Word: honan
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...weeks ago, when wily Communist General Chen Yi seized the Honan capital city of Kaifeng, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek flew to the battlefront to direct the recapture of the city (TIME, July 5). But as Nationalist columns closed in, Chen evacuated Kaifeng and plunged southward through government territory toward the swift Yangtze River...
Last week pursuing Nationalists found Chen Yi waiting for them on a battlefield of his own choosing. Chen's 100,000 Red troops were ranged along a 35-mile stretch of Honan basin land below the Lunghai railroad. The core of Chen's force was made up of veterans of his slashing campaigns in Shantung province. These tough regulars were fleshed out with elements from the army of one-eyed Communist General Liu Po-cheng, and local Red guerrilla bands...
...Nanking, the news brought a Honan delegation clamoring to the office of Generalissimo Chiang Kaishek. He told them: "Don't worry. Reinforcements are on the way. Kaifeng must be defended." That afternoon, the Reds breached Kaifeng's walls. The despairing Honan delegation camped for seven hours on Chiang's doorstep. They begged him to go in person to save the situation...
Next day, accompanied by Madame Chiang and with an air escort of fighters, the Gimo flew for a look at the Honan front. Over embattled Kaifeng, it was said, he talked by radio phone to the defenders...
While they talked, Kaifeng fell. Refugees reported the death of Honan's Governor Liu Mao-en. They added, bitterly, that a Nationalist air attack had killed more civilians than had the Communists...