Office of the Historian

J. C. S. Files

Memorandum by the Generalissimo’s Chief of Staff (Stilwell)

secret
C. C. S. 405
[Cairo,] 22 November 1943.

Role of China in Defeat of Japan

1.
At Quadrant an outline plan for operations against Japan was presented in Annex “I” to C. C. S. 319/2.1 These operations culminated in an invasion of Japan some time after 1947.
2.
The question at hand which concerns the China Theater is “what operations can be mounted from China which will have the greatest effect on the course of the war in the Pacific?” This question can be answered as follows:
a.
Assist S. E. A. C. in operations against North Burma—Current.
b.
Develop land route to China and improve internal communications—Current.
c.
Continue to train and improve combat effectiveness of Chinese Army—Current.
d.
Initiate intensive bombing of Japan by V. L. R. bombers—Early 1944.
e.
Recapture Canton and Hongkong—November 1944–May 1945.
f.
Carry out intensive bombing of Formosa and P[hilippine] I[slands], deny use of Straits of Formosa and South China Sea to Japan and furnish land-based air support to any U.S. Navy activities in these areas—October 1944–
g.
Attack Formosa if required—May 1945–November 1945.
h.
Offensive operations towards Shanghai—November 1945.

The above operations are tactically and logistically feasible. The cost is low. There is no competition with other theaters for specialized equipment and there is no conflict with operations projected by other theaters. These operations will:

(1)
Provide greatest aid possible to other theaters, and
(2)
Out down “Quadrant” time table for final defeat of Japan by one to two years.
3.
Requirements
a.
One U. S. Infantry Division in India by March 1944. Two additional divisions about a month apart thereafter. (These to be definitely earmarked for China Theater.)
b.
Continuation of supply program from U. S. for equipping Chinese troops.
c.
Setting up India as a base for both China and Southeast Asia Theaters. All U. S. Troops now in India except those necessary for operation of the Communication Zone to be moved to China after recapture of North Burma.
  1. Not printed herein. The documents of the Quadrant Conference (Quebec, 1943) are scheduled to be published subsequently in another volume of the Foreign Relations series. A description of the discussions and decisions of the Quebec Conference of 1943 respecting the war against Japan may be found in Charles F. Romanus and Riley Sunderland, Stilwell’s Mission to China (Washington: U. S. Government Printing Office, 1953), in the series United States Army in World War II, pp. 357–360, and in Ehrman, vol. v, pp. 10 ff.↩