DACCA, Dec. 14—The battle for Dacca began today as Indian bombing attacks hit parts of the city and set Government House downtown afire.

A column of Indian troops advanced to within seven miles of the city with only one more river to cross. The Governor and his ministers and their families fled to the Red Cross neutralized zone, the Hotel InterContinental, where about 65 persons had already taken refuge.

Red Cross officials reported a growing food scarcity in the city, which once had a population of 1.5 million but now probably has less than half that, as many flee to their ancestral villages.

A Pakistani Army doctor reported that 1,000 wounded military men had been brought into Dacca's hospitals, “more than we can deal with,” he said. Many more were wounded by the advancing Indian Army and cannot be evacuated.

Frontline fighting is going on at Demra, a crossing point of Lakhya River seven miles southeast of Dacca.

Rear Guard Crosses

Ferrymen crossed the river amid geysers caused by Indian Army shellfire, and flapping fish, evacuating a Pakistani Army rear‐guard unit from an east bank village. A mixed Indian Army and Bengali guerrilla force was entering.

The men began preparing defensive positions on the west bank for new delaying action. Soon they came under Indian artillery, mortar and machinegun fire from across the river, and Indian Air Force jets strafed them. The Pakistanis have only an antitank gun with which to reply.

The bombing of the center of Dacca caused new pressure on the Red Cross for entry to the hotel. Some refugees tried to break, their way in by vaulting the garden wall.

The Red Cross said that Pakistan's military command had been informed of the officials' move to the hotel and its declaration as a neutral zone. “It seem they approve,” an official said. The Red Cross has also sent word to the Indian Government and the East Pakistani insurgent leadership, but has received no response.

“We hope they will react as sensible people,” the Red Cross official said.

Under the Geneva conventions, the Red Cross cannot refuse refuge to anyone who seeks it, officials said.

As the first group came to the hotel, their luggage was searched by Red Cross officials and reporters. Three pistols were found despite repeated Red Cross instructions that all arms are forbidden in the neutral zone.

“so, it's come to this, we are forced to take refuge here,” Inspector Chaudhry of the police said.

The regional government officials gave no explanation why they chose to seek Red Cross protection rather than move to Dacca military headquarters. The Red Cross said that the Pakistanis would be afforded security in the neutral zone as long as the war continued but should Indian forces capture Dacca, these officials will be turned over.