DANGER ZONES: 150,000 Big Noses

When the first Russians entered China long ago, the button-nosed Chinese dubbed them to, pi-tze, or Big Noses. Last week, a count of the Big Noses in Red China totaled more than 150,000 soldiers and civilians.

The Russian advance into China takes this pattern:

¶I In the Port Arthur-Dairen area of Manchuria, where Yalta’s secret deal gave Joseph Stalin a naval base and port privileges, the Russians have their 3gth army (two infantry, one armored, one artillery, one antiaircraft and two “aviation” divisions), numbering 60,000.

¶ Along Manchuria’s railways, linking Port Arthur with Mukden, Vladivostok and Manchouli, are another 50,000 Russians. These may be railroad guards rather than organized combat troops.

¶ A conglomerate Russian-led army of Chinese, Mongolians, Koreans and Japanese is posted along the north Manchurian frontier. Numbers and organization unknown, they form a reservoir of indoctrinated troops who can be used in their native lands whenever necessary.

¶ Russian air force units, of major strength, are centered in Manchuria’s Tsitsihar-Harbin area. They help train Chinese airmen.

¶ Russian advisers flooded into China after the Nationalist breakdown in 1949. Their activities touch practically all phases of Chinese life. They number about 42,000, of whom 19,000 are civilian technicians while 23,000 serve with the Chinese Red armed forces.

The Russian advisers “live as the Chinese do,” reports say. The result, so far: no visible strain or dissension between the Russian and Chinese comrades.