Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek's armies swept through strategic, Communist-infested Shantung province and captured the vital port of Chefoo. Three days later, the old British base of Weihaiwei fell. With Shantung, the Communists would lose their last major stronghold south of the Great Wall, and their No. 1 manpower reservoir (Shantung, with 39 million people, is China's second most populous province). The Communists would also lose the mountainous flank from which they had harried the Government's main north-south lifeline, the Tientsin-Pukow railway. Chefoo's capture was the greatest Government victory since, the capture of Yenan, the Communist capital.
But while the Nationalists swept Shantung,...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
