are no Government forces in this area except for two pacification corps and the railway police.
Although it seems unlikely that an attempt on the Wuhan cities would be made now, there is certainly no military force which could prevent it. If the CP army remains in force in South Honan, it seems likely that eventually at least raids will be made here.
Foreigners have been evacuated from the Chikungshan resort on the Hupeh–Honan border and the Consulate General is recommending no travel by Americans north of the Wuhan cities. No Americans are now believed to be in the places captured by CP forces. Those in Hsinyang and points north are believed to be safer remaining where they are than attempting travel.
The recently critical and chronic staff shortage here was relieved by the arrival of Consul Leonard Lee Bacon on August 20 from Zurich, and it is now hoped that adequate political and economic reporting can be done.
The farewell statement of General Wedemeyer on August 25 had a very good reception in the press of all shades of opinion, i. e., the reaction was that everything said was true, that it was the serious advice of a friend, and that China would do well to heed it.
Reaction in official circles was one of pained surprise in the few officials I have had occasion to see during the week. The Mayor, at a dinner yesterday, spent some 10 minutes explaining to me that of course the criticisms could not apply to Hankow and suggested that probably General Wedemeyer’s knowledge of Hankow’s virtue accounted for his failure to visit it.