LAST HEROIC FIGHT

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 343, 3 October 1932, Page 2

LAST HEROIC FIGHT

CHINA'S ROBIN HOOD ? DIES ON LOST i BATTLEFIEIU. | FOLLOWERS ANNIHILATED Mukden, August 2. | General Ma Chang-shan, the most | romantie Chinese personality in the j Manchurian eonflict, ' a pathetically | heroic figure, who had martyrdom || thrust upon him, was, it is now con- 3 firmed, killed in action in North-east 3 Harhin on July 27. ? His desperate command, virtually I without food and driven through | swamps toward the mountain wilder- 3 ness, was ambushed by Manchurian 1 and Japanese columns. Realising that ~" escape was ipipossible, Ma Changshan fought his last engagement after a week's brilliant dodging.' The last remnant of his insurgent- army has been annihilated. I The Japanese, in burying 250 rebels, I discovered Ma Chang-shan beneath a pile of corpses still grasping a revolver. Near him were most of the members of his staff. ^ "He died bravely," generously states | a Japanese official communique. His | death is expected to terminate the main insurgent resistance in North Manchuria.

H A Feudal Baron. qVIa Chang-shan first sprang into pfominence as the Chinese defender of Nonni River against the Japanese. | At Tsitsihar shortly afterwards he made his first contact with the foreign press. This slightly-built fire-eater, after defying the first contingents of the Japanese, admitted the qselessness of resistance, surrendering after the fall of Tsitsihar, where he had previously lived like a feudal baron. J The Manchurian Government, recog- S nising his spirit, appointed Ma Chang- | shan as its first Minister for War, ||_ and concurrently Governor of Heilunkiang jprovince. He acCepted, took the oath, and freely pledged his ~ personal allegiance to President Puyi at Changchun in March. Immediately afterwards Heilungkiang's insurgents secretly warned Ma Changshan that unless he escapel and joined forces with them his family at Heiho would be executed. He was also personally threatened with assassination. Ma Chang-shau. obtained leave of absence to visit "sick" relatives, evaded his b dyguards and joined the rebels. Thereafter Ma Ghang-shan was the virtual prisoner of the rebels, although he was nominated their leader. | • ■' . '