Southern France Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 15, 1945, Nice, Alpes Cote D'Azur                                July 1945 the stars and stripes Magazine Iii there by Fred Eldridge stars and stripes staff writer i who is about to be redeployed to fight the Jap has a slightly More than academic interest in where he will do his he Doest know where that May be because the combined chiefs of a notably close mouthed has failed so far to let anybody in on that Little secret but speculation is never out of there seem to be four possibilities or combinations three of which have political overtones assault on the enemy on the main of including which involves the delicate question of the essential reliability of the chinese in the islands South of the which offers complications due to original French and dutch Possession of these or amphibious operations based on India and Rangoon and aimed at the Reconquest of Malaya and which get into the Complex realm of British Imperial the according to any authoritative is out for various in the first place the Reconquest of the British Empire is a matter tie British surely wish to handle at least so far As ground troops Are by the loss of Singapore and Bhimu the Brit ish in addition to a Mili tary a loss of Al important face which can be regained in the far East Only by personal Force of this Means that British or Imperial ground forces must actually retake and hold the this consideration does not timid necessarily in the use of air or sea Power Tut the vast bulk of he Navy will be occupied against Japan and there Are too Tew targets remaining in Southeast Asia to add american air Power to the number of rap planes which must be available for for this plus fighting Shiu of the there is the Touchy american political considers Loci if but the sign which Points directly to Japan seems the most logical one to fellow american troops to recapture parts of the French or dutch anti isolationist and possibly other american factions have already sounded off lustily on this another Factor mitigating against fighting South of the Philip Pines is the classic american military strategy in the Pacific of going toward to use american troops South of the Philippines is going away from the heart of the enemy and losing Amer ican lives defeating troops already neutralized and no hindrance to accomplishing the main objective of defeating Japan at there remains the possibility of fight ing in China or there has been a lot of speculation and conversation by the armchair strategists about an in Vasion of the China authoritative military opinion in the far at divides into two schools of thought on the necessity of invading there the opinion supported by Joseph Stilwell which insists that direct assault on Japan is not enough but that the japanese army must be Defeated on the chinese Mainland and in the other about which Little has been appears to Stem from officers responsible for the interrogation of japanese prisoners and contends that once the sacred Homeland has been the Banzai toys in China and Manchuria will turn in their this would be a Happy Solu Tion in any almost any poll of military opinion outside the sacred precincts of those who really know and wont Tell will give you Odds that the japanese Home islands Are far ahead of China on the in Vasion priority it is hardly a secret that America would prefer not to fight in China covers an area greater than the United it is country largely Roscus or other modern  it is a Rountry full of a varies y of it is a country with an army which is primarily unpaid and lacking in qualified for Many involving both american and chinese poli an american army in China would be fighting in conjunction with the chinese army rather than this would beget a test of International relations on a grand when any two armies fight Side by Side As allies there Are inevitable complications recrimination and Competition for to place the chinese and Amer ican annies Side by Side would be to invite All these in a most exaggerated fundamentally the chinese army re Mains a medieval army which cannot be compared with any modern army in the Western it has no organized sys tem of nor an organized replace ment it has no real medical or Hospital it has Little heavy Artil Lery and few militarily qualified whether or not it is fed depends upon what can be taken from the peasants in the area of the this May seem Odd in the Light of Sev eral years of announcing local chinese Vic tories Over the Amer ican War at the time of Stilwell wrote that combat reports Are usually figments of an imagination steeped in years of saving face old China hands will Tell you that most japanese with the exception of the capture of 14th air Force Advance Fields in have been 90 percent Rice raids in which the japs moved in to loot Rice and the chinese recovered the lost territory after the enemy had moved Back to its original the Western Consen sus in China is that there Seldom has been stat fired in these recent chinese army successes have been Duto japanese withdrawals which going on All Over the Asiatic Mainland r Neethe Birush entered rang Iton after in elaborate amphibious operation and found remaining in the to Vij not to say that the chinese Are not a great race of because they certainly an invading american army would be met by a Friendly civilian population would perform any and All services for the in addition to showering them with the most delightful courtesies and the common chinese has a a seme of humor and an essential humility in the lice of almost incredible adversities which can pro Duce nothing but Atkin in the new York spoke of Hun As the glory of the fact that the Chi Nese army As a fighting Force is Little Mare than a popular with the exception of a few divisions which were trained and equipped by general Stilwell in ind during 194243 perhaps the most Basic reason for chivas military ineptitude is chinese in All of her history China has never a War of China As a she has sat minding her own Only to be invaded from time to she Lias met these invasions with what she had and either fought As Best she could or decided to win the War in the Long run by intrigue and Otie Hundred years is not Long in out of this has come a purely defensive an inability to attack and sus Tain an this is a tradition of Cen Turies and cannot be erased during this although general Stilwell succeeded in doing so with a Small Force by training it and assuming personal command in the the general always insisted that chinese properly trained and would be equal to any troops in the this feeling has been seconded by Dan who succeeded Stilwell in command of Menean Traeci chinese in North and the Stilwell Silfan tradition is neing continued by Albert com manding f rhe China and also the successor to Fulwell chief of staff Generalissimo Cuttit Widemeyer is tuning More to Jung schools for chinese out the number can tinned on Pape i