CHINA: Heavy Blow

One day early last week, the Gimo pondered a war map in his upstairs study. It was time for the kind of decision he has seldom made.

The great, bloody battle around Suchow had produced a familiar pattern. Fast-moving Communist columns had swirled about the city, wiped out upwards of a quarter of its Nationalist garrison in bitter fighting, then bypassed and isolated the remainder. Now the Communists were striking 100 miles farther south, toward the mud-laden Huai River, last organized defense line before Nanking. Suchow might become another Tsinan or Mukden. If...