Marshall Mission Files, Lot 54–D270
Minutes of Meeting Between General Yu Ta-wei61 and General Marshall at No. 5 Ning Hai Road, Nanking, July 22, 1946, 5:30 p.m.
| Also present: | Colonel Caughey62 |
General Yu Ta Wei opened the meeting by asking about General Marshall’s trip to Killing. General Marshall replied that he had only one discussion with the Generalissimo, occurring after dinner Friday night, at which time the Generalissimo asked General Marshall for his reactions with reference to the present situation. General Marshall stated that he replied to the Generalissimo rather frankly and under rather difficult circumstances since Ambassador Stuart, [Page 1396] other U. S. Embassy personnel and the Chinese Chief Protocol were present.
General Marshall said that was his only talk with the Generalissimo, although Ambassador Stuart had several satisfactory discussions, which apparently resulted in the Generalissimo’s statement in the morning papers.
General Marshall asked General Yu Ta Wei what he knew about the present military situation. General Yu Ta Wei replied that about 5,000 of the Hankow Communists had now moved northwest of Lao Ho Kou at approximately the border of Honan, Shensi and Hupeh Provinces; that another 2,000 were south of the Han River east of Hsing-yang; and that another small force had broken out eastward up toward Anhwei Province and were believed to be troops which were recently involved in attacks along rail lines in that province. General Yu continued that at Wen-hsi, in Shensi Province, the Communists had increased the tempo of their attack and the National garrison is having difficulty holding that town; that Communist activity in the vicinity of Tatung also had increased. In Shantung Province the Nationalist forces had almost completed occupation of the Tsingtao-Tsinan Railroad except for a small sector between Wei-hsien and Kaomi; that Communist forces were counter-attacking at I-tu. In north Kiangsu the Communist forces which attacked the line Tai-hsien–Tai-hsing had been repulsed with heavy losses were withdrawing to the east.
General Marshall indicated that the military developments on both sides at the various points mentioned by General Yu Ta Wei were going much as he had expected. General Marshall added that he was surprised, however, that the Communists had not acted aggressively out of Jehol since, as he understood it, the Communists probably had sufficient strength in that area for a successful campaign against vital rail connections into Manchuria.
In this connection General Marshall stated that the only Communist military activity which General Chou had not defended were the Communist operations in Shantung Province from the 9th to 14th of June; that General Chou offered no defense in discussions on this particular situation: but that in all other cases he has offered justification.
General Yu Ta Wei said that he was becoming more depressed every day; that the Communist commanders appeared to be getting out of hand since Chen-I refused to attend a conference in Shantung Province and also since Lin-Yuan refused to attend the conference in Manchuria.
General Yu Ta Wei continued by asking General Marshall what [Page 1397] General Chou had said about the attack on Tai-hsien and Tai-hsing. General Marshall replied that General Chou says they started their attack on the 14th; that this activity on the part of the Communists was probably to offset a Nationalist attack which they feared was coming on the 15th.
General Marshall mentioned recent indications that the 53rd Army was moving to Chinwangtao. He asked General Yu Ta Wei to find out what the destination of this army was.
General Yu asked General Marshall whether he thought China would have a general civil war, to which General Marshall replied that it already had. General Yu asked what the Russian attitude would be and General Marshall replied that probably in Manchuria they would actively vie for control in the open, while in China proper she would probably operate on a sub rosa basis. General Yu then asked what the United States attitude would be, to which General Marshall replied that public demand in the United States would probably be to pull out completely.