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Show 40,000 Casualties Mark Nanking Fall 'Suicide Groups' Guard Rear as Chinese Army Flees Under Annihilating Fire SHANGHAI (Tuesday) Dec. 14 (INS) Covered by imall "dare-to-die" bandi of suicidal troops, General Tanf Chen-si today led his defeated armv of 300.000 out of fallen Nanking. In the precipitous flight under terrific Japanese fire. General Tang pointed out that he had held Nanking Nan-king for five days longer than expected, ex-pected, Inflicting 10,000 added casualties cas-ualties on the Japanese. But his own army, Tang admitted, admit-ted, lost SO.OOO killed and wounded. Fighting desperately through streets red with blood and charred with flame, Japan's army completed tht conquest of Nanking at sunset, a communique issued 8unday night by Lieutenant General Iwane M stmt. st-mt. Japanese commander, said. With thousands killed and an Immense Im-mense toll of wounded Inflicted on the stubborn Chinese defenders, the mechanised forces of Nippon seised the caiptaJ's city hail and raised the rising sun flag. Ia addition to the city hall, they also occupied the Chinese central government administrative building the national government's deserted desert-ed headquarters at 11 a. m.. Gen-eraUssimo Gen-eraUssimo Chiang Kai-Shek's offi cial residence, the war office and the central military cadets' school. Japanese dispatches received here stated that the Nipponese were pushing southward toward Hslak-wan, Hslak-wan, and that the remainder of the Chinese garrison at Nanking by this afternoon was almost annihilated. Nipponese military commanders here claimed two Chinese divisions of Cantonese troops wire "entirely annihilated" when the Japanese stormed the southern quarter of Nanking, and that other Chinese "remnants" on Purple mountain were wiped out when the Invaders sot fire to the slopes. Japanse warships broke through a protective boom la the Yangtae river at Chinklang and steamed upstream up-stream to bombard the capital Authorities announced officially that the Japanese also had captured Pukow, across the river from Shanghai. |