Mukden was lost. The Nationalist withdrawal had turned into a rout. As Communist troops took over the government's main Manchurian stronghold last week, Nanking received the radio message: "No more reports. Cannot get out of office. Goodbye." Nationalist planes began to bomb the city.
The decision to pull out of Mukden came during an emergency conference called by Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek with his top generals in Peiping. The meeting was followed by the government's recapture of Yingkow, opening a seaport and a narrow, 100-mile corridor from the Mukden pocket (TIME, Oct. 25).
Unfortunately, a full-scale Manchurian Dunkirk from Yingkow was...