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Memorandum by the Second Secretary of Embassy in China (Davies)7
Memorandum for the Embassy:
The U. S. Army Observer Section at Yenan has forwarded me a paraphrase of a message from Mr. Raymond P. Ludden, Second Secretary of Embassy on detail to the Army. Mr. Ludden reports, in substance, the following:
The Communist military forces in North China possess high morale and are well garbed. If their activities are coordinated with Allied planning and if adequate explosives are distributed to them, the Communists can with a maximum advance notice of 40 days’ cripple North China rail communications. The political practices of the Communists are liberal democratic and soundly nationalistic. Communism is no more than an ideal to be achieved in the distant future. The Communists are potential friends of the United States, We can, however, easily lose the opportunity which now presents itself.
The foregoing message was presumably dispatched from either western Hopei Province or from Shansi, Yenan did not indicate. The observations contained therein are based on Mr. Ludden’s experiences during the past several months in Communist base areas behind the enemy lines.
- Copy transmitted to the Chief of the Division of Chinese Affairs (Vincent) by Mr. Davies in a personal letter of January 5.↩