China's Nationalist commanders got what they had been hoping fora big, positional battle with the Communists in Central China. They won, but the Reds got away in shape to fight again.
Two 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....
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