The Evening Star (October 20, 1947)
Chinese Reds capture two strategic cities
PEIPING (AP) – Chinese Communists, completing a wide encirclement of Changchun and Kirin, Manchuria, have captured Nungan and Tehwei, strategic cities which had been Changchun’s northern defense outposts, pro-government dispatches said today.
Nungan is 40 miles northwest of Changchun, Manchurian capital. Tehwei, 50 miles northeast of Changchun, provides a base from which the Communists might mount a direct assault on Changchun. Its successful defense last winter was credited with blunting the Communists’ fourth offensive.
Dispatches said the Communists cut the 60-mile railway linking Changchun and Kirin and severed hydroelectric lines leading to the capital, thus depriving it of both light and power. Gunfire was reported clearly audible in both cities.
Chiutai, rail town 35 miles east of Changchun, was under siege, reportedly by 20,000 Communists. Nationalist units were said to have engaged Red attackers 16 miles east of Changchun.