Stillwell's Mission to China

The United States Army Forces in the China, Burma and India Theater were originally planned as a task force to support China. They were largely based on India; only a small fraction of their strength was in China itself. In China, the Generalissimo, Chiang Kai-shek, was Supreme Commander, China Theater. In India, Gen. Sir Archibald P. Wavell had a comparable role and title. The two portions of the U. S. forces - in India and China - were separated by Japanese-occupied Burma. The U. S. theater commander had two major roles, in that he was an American theater commander and also chief of the Generalissimo’s Allied staff for China Theater. The command situation was thus most complex. More complications were provided by differing views on strategy held by the United States, the Republic of China, and the British Commonwealth.

Reading the history of the China-Burma-India Theater will be an eye opener and a lesson to those who, in the future, have to deal with allies in far distant lands about whom so much should be known and so little is.