893.00/15031
The Chargé in China (Atcheson) to the Secretary of State
[Received June 12.]
Sir: With reference to the Embassy’s telegram No. 705, May 15, 10 a.m.,62 concerning conditions in Honan Province, there is enclosed copy of a memorandum to the Embassy dated May 5, 1943,62 prepared by the Secretary on detail at Chengtu covering an interview with Dr. Robert McClure, a Canadian national who is a director of the Friends Ambulance Unit. Dr. McClure recently arrived in Chengtu from a trip that took him to Chengchow, Honan.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Dr. McClure declared that the Communist forces are, if anything, less active than the forces of the National Government in opposing the Japanese in North China.63 He added that there is a great exodus of Chinese students from North China, chiefly from the Peiping area, and that the majority is proceeding to the Chengtu and Chungking areas.
Respectfully yours,
- Not printed.↩
- Not printed.↩
- The Second Secretary of Embassy on detail at Chengtu stated in his memorandum: “Dr. McClure says that units of the ‘Eighth Route Army’ are if anything less active than the forces of the National Government in opposing the Japanese in North China, and he remarks that the term ‘Eighth Route Army’ is now anathema to the Chinese residents of Shansi Province who have come to hate them for their alleged ill treatment of the people. Dr. McClure states that the feeling of the people in the vicinity of Wenhsiang, Shansi, is particularly strong against the Chinese communists.”↩