Chungking, Feb. 19.
PITE persistent rumours that the Japanese forces are evacuate ing Nanning, well-informed Chinese quarters do not share the same view. They express the opinion that the Japanese are unlikely to give up the city without stiff fighting.
That fires were raging in all villages northeast and north of Nanning as the Japanese troops withdrew towards Nanning, these quarters state, was only to be expected, since they looted and burned as they advanced early this month towards Pingyang and Wuming.
Many parts of Pingyang City were burned to the ground, while the entire town of Wuming was gutted. The Chinese who remained in these two towns during the Japanese occupation are reported to have been short of food supplies. The Japanese troops, it is stated, did not carry much food with them.as they pushed northward from Nanning. Their food position is said to have become desperate when Chinese forces cut off the highway in their rear.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.