Marshall Mission Files, Lot 54–D270
Minutes of Meeting Between General Marshall and General Yu Ta-wei at 5 Ning Hai Road, Nanking, July 13, 6 p.m.
| Also present: | Colonel Caughey |
General Yu Ta-wei opened the meeting by stating that the Generalissimo was going to Kuling in the morning and asked that General Yu contact General Marshall to determine whether General Marshall had any information to pass to the Generalissimo.
General Marshall indicated that he had nothing specific to present to the Generalissimo, although he said he wanted General Yu to become competely familiar with his (General Marshall’s) views on the present situation.
General Marshall said that the Committee of Three is facing a difficult period during which there would probably be no negotiations due to the Generalissimo’s absence. He added that all efforts must be directed toward stabilizing the military situation in order to avoid civil war. General Marshall highlighted his concern with respect to the military situation by relating to General Yu Ta-wei the Generalissimo’s apparent unwillingness to the dispatch of field teams to the critical area in the Hankow area. General Marshall told General Yu that the Generalissimo had said he saw no purpose in dispatching teams. General Marshall indicated that this was a great source of worry to him, as the only possible reason he could see for the Generalissimo’s attitude was to permit military action on the Nationalist side to proceed during the uncertain period of no negotiations. General Marshall stated that if such was the case and if aggressive military actions developed as he now feared he would be forced to withdraw from the negotiations. General Marshall added that he could not of course make any specific charges unless such a definitive course of hostile action developed by the Government operations.
General Yu Ta-wei next discussed the negotiations on civil administration. [Page 1354] He stated that the Generalissimo would probably enter again into negotiations if General Chou asked for it. General Yu added that there was one thing certain and that was that the Communists would have to withdraw their desire to retain a Peace Preservation Corps. General Marshall commenting in an exploratory fashion suggested some modification in the arrangements for Peace Preservation Corps whereby the Communists would retain only ½ the number of Peace Preservation troops as the Nationalist Government authorized in their hsiens. He added that it might be that agreement could be reached whereby the Government would establish small forces in the center of Communist areas to insure no improper activity on the part of either the Peace Preservation Corps or the local magistrates. General Marshall stated that some sort of a joint Commission might also be established with an American on each Commission each of which would be responsible for say 10 hsiens, and to be further responsible for relating various considerations of land and civil administration policies.
Returning to the military situation, General Marshall stated that he was very concerned with respect to the Honan, North Kiangsu, and Shantung military situation, and that at Tatung. He stated that in almost every case, both sides appeared to be at fault for the serious situation existing in each of these provinces.