President Roosevelt to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek 62
I have given careful study to your message of March 1063 and appreciate the circumstances that have prompted your proposal. Since General Stilwell is an officer of the United States Army you will understand that the matter is one of extreme delicacy, particularly because, from this distance, it is most difficult for the British and ourselves to visualize the details of the tactical situation. However, one of the reasons that I directed General Stilwell, a senior and extremely able officer, to report to you was because I anticipated the occurrence in the Burma area of difficult problems in cooperation and coordination involving United States munitions, British units and the Chinese Army. Since the British Chiefs of Staff were fully acquainted with and approved General Stilwell’s directive and purposes, it was my earnest hope that he would be able, on the ground, to find an acceptable solution to these problems, particularly whenever British forces and commanders were involved. I should like to request, therefore, that in the knowledge that General Stilwell possesses my confidence, you will accord to him full opportunity to work out this most delicate matter without involving a necessity of placing the question before the British Government.
In the meantime, I know that you will devote your maximum effort to the task of meeting the enemy and opposing his advance with every available unit at your disposal. I assure you that this Government is proceeding vigorously to find practicable ways and means of continuing its support to you, and has no intention of relaxing its efforts merely because the route from Rangoon has been interrupted. I feel sure that General Stilwell will be able to arrange a command set up satisfactory to you and that, moreover, he will find methods for assuring the continuity of U. S. supply to you and your Army. I realize that this may sound a little like temporizing on my part but I know you understand my problem of being so far away from the field of action. Confidentially I wish you would explore the possibility of Chinese command under you and General Stilwell in North Burma and British defense further south. This will give the British the chance to cover the approaches to India.
- Photostatic copy obtained from the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, N. Y. This message is copied from a War Department memorandum dated March 11, 1942, and was sent as message 272 on the same day. The actual message could not be located.↩
- This message proposed General Stilwell as commander in Burma.↩