1. China: 1945 – 1960s
a. Shortly after the Japanese surrender, US teamed American & Japanese troops still in
China to go against Chinese communists
i. This, despite how Chinese communists rescued and nursed downed US airmen
and provided intelligence about Japanese occupiers during WWII
b. Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek: head of Chinese ‘central government,’ strict anticommunist
i. OSS (CIA precursor) estimated that most of his military efforts were against
communists than the Japanese
ii. Blocked cooperation between Reds and Americans
iii. Army contained Japanese units, regime contained officials from Japanese
puppet government
iv. Was an American clientarmies trained and equipped to battle Tse-tung, En-lai
c. Truman was very upfront about “using the Japanese to hold off the communists”
i. “Using the enemy as a garrison until we could airlift [Chiang’s] troops to South
China and send Marines to guard the seaports”
d. Deployment of Marines had immediate effects
i. US Marines prevented Reds from taking Peking, despite their surrounding it
after the war
ii. US planes dropped Chiang’s troops into Shanghai to stop Mao’s moving into the
suburbs
iii. US transported 400-500k Nationalist troops to seize key centers and ports
iv. 50k Marines also sent to guard railway lines, ports, bridges, and other sites
1. Allegedly attacked Red areas, arrested officers, disarmed soldiers
2. Marine to Congressman: blasted small village “unmercifully,” not
knowing “how many innocent people were slaughtered”
v. Regular ‘reconnaissance’ flights allegedly strafed and bombed Communist
troops, in once case machine-gunning a communist-held town
1. Not known to what extent US airmen carried these out
e. U.S. survivors of plane crashes were still rescued, nursed and returned to US bases by
the Reds
i. Reds helped to rescue scores of American fliers, transporting them through
Japanese territory to safety
ii. NYT: “The Communists…did not lose one airman…never accepting rewards for
saving American airmen”
f. 1946: ~100k American military personnel still in China supporting Chiang
i. Official explanation: to disarm and repatriate the Japanese
1. While eventually carried out, came second to military’s political function
ii. Began to protest about not being sent home, echoed by other GIs
1. Dec 1945: Marine lieutenant describes that “you can’t tell a man that
he’s here to disarm the Japanese when he’s guarding the same railway
with [armed[ Japanese”
g. US attempted to mediate, despite participating on one side of the civil war
i. January 1946: Truman recognizes its either compromise or let China fall to the
Reds
1. General George Marshall sent to arrange a ceasefire and a coalition
government
2. Temporary success w/ on and off truce, coalition was unsuccessful
h. Early 1947: US troops withdraw some military forces, though aid and support would
continue; around this time, The Flying Tigers began to operate
i. American air squadron under General Claire Chennault had fought for the
Chinese against the Japanese in WWII
ii. Now called CAT, ran supply missions to Nationalist forces in Communist territory
iii. Technically a private airline hired by Chiang, but eventually interlocked with the
CIA to become the first unit in its air empire (best known for Air America)
i. 1949: US aid totals$2bil cash, $1bil military hardware, 39 army divisions trained,
equipped
j. Chiang dynasty was collapsing, however, due to tyranny, cruelty, corruption and
decadence of his bureaucracy
i. General David Barr, head of US Military Mission in China, said that Nationalist
forces were under “the world’s worst leadership”
ii. Communist areas were models of honesty, progress and fairness
1. Entire Chiang divisions defected to communists
iii. Generalissimo, cohorts and soldiers fled to Taiwan, which they had prepared by
massacring 28,000 islanders, forcing them to submit
1. US position shift from Taiwan as a part of China to Taiwan is China
2.