July 2.
The news from Nanchang published yesterday emphasizes the point often brought o.t these columns, that the task facing the "Government in suppressing the Communists in Kiangsi is one of the most difficult it has yet undertaken. It would not be too much to say that the campaign which bout to open is crucial for Nanking. Failure may _mean complete discredit. Partial success will be of little avai e objective of the Government, as the leaders, judging by the "manifestoes and orders issued to date, must be the absolute elimination of the Red menace in the district. Only' by carrying the campaign through to the bitter end and building upon the ruins wrought by the Communists a sound and reliable social system can good come out of the gigantic effort General Chiang Kai-shek and his assistants are now making. The complications of the duty. before the armies in Kiangsi cannot be over-stated. Not only are troops strange to the province facing expert guerillas with a thorough knowledge of the ground over which the battles will be fought, but also the enemy is not hampered by feelings of humanity or respect for the yules of war. The Communists have in the past proved themselves masters of strategy. They have availed themselves of every advantage which their cruelty and unscrupulouszess have given them. They have not hesitated to massacre the populations of villages and even towns. when it has suited them. And as one result they have -made lent accessories of most of its who groan under their yoke. The armies sent to face them have no allies, but must operate in districts rotten with treachery derived from terror of Communist reprisals.
That General Chiang has not under-estimated the gravity of the position is attested by preparations which he and his fellow military leaders have made. The Communist armies! themselves are not large. Aa military units they do not: deserve the tremendous concentration of troops which has been formed to meet them. But they are more than military units They carry with them a venom which can inoculate a whole people. As such they are a peril that demands the putting forth of the greatest possible effort to stamp them out. Slow as the Government has been to put forth this effort, handicapped as it has been by an uncertain political situation and strife which has necessitated the use of its best troops elsewhere it is nevertheless to be congra: tulated that it has now taken to this task with such enthusiasm and whole-heartedness. For isa task which demands enthusiasm and thoroughness to a degree. The Government may triumph in the field within a few weeks or months, but that, Instead of being the end of its duty, will be but the beginning. After the Reds have been di persed, they must be hunted down ' and exterminated scattered beyond hope of gather-ether again. The organization they have prepared, the semi-Soviet states they have formed, must be wiped out, and in their place the Government must be ready with a substitute organization, or the last condition of the province will be worse than the first. This fact has been realized, and political and economic experts are accompanying the armies in their marches. Doubtless the super-sion of these experts will in the hands "of the political committee with headquarters at Nanchang and under the chai manship of General Chiang himself. Their share jin the rehabilitation of the province will be a vital one, and they will have to safeguard the edifice] they construct against future undermining, The methods employed by the Communists against tie Govern. ment troops are in line with all their past actions. They recognize no non-combatants their warfare, just as they have recognized 10 neutrals in the political campaigns, By advaneing under the shield of innocent farmers, they put the troops opposed' to them at a painful disadvantage. Often the Communists themselves have no distinguishing uniform. The troops meeting them hav- no way of, learning which is the innocent farmer and which the deadly Red, until it is too late and the Communists are among them. These tactics combined with subtle and constant propaganda, are calculated to destroy the morale of any force. It is a condition such as this, then, that the Government must face. With troops whose morale has never, at the best of times, been very. high, they must meet desperate men' who well realize that defeat for them means death, men who are fighting with their backs to the wall, With commanders: strangs to the district and groping for their enemy, they must. encounter guerillas ' thoroughly familiar with every fold in the ground and enjoying the silent complicity of the country-folk, They must employ civilized methods against foes whose ferocity' and mercilessness are notorious. 'And they must move with expedition against opponents for whom every delay is a respite for reeove.y. In the South there awaits a declared enemy, while' in the North there are generals whose loyalty may not be able to withstand 'a severe reverse tothe Government. That, briefly, is the position. Faced with ull these complication General Chiang Kai: paign will be followed with interest and sympathy. For upon its, success or failure hinges the possibility of peace an eventual good goverment into complete
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.