Mr. T. V. Soong to President Roosevelt 53
Dear Mr. President: I have been directed by Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek respectfully to request you and your Secretary of War to send a military mission to China in the immediate future. Such a mission would immensely increase the value of the Lend-Lease assistance [Page 696] you are supplying to China and which, we understand, is at the point where it is about to reach considerable volume. The Generalissimo points out that the importance of such a mission at this time is particularly emphasized by events in China. China has just formally broken off diplomatic relations with the German Government. The memory of the assistance given our army in the first stages of its resistance to Japan by the military mission of the German army is still significant in the minds of our army. At this time of the severance of relations with Germany, it would be most symbolic to have the memory of this German army assistance replaced by the presence of a mission from the American army coincident with the arrival of American materials.
Yours respectfully,
- Photostatic copy obtained from the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park/N.Y.↩