Office of the Historian
  1. Home
  2. Historical Documents
  3. Foreign Relations of the United States, 1946, The Far East: China, Volume IX
  4. Document 66

Marshall Mission Files, Lot 54–D270: Telegram

Lieutenant General Albert C. Wedemeyer to General Marshall

Shanghai , 16 January 1946.

20304. In connection with your 52, I consider that 60 non-sponsored divisions should be demobilized during the next 6 months. In this connection my thought on the organization of a modern Chinese Army reenvisages progressive demobilization of 175 non-sponsored divisions.

To avoid flooding the country with potential bandits and other dissident elements it has been planned to utilize this personnel by activating 160 military police battalions over a period of 18 months, these military police battalions to be used in local security and protection of lines of communications within China. In addition personnel of deactivated divisions will be used in the formations of service and supporting units of the new Chinese Army and on various public works programs, such as road building, reforestration and irrigation and flood control. I have discussed this matter many times with the Minister of War58 as well as the Generalissimo and the Madame.

Generally demobilization should be in consonance with well-conceived plan and should be accomplished as expeditiously as possible. Plans for use of demobilized personnel should be made at once and be completed before large scale demobilization commences. I view demobilization of the Chinese National Government forces in 3 steps as follows:

a.
60 non-US sponsored divisions to be demobilized by 1 July 1946.
b.
60 additional non-US sponsored divisions to be demobilized by 1 Jan 1947.
c.
55 additional non-US sponsored divisions to be demobilized by 1 Jul 1947.

This would reduce the Chinese National Army to 75 divisions, the nucleus of which would be the US sponsored divisions.

[Page 191]

Thereafter there would be a progressive orderly demobilization of Chinese National Army and Chinese Communist Army divisions until the over-all strength of the Armies in China were reduced to 5 first line U. S. type regular divisions, 5 U. S. type divisions in training after 11 years, 40 reserve divisions.

  1. General Chen Cheng.↩