McCarthyism told us that those officials were Communist agents of influence. .
You need to appreciate the reputation of the accusations made during the McCarthy era is such that the word McCarthyism has become among the most pejorative terms, and McCarthyist is now one of the the worst epitaphs, that could be printed in modern American political discourse. It would have to be one fringy lunatic to knowingly cite McCarthyist accusations as main support for one’s point.
according to General Albert Wedemeyer, the highest US authority in China then. he would drop men behind Japanese lines, and the reports did not confirm the CCP's brave and effective guerrilla fights by any means. Wedemeyer doubted the service officers' high praise of the CCP's war efforts.
Wedemeyer had military personnel to observe the Japanese-CCP lines. Wedemeyer's opinion was based on intelligence reports. the service officers' reports were based on largely opinions, no intelligence information. think we should believe Wedemeyer's opinion rather than the service officers...
Wedermeyer became deeply involved in McCarthyist politics after his retirement from the US Army in 1951. He was one of the main McCarthyist advocates during the "Who Lost China" political show. What he claimed in the 1951s to have been his views in 1944-1945 conflicted deeply with official documents he signed his name to and policies he actually advocated in 1944-1945. His personal integrity is not without question because he manifestly perjured himself in these subsequent highly political and politicized testimonies.
Wedemeyer's position was clear. he will give military supplies to any Chinese forces that were fighting the Japanese. The CCP always pressured him for military aid. he will give weapons and ammunition to the CCP but they must prove their fighting capability first but the CCP told Wedemeyer that they will fight once they received the military supplies. Wedemeyer said he gave military supplies only to the force that was fighting the Japanese and bore the full brunt of the Japanese's attacks. That would be the KMT national government of China. the CCP wrote a letter under Zhu De’s name to Wedemeyer asking for a $20 million USD dollar loan in 1945. Wedemeyer declined to give the loan. the CCP hated Wedemeyer forever. ..
Actually, Wedemeyer's advocacy of direct support for KMT during WWII was mainly limited to the release of lend lease supplies already earmarked to the nationalist government, but was withheld from Jiang by his predecessor General Stillwell. In 1944-1945, when US expected the war to continue through 1946 and would very much like Chinese manpower to help support forthcoming invasion of Japan, Wedermeyer advocated for both KMT and CCP to undertake confidence building measures in order to be able to coordinate their efforts and not squander their efforts against each other.
Wedermeyer's advocacy for intensive support of KMT forces only occurred well after the end of the war with Japan, when KMT was already fighting with CCP for control of China. He didn't think KMT forces were very battleworthy. He earned CCP's hatred largely because in 1947 he vocally advocated high level of integration of US forces and KMT forces, and the embedding of American officers at every level of KMT military command, from battalion and regiment upwards, to stiffen its resolve and improve its fighting ability against CCP. This is more likely the chief source of CCP's undying hatred. His politics were clearly not those of the American administration. At the time, Truman not only didn't want direct American involvement in Chinese civil war, he imposed a full Arms Embargo against KMT to drive KMT to the negotiating table. This is also something the CCP would not care to remember, at least not openly.
Wedermeyer's tenure as senior American officer working with Jiang started only near the end of 1944, after KMT armies had done suffering the huge defeats and territorial losses during Japanese Army's 1944 Iichi Go offensive. During that operation a force of 17 Japanese divisions of a quality and standard of equipment that would see it easily annihilated on the battlefield in Russia or Western Europe advanced 1000 miles and cut KMT held China in two. KMT forces seem to melt in front of it. For much of the war, the American on the spot was General Joseph Stillwell. It was Stillwell who had the chance to observe the evolution of KMT forces from 1941-1944, and observe the overall progress of the war between Japan and China for most of its course. To set your mind at ease about Stillwell being a "Communist agents of influence" he was, like Wedermeyer, a conservative Republican and arch Roosevelt hater. He is further more from a family of particularly outstandingly rabid Roosevelt and New Deal bashers. He was certainly no liberal much less communist. His view was during the latter part of his tenure, the communists were the most effective Japanese fighters in China. He advocated American support for CCP at least on a equal basis with American support for KMT. He felt KMT was corrupt, had no stomach for any real fight, and any lend lease equipment actually given to KMT in China is largely wasted. This is why he withheld American lend lease equipment to KMT and doled them out only to KMT units fighting outside china, and therefore under his own direct supervision. He referred to CCP commander Zhu De as the best field commander he saw during his tenure in China, and after leaving his post in 1944, he expressed regret at never having the opportunity to conduct a joint tactical operation in cooperation with Zhu De. There is a reason why, unlike Wedermeyer, a statue of "Vinegar Joe" Stillwell in the uniform of a 4 star American General now stands in Chinese city of Chongqing. And I repeat he is no "Communist agents of influence".
But as you can see, American assessment of relative efficacy of CCP and KMT from qualified individuals spans a whole spectrum. It does not do to cherry pick and accuse those whose opinion does not suit as "Communist agents of influence".
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