Marshall Mission Files, Lot 54–D270
Notes on Meeting Between General Marshall and General Yu Ta-wei at No. 5 Ning Hai Road, Nanking, October 27, 1946, 4:45 p.m.
| Also present: | Lt. Colonel Hutchin |
General Marshall was asked what had happened in General Marshall’s meeting with General Chou En-lai, and what did General Chou En-lai have to say.
General Marshall then explained generally what had transpired in his meeting with General Chou En-lai, yesterday, 26 October. [Here follows account of conversation reported in minutes printed on page 425.]
Several times during the conference, General Chou En-lai referred to either General Marshall or himself as a member of the Committee of Three. General Marshall did not understand at that time the repeated reference to the Committee of Three, but now he thought it was Chou’s indirect way of putting General Marshall again in a position of a mediator.
[Here continues account of conversation on October 26.]
General Marshall did not discuss with General Chou En Lai the military campaign in order to avoid what assuredly would turn out [Page 438] to be a long argument. However, General Marshall did deplore dragging into the discussion details of form and other unimportant matters which served only to confuse issues. There was little General Marshall was able to say in the face of an open resumption of a military campaign in Manchuria, a campaign which started right at the moment Government representatives were in Shanghai asking General Chou En Lai to return to Nanking to resume negotiations. This factor in combination with the fact that the Generalissimo did not return in four days as he said he would, served only to point to a tragic situation. The Third Party had asked General Marshall several times to request the Generalissimo to return. Actually General Chou En Lai had come to see General Marshall under pressure from Third Party principals.
After this dissertation by General Marshall on his conference with Chou En Lai, General Marshall asked General Yu Ta Wei a question concerning the Government’s demobilization plans, as to when the reduction in armies and divisions was actually started. General Yu Ta Wei replied that the reductions started immediately after conclusion of the 25 February agreements.
General Marshall asked what was the strength of the reorganized divisions. General Yu Ta Wei explained that the plan was to reduce 3 division armies to 6 regiments and then later to 4 regiments. Taking the average strength of a regiment as 3,000 men, a division would have a strength of about 12,000 men. Actually with service and special troops, the strength probably came nearer to 14,000.
General Yu Ta Wei stated the Generalissimo arrived in Shanghai today and would come to Nanking tomorrow (28 Oct).