CHINA - SEVEN YEARS AT WAR

"About two o'clock in the morningtwo trucks came through . They musthave been a gas and an amino truck. Weblew the first one up with a 57 mm.When we Mowed it up the fumes of itblowing up caught me and five buddies.One of us was killed . I was with a lightmachine gun and it exploded within tenfoot of me. We lost two 57's, two riflesand one water-cooled machine gun . Theywere all so close they blew up together.There's three mistakes we made. One, weput our guns too close to the road block.The tank guns were twenty paces fromthe "crossroad 75 to 100 yards is a safedistance from a road . block. When theexplosion occurred the men were so closethat when it went it excited them. Theofficer couldn't get them reorganized forabout thirty minutes . We . had anotherroad block up and they'd shoot .pamph-lets to . the Germans . A group of five orsix of them came at us showing thepamphlets . Our guys were so excitedlooking at them that they didn't get thatthey had two rifle squads to the flankstill they opened up. They killed one manand wounded sevenm

Veterans report our troops are stillbeing killed and wounded by false sur-render tricks, Here are some of the ver-sions recently worked : One man with awhite flag will approach a defensive pos-ition. His mission is to concentrate theattention of the defending force on him-self . so that an attacking force can slipup unseen on the flanks.

This draws the men out and revealstheir position for- small arms, mortarand artillery fire . It also draws themaway from their positions and bunchesthem for a better target.Another trick: a group of the enemywill approach a defensive position pre-tending to surrender. When they get closeenough and when our men come out toreceive them, they till open fire withsmall arms and with machine weaponsstrapped to the backs of men in front.

Still another version : the enemy willsurrender In such a manner that our men

will come to them and thereby expose

themselves to other enemy fire from theflanks,Item are a few tips from veterans on

handling an enemy who surrenders : (1)have the enemy approach without anyweapons and with hands over their heads:

(2) be sure they are not bunched up Inany way which exposes or indicates theposition of the captors; (3) do not shootan enemy attempting to surrender -- itsometimes draws fire from a larger force(they may be surrendering without theknowledge of the rest of their force, oras a feeler for a larger number) — batbe sure he is unarmed.

Look out for enemy equipment that hasbeen abandoned in view of a unit passingthrough . One of- the enemy tricks is toreturn and use the equipment to cut upthe rear of the force that has just passedby . Veterans advise that enemy equipmentIn working order be disabled when It isin position where it might be used againsta passIng force or friendly troops.

"One thing you have to watch isexaggeration of casualties by men andofficers in the line. Men will come inwounded and report the company is wipedout . Then we find only a few casualties.We've gotten calls for 15 litters and findonly two casualties . When different menstart reporting the same casualties with-out giving exact location, it causes uselesswork and danger for Aid Men . Thenthey're tired out when someone reallyneeds them.,'

"The boys in France and Belgium havegot used to friendly civilians, and' they'retoo trusting. Never let a civilian into orthrough y your forward lines - if he's upthere under : fire, he's out for no good.Our fellows have got to remember thata kid or a woman may. be a sniperthat'll kill . Don't move out of the areaswe control . If some G.I. goes wanderingoff on his own after cognac-or schnappshe may he picked off a few houses downthe street. Stay away from women ; we'vehad boys have their throats cut before.In villages watch .out for the church steeple—that Is the German's favorite place to

put a rearguard"

"When were following in close behindour artillery to catch Jerry before hecan get set, we usually find him on ourside of his old position digging new holes.They almost always move forward outof artillery, notbackward."

" Sometimes it's best to strip off everything with weight in It for an attack --packs, coats . and even the slings off the

rifles."

Com

bat

Tips

V

.

s.

If you have a Combat Tip that will help a Replacement to catch up withthe score faster, send it to the Editor ARMY TALKS, APO SS7, U.S. Art

ARMY TALKS"The purpose of the program is to give the soldier psychologicalpreparation for cat, and a better realization of the import ofevery phase of his military training . Emphasis will be placed oncombat orientation . The mental and physical conditioning of theenemy, and p proper evaluation of the enemy 's weapons andfighting qualities will be stressed. A better understanding of thebackground of the war, and the soldier's responsibilities in the

post-war world will also be developed."BY COMMAND OF GENERAL EISENHOWER.

(Extract from letter ETO. 1 August 1944, AG 352/2 OpSS, Subject , CombatOrientation Program)

WE happen to be fighting in the ETO . But for the "luck of thedraw" any one of us in Europe might be fighting 10 ,000 or 15,000

miles from here, under MacArthur, or Mountbatten, or Stilwell,or Chennault, instead of under Eisenhower or Alexander . Our buddiesare there . That ' s our war, too. What happens on one side of the world isof personal and intense importance to the other side of the world.

Chinese victories (and even tactical defeats) are saving Americanfives.

A Chinese may save your life, or mine . Without question, victoriesin Asia will permit us to get home sooner.

Victory over Germany, in Europe, will shorten the anguish of warfor the Chinese . Successful operations, in the Asiatic theater, againstJapan, will shorten the war for Europeans and Americans . Reducing thelength of the war anywhere, by months, days — or even hours — willsave many, many Allied lives .

Ask the average G I whenWorld War II started, and heis likely to reply : December 7,1941,

Ask the same question ofanyBritish Tommy, and the answeris almost certain to be : Sept,ember, 3, 1 939.

But if this question is put toone of our Chinese allies, hisdate of the start of the warwill be either : September 18,1931 or July 7, 1 937.

W HY this question about thedate? Because in 1931 the

Japanese; on a flimsy pretext,invaded and stole the three North-Eastern provinces from the Chin-ese: that part of China which wecall Manchuria . Then, after a fewmonth's fighting, there was a lull.Japan's creeping aggression con-tinued, but organized mass killing

died down.

I t flared up again seven yearslater, at Marco Polo Bridge, nearChina 's former capital city ofPeiping. Since then China andJapan have been waging ceaselesswar.

CHINA AND THENORMANDY FRONT

The battles in Europe are manythousands of miles away fromAsia. It would be understandable

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YEARS AT WARif the Chinese thought mainly interms of "their" war, and didn 'tpay much attention to what goeson elsewhere.

Yet, what was the immediatereaction of the Chinese militaryleaders when General Eisenhower'sforces landed across the Channelon June 6? The Chinese War Min-ister, General Ho Ying-chin, quick-ly recognized what this meant toChina, and gloried in our achieve-ment . He said:

"The landing in Normandystrikes the death knell for Japan ."

Not atone Germany 's deathknell . But Japan 's!

General Ho knows that this is aglobal war, and that both ends ofthe Axis must be smashed.

The Chinese GI also recognizesthat this war is world-wide, per-haps even better than the Amer-ican GI . He has been killing Axisaggressors four and one-half yearslonger. Early in June the Chineseequivalent of the Stars and Stripes(called Sao Tang /oh Pao) madethis editorial comment:

"Our soldiers on Honan andHunan (where the hottestfighting is going on), whenthey hear the news of Rome'sfall and of the Second Front,plus the Allied offensive in thePacific and South-East Asia,will rouse themselves to evengreater efforts . to destroy theenemy."

China and the United States,different as they are, have onevital thing in common now : des-truction of the commonenemyAnd our peace aim is- the same:creation of a world in which lawand order will prevail over gang-sterism and chaos.

China is a country with a re-corded history of 2,785 years . Shehas immense, butundevelopednatural resources . In her agricul-ture, as well as in her relativelyfew industries, she gets along inthe main under the primitiveconditions of her ancestors: Noone knows within 10,000,000 ofthe actual population, but thefigure is set at an estimated450,000,000 . In area, China ranksthird after the British Common-wealth and the Soviet Union:

A CHINESE IS "OLD" AT FIFTY

The Chinese respect, in factworship old age, because, comparative-ly speaking, it is rare . A man isold at fifty and venerable at sixty.This . is due to two reasons, highbirth - rate- and high death rate.The latter is due to inadequatesanitation, lack of doctors, andfailure to control many - dangerousdiseases, such as smallpox, cholera,dysentery and tuberculosis. It isalso due to such additional hazardsas floods and famines, the worstof white-wipe out millions.

China is a land where thehazards of life are accepted asnatural, and citizens face danger,

11 November, 1944

3

disaster and death impassively. Itis a land largely without the mar-vels of the modern streamlinedworld in which we live . Thepeasant works in his paddy fieldsof rice with a wooden ploughpulled by a bullock.

CHINA TRAVELS ON FOOTThe Chinese armies travel on

their feet. Not for the Chinese GIare there the convenience of a jeep,rarely the massive aid of the tankseldom the comforting presence ofa mechanized marvel with wingsoverhead.

These armies walk across a hugesprawling land that stretches fromthe paddy fields of Kwantung tothe wastes of Kansu, from theplains of the Yang-tze valley tothe mountains of Tibet . The mil-lions upon millions of ChineseGI's eat meagre rations, wear thincotton uniforms, are shod in straw,sandals, are sick (without muchhope of medicine or trained care).are usually cynical, are riddledwith absenteeism, and fight withpitifully poor equipment and arms.

When the Japs struck in 1937.the country was not yet unified.There had been a central govern-ment for barely ten years. There

were still warlords who valuedtheir personal armies and theirpersonal loot more than they prizedtheir country's survival . Chinawas just emerging from a centuryof unrest and a quarter centuryof civil wars . But the war gaveChina a dream she has as yet bare-ly glimpsed : . the dream of unity.The dream 'has been focused onher present leader, Chiang Kai-shek, but it began to take vagueshape in 1911 with the overthrowof the Chinese monarchy.

TWO REVOLUTIONSCHANGE COURSE OF HISTORY

On New Year's Day, 1912, Chinaformally became a Republic, afterthe revolutionary leader, Dr . SunYat-sen, had overthrown the al-ready tottering Manchu dynasty.He had three principles:

Nationalism : an independent,free and equal China.

Democracy : just what it meansin principle anywhere.

Livelihood: this might be calledfreedom from want.

China had no more than anodding acquaintance with any ofthe three. Since Hong Kong hadbeen ceded to Great Britain in

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1842, followed by additional ces-sions to other nations, China hadnot been independent, free or equal.Several . countries held courts onChinese soil, which followed for-eign legal practices. China was tooilliterate to permit even the rudi-ments of democracy to spread . Asfor "freedom from want", thegreat majority eked out a marg-inal subsistence.

The first revolution didn't dothe job, and a second was stagedin 1926 by the present leader,Chiang Kai-shek, with the assist-ance of Communist leaders sentfrom Moscow, and a small butheroic Chinese Communist army.Chiang's party was called Kuom-intang, which he had taken overafter Sun Yat-sen died in 1925.

This second revolution startedin Canton, and by 1928 was suffi-ciently successful to set up a Na-tionalist Government with capitalin . Nanking. Chiang ousted theMoscow advisers, split with theChinese Communist army (of whichmore later) and even managed tobring some law and order over awide area, by defeating and tam-ing the provincial warlords, whoselocalised banditry had kept thecountry from- unified government.

The strength of Chiang Kai-shek is that he combines the newChina with the old. He workswith bankers, industrialists, andwestern - educated students. Hispower is fundamentally based onthe army, but he could not, anddoes not, rule through the armyalone. He has been called a dic-tator, but he could not have keptthe loyalty of the intellectuals (aforce in China) if he had not ruledthrough the Chinese People's Party:the Kuomintang . 1

CHIANG UNDERSTANDSTHE PROBLEMS

Coming from a village, Chiangunderstands the position and prob-lems of the landlords, who aren'ttoo keen about democracy andreform. He also knows the peasants,their hopes, fears and superstitions,as well as the grinding poverty oftheir lot . His army is a peasantarmy. although largely officered bylocal gentry and student . intellec-tuals.

China's Central Government de-pends for its future existence uponthe new China . Chiang realizedlong ago what Japan was planning,and knew that he .had to build astrong modern army to face themenace. To build -this army heneeded technical experts, educatedofficers and good administrators.That _ is why he has worked withand through the Kuomintang,which includes nearly all western-educated Chinese.

I n the past sixteen years Chianghas grown in stature and in theworld's estimation . Ably assistedby his wife, he has shown himselfto be as much of a statesman as ageneral.

11 November, 1944 5

Jap banditry is nothing new inChina's history . In. the sixteenthcentury Japan invaded ChineseKorea; under the pirate Hideyoshi,who took back to japan with himboatloads of Chinese and Koreanears . They were piled up in Kyoto,and to this day visitors to thiscity are proudly shown the Moundof Ears.

JAPAN'S CREEPING AGGRESSION

Japan for decades subsidizedChinese warlords. She wanted adivided and war-torn China, assofter prey. She took Formosa andKorea and shipped in spies andFifth Columnists wherever shecould.

Then (as noted previously) theJaps grabbed off Manchuria : Sept-ember 18, 1931. By 1932 they hadoccupied- all three provinces . A

little . later they took a fourth,Jehol. On January 28, 1932, theymoved south, and - attacked Shanghai. The battle raged for severalweeks, but the Japs found thatthey stuck out their necks too far,and too fast, so were forced toslink back north, as the result ofChinese courageous resistance, andforeign pressures.

As shown earlier, Japan attackedagain on July 7, 1 937, and since-then there has been no let-up inthe press re . Japanese maraudingarmies wept on towards the south,until all important Chinese portscame under their control . Theysmashed their way westward, andforced the Central Governmentback from Nanking to remoteChungking.

CHINESE SUPPLIES BLOCKED

Thus the Chinese, never anindustrial people, were blockadedfrom supplies which the outsideworld could have furnished, exceptfor a trickle from the USSRthrough Yunnan and Kansu prov-inces, and, for a period, over theBurma Road . Today they get thefew thousand (but increasing) tonsa month that our daredevil airmencan, fly "over the hump" of theHimalayas, from India.

China, almost without the weap-ons and supplies so necessary inthe successful conduct of modernwar, fought four major campaignsagainst Japan 's mighty steamroller : North China, Central China,

Hsuchow, and Hankow and Can-ton. This war of movement lastedfor more than a year, a unitedChina standing up to fight under aunited command . ,The ChineseCommunist armies loyally andvigorously played their part, check-ing Jap forces in Northwest China.

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But, because of lack of arms andammunition, the struggle was toounequal, so Chiang Kai-shek craft-ily traded space for time : time topermit the Allies to come to hisaid ; time to permit the Allies toget ready to smash the commonenemy.

During the first few years ofthis war, American sympathy forthe Chinese people was greaterthan American understanding ofthe issues involved . Only recentlyhave Americans, and others of theUnited Nations, come to under-stand the vast debt owed to Chinafor so courageously standing up toJaps. Chinese have fought theirwar long on guts but short on cashand weapons.

THE RAPE OF NANKING

The "Rape of Nanking" is aphrase which will ring downthrough the ages, expressing oneof the blackest of many blackmarks against the Japs . This cap-ital city of China was capturedseven years ago, and since thattime eye-witness stories and grue-some photographs have appearedin American and other newspapers,magazines and books, showing theenemy's orgy of bestiality . Youmay recall some accounts, especiallythose appearing in Readers Digestand Life. All this permitted bar-barism happened in Nanking afterthe Japs took it ; and after theChinese army had withdrawn.

The Jap commander-in-chief ofthe attacking force, General IwaneMatsui, had dropped leaflets overNanking, promising to protect allgood citizens who did not resist.

Instead, China and the worldwere treated to an exhibition ofunexampled ruthlessness . Bushido,

11 November. 1944

the name given to the code ofconduct supposed to guide the Jap-anese army, was thrown deliber-ately overboard . In a month 24,000defenseless civilians were brutallymurdered. Ten thousand women,in ages ranging from children often to grandmothers of seventy-two, were raped . Vast sections ofthe city were deliberately burnedto the ground. It compared, in oneway, with a later act (committedby the Germans) when Rotterdamwas bombed and thousands slaugh-tered : in both cases defendingarmies had either surrendered orwithdrawn before the holocaust.

MERCY UNKNOWN

Officers as well as men partici-pated . Mercy was a thing unknown.Chinese soldiers who had discardedtheir arms and wished to surrender

SINKIANG

were shot down systematically.Women carrying children werethrown down in the street andraped in .broad daylight by soldierafter soldier. One woman had herfive months' old infant smotheredby a Jap soldier while he wentabout raping her . The local hospitalfilled up with victims of Bushidosavagery.

So on and on. The record isneither second-hand nor one thatcan be tossed aside as Chinesepropaganda . Details come fromAmerman, British, French andDutch eye-witnesses.

At first General Matsui, inShangai, denied the atrocity re-ports. But overwhelming evidencepiled up. So he went to Nankinghimself. There the aged Generalwas so stricken by the scene andthe facts, that he paraded histroops, officers and men, on theslopes of Purple Mountain, and ina torrent of words blasted histroops in biting phrases, tellingthem that they had besmirchedand blackened the honor of thearmy. They had forgottenBushido.

Six weeks later Matsui was firedfrom his command and recalled toJapan.

"GIVE-THEM-HEADACHES" WAR

The first time you take a closelook at a map showing "Occupied"China you are likely to be sur-prised to learn that this vast areais not really "occupied", at leastby Japs .

How do you occupy a country?In a large nation you can't placetroops everywhere. So you decidewhere. As soon as you can, you

THE WAR IN CHINA:take over a large and strategicport, as we did with Algiers, Na-ples and Cherbourg . You occupymajor airfields, as we did at Foggia,in Italy. Then you take possession

Areas in black are those firmly held by laps. Note shaded arrows, which indicate currentJapanese drives to cut off "Free China" from contact with coastline, where some day US fleethopes to snake landing. Toward Kweilin, Japs are driving toward US 14th . Airforce HQ.

of rail lines and main roads. Fie

While you are studying the mapnally, you take over the main cell- you may well wander what goestees of industry and trade.

on in the unoccupied portions ofThe map shows how Japan has what is called Occupied China, in

done these things in China,

the considerable areas which the

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11 November, 1944

9

Japs don't control. Well, that'swhere millions of guerilla fighterscarry on. A few hundred thousandspend all, or most, of their timebeing guerillas . They are aided bypart-time fighters : artisans andfarmers . The farmer keeps onehand on the plough and the otheron the trigger.

The Chinese in "Occupied"China harass the Japs in whatthey call, literally translated, the"Give-them-headaches" war . Butthey get far more than headaches,those Japs!

CHINESEGUERRLAS

Guerrillas, as we learned in thecase of the Soviet Union when theRed Armies were trading space fortime, fight behind enemy lines andmay be an extremely importantpart of modern warfare . They havecentral organization and direction.They are not isolated and haphaz-ard bands. In both the USSR andin China they were planned forthe kind of war that was antici-pated.

They have pitifully little in theway of arms and ammunition.Some Chinese guerrilla bands maketheir own bullets, rifles, hand gren-ades and even machine guns.Others take them from the Japs.Sometimes they even raid enemyarsenals.

But the wherewithal to kill Japsis a desperate problem. A fortu-nate soldier may be supplied withfifteen rounds at a time . On oc-casions weapons are so scarce thatthere may be only one rifle to tenmen. In rare instances there is awindfall, such as befell Commis-sioner Chang Li-yuan, a guerrillaleader in Shantung province. In one

famous . raid he captured 2,000Jap riles.

Another thing about "Occupied"China is this : in every provinceheld down by a Jap force the Cen-tral Government still has a largeor perhaps skeleton force admin-istering civil affairs . Such officialsusually function "on the run ."And they are not always purelycivil . They coordinate guerrillaaction.

By way of illustration, let's lookat Shantung province, selected asone which the Japs claim to befirmly in their grip . The CivilAffairs Commissioner of Shantungis a "stout fella," by name HoSze-yuan, and he carries on1,000miles away from Chungking.

HIDE-AND-SEEK WAR

Ho Sze-yuan has been on the jobsix years, always playing a daring ,game, and "

Giving-the-Japs-Headaches". In his hide-and-seek warwith the foe he moved his head-quarters on an average of everyseven and one-half days . He reports that of the 108 counties inShantung province, seventy-one ofthese have Chinese county govern-ments operating on a mobile basiswithin their respective, districts:while the affairs of the remainingthirty-seven counties are conduc-

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ted by Commissioners-in-exile,working from nearby counties.

In all twenty-eight provinces ofChina — "occupied" and "free"— the Central Government stillcarries on civil control.

HOW ABOUT THECHINESE COMMUNISTS?

There are actually three kindsof Chinese armies fighting the Japs:the Nationalist armies ; the guer-rilla forces ; and armies of ChineseCommunists—the Eighth RouteArmy and the more recentlyformed Fourth Army. It has beendifficult for these various and wide-spread armies to coordinate theirefforts in a vast, sprawling coun-try such as China, and with com-munications far from adequatelydeveloped.

Nationalists and Communistsworked together, you will recall,in the second revolution . Thenthey split, as people have in manyother lands, over the definition andmeaning of "democracy" . In afew years—in 1936—they gottogether again, after a dramaticepisode in which Chiang Kai-shekwas kidnapped for twelve days, inDecember of that year . They madecommon cause for a united China,on the basis that differences must

be buried and appeasement 'ended,,to cope with the looming Jap men-ace.

HARMONY AND DISHARMONY

The looming menace, the Japattack at Marco Polo Bridge, be-came a fact, July 7, 1937. For thenext two years there was no rift inthe United Front in the fightagainst Japan . But in 1939 seriousdifferences again arose, which aredescribed in W.D. Orientation FactSheet No . . 40 in the followingsummary:

"Chiang Kai-shek's NationalistGovernment insists that Chinacannot be unified and strong if runby two separate governments withtwo army commands, two systemsof currency and . two codes of law.

"The Communists, on the otherhand, maintain that central gov-ernment has given them neitheradequate supplies nor democraticpolitical rights, and that they can-not give up their independence ofaction unless promised a fair voicein the government. They say thatin Communist territory localdemocratic rights have been extendedto a far greater extent than inNationalist areas.

"So China stands today as anation racked by a powerful enemy,and torn by internal dissension,but one whose people have refusedto break under miserybroughtabout by a lack of food, equip-ment, medical supplies, munitionsand a constant, ruthless foreignenemy. It is made of a people whoconsider it not unusual to be con-fined to a diet of rice and at thesame time build by hand the tre-mendous airfields needed for ourB-29s ."

11 November, 1944

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IS CHINA A

THE answer seems to be thatChina has not had time to be-

come wholly a democracy . Underpressure of war necessity, manydemocratic principles have beenweakened, even in nations more po-litically advanced than China.

Same well-meaning friends ofChina contend that the country isalready a democracy in the fullestsense of the word . That is simplynot true. There are those whoclaim that China is nothing excepta dictatorship operating under

illyprimitive conditions . That isequally untrue because for acorrect view—especially with anation such as China—one musttake a long view, beginning withthe remote past.

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For democracy is not only aquestion of politics, important asthey are. I t is also a matter ofattitudes and of the spirit, thetraditions, customs and practices ' g p

of people. These make up a way of,life which is transmitted fromgeneration to generation.

The Chinese for forty centurieshas been an individualist . He haslooked up to his sages and philos-ophers more than to his soldiersor even emperors. Here is some-thing to remember about. China:what was written thousands oyears ago in China is still a livingforce . Here are three living bits ofphilosophy from the ancient saesthat still express China 's desires:

"People are the most importantelement in the Empire, Government

11 November, 1944

13

comes second and the Emperorlast."

That's from Lao-tze who lived500 years before Christ . Also fromLao-tze is this adage:

"Govern the people as you wouldcook a fish ." (Meaning not to cookit too much)

And another:"People are the foundation of

the nation . If the foundation isfirm, then the nation enjoys tran-quillity ."

These were written thousands ofyears ago, yet today the humblestpeasant can repeat them.

Granted peace, China might bewell on her way toward democraticachievement. Chiang Kai-shek is adictator by necessity—necessitycaused by war, blockade, inflation,famines and other ills . The machin-ery of Government is in the handsof a single party.

WHAT ABOUTTHE MILITARY SITUATION ?

The Nationalist Chinese, like theAllies in Europe, are fighting onthree main fronts. What are they?

1 . Along the Hankow-CantonRailway. This is one of China'sfew important strategic railroads,connecting Hankow in West Cen-tral China with the vital southernport of Canton, which is just about

100 miles from Hong Kong . Forseveral years the Japs have heldboth ends of the line : in the North,for more than 100 miles, south asfar as Yoyang ; and, in the south-ern area, northward about thirtymiles.

This Spring the Japs started adrive, south and north, to get

complete possession of this line,and thus cut Southern China intwo if they could succed. South-ward they have fought their waypast Changsha and Hengyang, alittle less than half way. Movingnorthward, they appear to haveonly light forces and have madelittle progress . On October 5 theChinese reported that the Japs hadcaptured Foochow, the port oppo-site Formosa.

2 . Along the Peiping-HankowRailway. This is the northern halfof China's great north-south rail-way artery. Since 1938 the Japshave held almost all the line, al-though subject to frequent guer-rilla attack : south from Peiping toChenghsien, and north from Han-kow to Sinyang . This gap still heldby the Chinese, between Chengh-sien and Sinyang, is less than 200miles . I f the Chinese lose this partof the line Central China will becut in half.

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3 . The Burma Front. The bat-tles in Northern Burma and WestYunnan are being fought on Brit-tish-Chinese-American fronts, withvery mixed forces . The objectiveis to re-open a land route in China.General Stilwell —"Vinegar Joe"— was forced out of Burma twoyears ago. For nearly a year hehas been. tediously but graduallyfighting to regain control of north-ern Burma, with the key objectiveat Myitkyina . On August 4, thisyear, he finally got there, andfound not a single lap left alive.

Chinese, American, British In-dian, Gurkha and Kachin soldiershave been fighting their way intoBurma—and in Burma -- frommany directions. In August thefinal Japs were cleaned out ofthe Imphal corner of India. Bymaking use of and extending thenew Ledo Road, now under con-

11 November, 1944

struction, and linking it up withpart of the Burma Road, the planis to get control of a land routefor supplies between India andChina.

WHAT OF THE FUTURE?When stacked up against her

handicaps, China 's war achieve-ments, her contributions to theUnited Nations' cause, are trulyimpressive . Try to imagine that anenemy power has occupied bothseacoasts of the United States andmost of . the country east of theMississippi . Our capital has beenmoved to Denver and is floodedwith refugees. Then take awaynearly all the . factories, railroads,highways, telephone and telegraphlines, electrical equipment, -coal,iron and oil fields from the un-occupied area.

In addition, keep up the enemypressure for more than seven years,with little help from outside . That

might give you, in American terms,a rough idea of what China hasbeen up against . ,

To this you might add one otheritem : an inflation which has in-creased the cost of living about300 times!

Will China get back her lostterritory? The Teheran Conferenceguaranteed that she would : every-thing lost since 1895.

CHINA : SPRINGBOARD TOVICTORY OVER JAPAN

How will the war in the Pacificbe won? Many believe, and Ad-miral Nimitz is said to be one,that only by Allied forces based onChina, can the war be won . It isgenerally believed also that mili-tary strategy worked out at theCairo Conference calls for a majordrive against Japan, by UnitedNations' forces operating from theAsiatic mainland.

If you take a careful look at themap, you will realize why there - isa definite connection between thebattle going on for that stretch ofrailroad . between Hankow and Can-ton, and- the aim of AdmiralNimitz . If the laps get the rail linethey will delay appreciably the

junction, on the China coast, ofour forces and those of the Chinese.We want places where we can landon the Jap-infested coast line. TheChinese are courageously fightingto help us to reach this objective.

THE WAR IN THE PACIFIC IS BIG

The war in the Pacific is muchbigger than China or than Nimitz' sships : even though this famous ad-miral now commands the largestbattle fleet the world has everknown. The conflict includes thefreedom forces of MacArthur's ad-vancing troops . It includes the menof the New Zealand, Australian.,Indian, British and Dutch forces.It includes all who are now engagedin closing in on the Nipponesehome island and the stolen terri-tories temporarily held by the Japs.We all have tough assignments andstiff objectives which we are slow-ly taking one by one. But the taskof the Chinese has been differentin one great aspect : They havefought for more than seven yearswith very little to fight with!

They have made and are makinga vitally important contributiontoward the winning of WorldWar II.

Printed by Newnes & Pearson Printing Co ., Ltd., Exmoor Street, N . Kensington, London, W .10.

QUIZNow that you've read the facts, test yourself on hew much yea

remember. Here are a few highlights:

1. The Chinese may give two different dates for theoutbreak of the Japanese war of aggression : Whytwo? What are they?

2. Can you give the population of China after sevenyears of war within, say, ten million people?

3. What were the three foundation principles ofSunYat-sen? Who was Sun Yat-sen?

4. What is Kuomintang, and what does It mean inEnglish?

5. Where in japan can you see a collection of 30,000ears and noses? What do they signify?

6. Will aspirin cure a " Give Them Headaches" war?If not, why not?

7. Are the Chinese Communist armies at war withJapan?

8. 'When the Chinese say you should govern the peo-ple as you would cook a, fish, do they mean well-fried? Or what do they mean?

9. Is the Burma Road now in- use?

10. What is the Ledo Road?

11. Is there any guarantee that China will get back herlost territory? If so, who guaranteed it?

12. Where does Admiral Nimitz want to base the oper-ations against japan?

For the answers to:- I see page 2; 2 see page 3 ; 4 see page . 4 . 5seepage 5;6see page 9 7 see page 1 1; 8 see page 14; 9& 10 see page 15

11 see page 16; 12 see page 16.

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TEN MINUTE BREAK

Me, I'm standing by Alvinawhen this character accosts me.He perhaps sees me polishing mybrass which is like Redball tellsme to do . Don't get me wrong, Iain't just letting Redball push mearound. But it's like he says-- thesnowballs ain't just the social setwith which I like to -play around.

This character is up to no good.He has creases in his pants, a niceclean blouse and shiny paratrooperboots and I can bet the only jump-ing them boots ever done was offa Picadilly bus . To -sum up thetotal, this bird with specs remindsme of Mr. Goldfinch, my historyteacher back in PS 63. He giveswith the glad hand a speech.

"How . are you doing, Joe? I'mjust over from the States and wantto get the real dope . Do you thinkhe Polish Corridor belongs where

it is —or should we move it far-ther south?"

Being a gent_ who travels only inthe elite cycles, 1 am overlookingthat crack about real dopes. So Igive him ignorance.

"Look, Mac,'' he goes on."Yougot to think about these things.Why did you come over here?''

If this guy don't know I am overhere by special bequest, I can seewe are going to have trouble so Iask him with manners to move . Hedon't move. He plants himselfagainst Alvina's anatomy . Now,

Alvina is a very, very touchy girland I can't let no guy get freshwith her, especially a guy with ahot air trap like this guy has .

I says to myself, "Howwould Redball handle thisprecurious situation?"

So I give him the teethand slap him on the backwhich is wrong cause bealmost folds up on me . Hegives me a look that is nogood. "Don't you knowwhat you are fightingfor?"

The guy thinks I'm illatitude!"GI Joe, you are . fighting for

blueberry pie, ice cream and theright to throw coke bottles atumpires."

Alvina and me are going lookingfor Redball . This character . mustbe one of them Orientation quiffes.I don't know from nothin' aboutthis blueberry pie business!- I canjust see those writer guys on ARMYTALKS getting hold of that stuff.

"Blueberry Pies: How to EatThem", or "Coke Bottles : - Um-pires, How to Throw at .'' This isdistinctly nothing with which Iwant to do with.

I edges away from the guy andclimbs into Alvina. He grabs me bythe shoulder. "Blueberry Pie!Don't you get it?"

Get it? I ain't seen a blueberrypie since the time Local 1313threw a blowout for Gasfoot'swidow. The guys going up frontain't doing no talking about nopies . They ain't even worried aboutno ice cream — they'll eat anythingthey can get . The only coke bot-tles they throw are grenades at theKrauts! This ain't no situationwhich wants pie throwing!

So 1 make with the heavy footon the gas, find Redball, and whilewe're going along I tell *him n he'sfighting for blueberry pie . I giveto him the whole spiel — ice cream,coke bottles, all of it. With gestures.

I don' t think Redball should havepushed me out of Alvina . I don'tthink that was manners . How was1 to know he don't like blueberrypie . He don't like pie — exceptapple .

QWERTY .