740.0011 Pacific War/6–2944
The Ambassador in China (Gauss) to the Secretary of State
[Received July 15.]
Sir: I have the honor to transmit a copy of a memorandum10 covering the views of two Chinese on the current military debacle in Hunan as expressed to an officer of the Embassy.
Summary of Memorandum. One of the Chinese believed that the flourishing trade with occupied China conducted by Chinese officers at the front, combined with the static situation, had brought about a sharp lowering in morale of the Chinese armies and change in attitude toward the Japanese, as the Chinese officers had settled down in their defense areas and were growing rich. The Japanese had exploited [Page 111] this situation by using the trade go-betweens as agents and infiltrating unoccupied territory with puppet plainclothesmen. A culminating factor was the poverty and undernourishment of the common Chinese soldiers, which robbed them of both the desire and ability to fight. The second Chinese quoted believed that many soldiers felt that they were “sacrifice troops”; that there was little coordination between provincial and Government troops, and that factionalism made either group loath to risk losses, and perhaps had reconciled the Generalissimo to loss of Hengyang, as the threat to Kweilin would weaken the Kwangsi clique. Loss of Kweilin would not necessarily involve collapse of the Chungking Government. End of Summary.
Respectfully yours,
- Not printed.↩