NEW DELHI, Dec. 8—The Indian Army took more towns and more territory in East Pakistan today, but an informed Indian source said that in most cases the Pakistani defenders had escaped and that their army in the area was still largely intact.

Indian officials said they believed the withdrawal was disorderly and unplanned, but one source conceded that this might be wrong and that the Pakistanis might be preparing a bitter, last‐ditch struggle.

An official spokesman in New Delhi said tonight “it is our information that straggling troops” of the Pakistani forces in the East were making for two main assembly areas, Narayanganj and Barisal.

Narayanganj is less than 10 miles from Dacca and is the 7 river port for the East Pakistani capital. Troops gathering there could be preparing for the defense of Dacca, Barisal is about 75 miles south of Dacca in the watery Ganges River Delta, and the only access to the capital from there would be by river barge.

Pakistanis Urged to Give Up

Gen. S.F.H.J. Manekshaw, the Indian Army Chief of Staff, called on the Pakistanis to surrender. If they attempt to escape East Pakistan by river and sea, he warned, they will meet “certain death” at the hands of the Indian Navy.
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In the fifth day of war on the Indian sub‐continent, there were these other developments:

¶Indian officials said that Pakistan had committed more troops, tanks and aircraft to a large‐scale attack on the western front near the Indian town of Chhamb in the southern, or Jammu, part of Kashmir. The officials said that the Pakistani forces, thought to be in excess of division strength, or more than 20,000 men, had made only small advances.

¶India said she was trying to work out arrangements for safe evacuation of United Nations personnel from Dacca and other citizens of neutral countries from Karachi.

¶lndia said she had been informed by a friendly government that transport planes from a foreign country, which Indian officials declined to identify, had been landing supplies at the Karachi civil airport. The Indians said that if such flights were repeated, it would be “difficult” to avoid bombing the Karachi airport.

The exact military situation in East Pakistan was not clear. Indian reports were to some extent contradictory.

Maj. Gen. F. R. Jacob, chief of staff of India's eastern forces, warned reporters in Calcutta, today not to make a “quick jump to conclusions” about the imminent fall of Dacca.

He said that the approaches to the city were protected by many streams and that the Indian advance would depend on construction of bridges by army engineers.

In New Delhi, the official spokesman said that the city of Comilla and the town of Brahmanbaria, both close to the eastern border of East Pakistan, had been captured. A number of other places—including many villages—have also fallen in other parts of East Pakistan, India said.

The spokesman in New Delhi said that Indian troops had found Comilla undefended, but a spokesman in Calcutta said that a garrison of 1,100 Pakistani troops had surrendered there.

The New Delhi spokesman also said tonight that Pakistani troops had abandoned the towns of Jessore and Sylhet before the Indian Army took them yesterday.

Pakistani Strategy Uncertain

The major unanswered question in the east involved the combat capability and the intentions of the retreating Pakistani forces, estimated to have totaled about 70,000 at the start of the war last Friday.

At the official news briefing; Indian officials said they believed the Pakistani retreat Was “not an organized or planned withdrawal.”

Privately, one informed Indian source said, however, that the Pakistani forces seemed “largely intact” and that those withdrawing to assembly points might total about 50,000 men.

The informed source added that the number of prisoners taken by the Indian Army was not especially large — “not thousands.”

General Manekshaw's latest surrender appeal indicated that Indian planners thought, or hoped, that the Pakistanis were assembling at Narayanganj and Barisal in the hope of a Dunkirk like evacuation from the Eastern province—a step he declared would be futile.

Indian sources said that concentrations of river barges had been sighted to confirm this belief.

General Manekshaw, in his surrender appeal, said he knew that Pakistani troops were trying to “collect and concentrate.” If they are attempting to concentrate so as to continue the fight in large formations, a tough and relatively prolonged battle may be in store, some observers believed.

The eventual outcome—a Pakistani defeat in the East—did not seem here to be in doubt, but the time required seems at this stage difficult to calculate. Several significant factors are involved.

India's Losses Called Moderate

One concerns supplies of ammunition and other vital materials. Some Pakistani units, such as the force of several thousand men fighting near Hilli near the western border, are apparently cut off in pockets where resupply is impossible.

The size of Pakistani stockpiles around Dacca and Barisal is not known, so it is difficult to judge how long troops concentrating in those areas can resist.

Another important factor is that all remaining Pakistani aircraft in the east have been destroyed, according to India, and the Pakistanis are now exposed to repeated air strikes by India.

India has problems of her own in moving large forces and equipment rapidly across the flat, marshy terrain of East Bengal, with its many rivers.

On the western front, fighting was sporadic in many areas and significant in a few key sectors.

In the area around Chhamb in southern Kashmir, Pakistan was said to have thrown in a “fresh brigade” and more armor, and to have renewed her attack on Indian forces.

The Pakistanis had previously taken Chhamb, but Indian, spokesmen said their troops were holding onto the east bank of a knee ‐ deep rivulet east of the little town.

The Indian spokesman said tonight that Pakistani forces made a fierce attack that began at 2:10 A.M. and continued until afternoon. He said that Pakistani troops had crossed the rivulet but had been repelled “except from one small post which has been taken and retaken twice during the day.”

He said Indian fighter‐bombers had knocked out nine Pakistani tanks today and that Pakistani losses had been “severe.” He termed Indian casualties “moderate.”

In the south, in the great Thar Desert, which straddles the border between Rajasthan in India and Sind in Pakistan, smaller forces also continued to fight. India said her forces had occupied about 800 square miles of Pakistani territory. This area is not considered by Indian officials to be of much value.

North of the Indian salient, Pakistani troops were evidently still in possession of some Indian territory near Longewale in Rajasthan.

In air action, India said six Pakistani jet planes were shot down in the Chhamb battle while giving close support to ground forces. India, said she lost one plane today.

India says that since the war began she has destroyed a total of 72 Pakistani planes—mostly combat jets, but also some transports. This figure represents about 25 per cent of the 270 combat aircraft that Pakistan is believed to have had at the start of the fighting.

Indian spokesmen assert that Pakistani tank losses have totaled 164. India has announced the loss of only 17 tanks.

In East Pakistan the Pakistani Army is now essentially without effective armored or air support, independent observers agree. In the west, however, even the unconfirmed battle damage claims of both sides do not indicate that either army has yet suffered any crippling loss of equipment.