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Show Chiang Takes Command Of Nanking's Defenders BRUSSELS. Nov. 17 (API Japan would regard aa a hostile act by the countries concerned any decision by the Brussels conference to accede to China's appeal for material aid in the far eastern conflict, highly placed Japanese circles said today. By JOHN R. MORRIS SHANGHAI, Nov. 17 ( UP) Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek has resigned the presidency of the government 'executive council inordertolead his army in a final stand against Japan, it was reported re-ported today as the government made TirgenTfgpaTatl6ri8"Io evac" bolster Chinese forces southeast of the capitaTT Chinese command era Mid the icounter-attack had permitted them to form new lines. ' Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek hud several hundred thousand trained troop at his disposal. In north China the famous com munist Eighth army harassed communication com-munication lines and garrisons of ths Japanese. Commanders here disclosed that the aame tactics would be used if Japanese succeeded in crossing the Yellow river and taking Tsinanfu, Shantung prov-jince prov-jince capital I Japanese forces pushed southward south-ward in Shansi province, the main body heading for Lingfeng, new seat of the provincial government after the evacuation of Taiyuanfu. uate Nanking. Reports, which wen unco n- firmed, said that Chiang, the country's coun-try's strong man. relinquished his post as head of what corresponds i to a cabinet in order to devote air his time to the army. ! H. H. Kung. finance minister and' vice president of the executive committee, com-mittee, will succeed him. it was said, with Wang Chung-Hui. foreign for-eign minister, relieving Kung of the vies presidential duties. Nanking's Fall Looms Japanese forces took a firm grip on the Yangtze river valley. Jugular vein of China, foreshadowing the -fall of the Nanking capital and j eventual end of the war. I A U. S. gunboat sped down the river to protect Americans at Nan- king. Government ministries fled to widely scattered interior cities, j FHoides of pa nicest rich en civilians moved out of the capital as the Jsp- j anese approached. Seventy Japanese warships were strung along the Yangtze. An unconfirmed un-confirmed report said that the Japanese Jap-anese had reached the boom barricading barri-cading the river at Kiangyin, approximately ap-proximately 10 miles south of the capital, and were preparing to open the river. Fear that the Japanese soon would attack the oapital heightened. Chinese admitted that once the I Kiangyin boom was penetrated the Japanese would drive quickly on Nanking. The evacuation fever spread rapidly. rap-idly. Thousands of residents rich merchants, civil employes, students, coolies and beggars jammed the water front, railway stations and train sheds, surrounded by their household goods, weeping women and crying babies. President Lin Sen already had left for Chungkiang. far up the Yangtse in Siechuan province. Five other ministries went with him. The majority of government offices were jbare of files. The Russian embassy was the first to announce plans to move up the river and the United States, British, French and German diplomatic diplo-matic corps were expected to follow fol-low when the government announced an-nounced definite plans. The United States river gunboat Oahu was en route to the capital from Ichang. 450 miles up the Yang- ( tze, presumably to offer protection to M Americana in Nanking. More than 200 other foreigners British,! French. German, Russian, Danes and Poles are in the city. Dispatchea from Nanking aaid that extraordinary precautions were being taken and that the streets were heavily patrolled by soldiers at night because of reports that, plain clothes provocateurs, In Japanese Jap-anese pay, were penetrating into the the city to start disturbances. There were unconfirmed reports here thst the government had dis-missed dis-missed 80 per cent of its civilian employes em-ployes at Nanking, paying them only enough to get to their homea, but not paying their salaries. According to these reports, many civil servants, unable to obtain transportation on the crowded steamships moving up the Yangtse with refugees, were traveling by road In horse-drawn carta or any other means of transports. Wounded Evacuated Evacuation of less seriously wounded soldiers from Nanking continued smoothly, the dispatches added. Approximately 60 American missionaries mis-sionaries are in the path of Japanese Jap-anese forces driving toward Nanking, Nan-king, authorities estimated. Only a few, mostly men, were believed be-lieved in or near danger sones. United States consular officials said they believed tne missionaries had sought places of refuge. SHANGHAI, Nov. IT I Heavily reinforced Chinese armies struck back at Japanese invaders today in a counter-attack along the "Hinden-burg" "Hinden-burg" line defending Nanking, some 125 miles away. Thousands of fresh troops from the interior marched eastward to |