World War Three 1946 Series Boxed Set: Stalin Strikes First

by Harry Kellogg

  Colonel James Roosevelt, as a Captain in the First Marine Raider Battalion, 1942

  *****

  0530

  10 August 1946

  Conference Room,

  Temporary Presidential Residence,

  Peking, Republic of China

  President Sun Li-jen felt out of place wearing civilian clothing, after having worn a military uniform for so long, but he had to be careful to be seen as being a new breed of Chinese politician, not a puppet of the military and not beholden to the provincial warlord power-brokers. He wanted to be seen as a true representative of the people, even though he had not been elected to the position. He was more than happy to relinquish this power to a truly democratic successor; he had no taste for it. Pacing the length and breadth of the conference room, taking in all the information available and forming a plan based on it, was what he did best.

  Assembled with him in this early morning meeting were the members of his reformed General Staff, consisting of his Army Chief of Staff, Air Force Chief of Staff and his Naval Commander-In-Chief, and their aides, as well as his ministers of war and justice and of the interior. Spread out on the central table were detailed maps of the target areas concerned. They were expecting other Allied leaders later on in the day, so there stood the possibility of rest before those meetings began.

  He'd just been briefed on the effort to collect and employ the commandos that had been trained by the OSS agents, who had been operating outside the chain of command of SACO, the Sino-American Cooperative Organization. Thus far, about 3,500 of the more than 4,000 commandos were located. One of the first things that President Sun did upon assuming the authority of the presidency was to abolish the hated Bureau of Investigation and Statistics, and have its leader, General Tai Li, arrested on charges of corruption, profiteering and treason. He was immediately hanged; the infamous photo of General Tai, dangling at the end of the noose, was cheered across China. His next order of business was to abolish SACO, in favor of a bilateral information-sharing agreement with Allied intelligence services, which the Americans and, to a lesser degree, the British were more than willing to agree to. As part of the agreement, the U.S. Navy agreed to remove Commodore Milton Miles (who was tainted by his association with General Tai) as commander of U.S. Naval Group China. In exchange, President Sun agreed to accept the operation within his territory of a CIA mission, headed by Colonel Archimedes L.A. Patti. The President was familiar with Colonel Patti's work out of Kunming and Hanoi, and his assessments of the situation in French Indochina were spot-on, for the most part. The only thing that had not been forseen was the sudden Soviet invasion of Western Europe, which upset the entire balance of power in the region.

  The one thing that President Sun could not do anymore was go out and command troops in the field, which he had been doing a few scant weeks ago. He had broken up the bulk of the New First Army, to provide training cadres for the rest of the new Chinese Army, and, with the commandos back in service, and under his army's command, he was hoping to reorganize his forces using the American model, as opposed to the cumbersome German one. Another thing that irked him was still having to deal with some of the creatures who had populated Generalissimo Chiang's halls of power, such as the ruthless Hui Muslim warlord of Tsinghai, Ma Pufang, or the prideful Chiang toady and Whampoa graduate, Tu Yü-ming, both of whom were in attendance at this planning session. But he had to admit, despite his prejudices against them, they were very able soldiers and commanders. This time, he would not suggest that General Tu follow his lead; he'd demand total obedience, or General Tu would suffer the ultimate cost. The examples of the generals and admirals who refused to follow Comrade Chiang into exile, on the island of Formosa, should have been more than enough to show the rest that President Sun meant business.

  As for General Ma, he would make sure that he understood that he held his governorate in Tsinghai Province, and his military command, at the President's pleasure. To ensure that the point was punctuated, he made sure that all his commanders knew the fate of the Governor of Sikang, Liu Wen-hui, a warlord who was deposed as the Governor of Szechuan a decade ago for allegedly allowing safe passage to the communists during their Long March. General Liu was hanged and left to rot in the main square in Kangting, for defying President Sun's reforms. President Sun was not above using violence to achieve his ends. This was the only language that the warlords and “little” generals all understood perfectly: do as you're told, or you'll die, just like the guy before you. All it took was a few warlords to meet an ignominious end so that the rest would fall in line. The President knew that in their heart of hearts, they would turn on him the moment they had a chance; but he needed them and their well-armed militias in the fight against the communists in what the Americans would call a “go-for-broke” or “hail mary” operation.

  President Sun planned to cull the most loyal units from among General Tu's divisions for an infiltration assault inside Manchuria. This operation would be led by the very same commandos that they had been looking for. A head-on assault against the approximately 80 divisions that the Soviets have spread out through Manchuria and Outer Mongolia is virtual suicide. At the same time, General Ma's forces would strike through Sinkiang (President Sun having secured an autonomy agreement with the Uighur minority in the region first) in an apparent movement toward Tannu-Tuva, northwest of Outer Mongolia. This would be supported by American actions that would be determined at a later point in time.

  One might ask, “why is the Chinese command now so capable of being so bold and confident in their planning?” The simple answer is that they have finally captured the main spy among them in the Ministry of National Defense in Nanking. A communist courier was caught attempting to deliver documents from the Ministry, most of which were originated from the 5th Department, the intelligence department of the Ministry. It was determined that the documents that the courier was carrying had been given to him by none other than the deputy head of the department, General Kuo Ju-kuei. General Kuo was arrested and publicly shamed, then he disappeared into a dungeon, where despite his protestations of ignorance, he finally gave up his spy cell, and the entire network was rooted out.

  Henceforth, they were now in the planning stages of the counter-revolution.....

  *****

  0430

  15 August 1946

  In a troop staging area

  Urum-chi Air Base

  Urum-chi, Sinkiang, China

  There was a desert pre-dawn chill in the air as Gunnery Sergeant Eugene M. Stoner, USMC Reserve, walked around the aircraft revetments while checking out these fancy new Army troopers. He had originally reenlisted to go back into aviation ordnance, but wound up finding himself being seconded to this Army unit as armorer for their new weapons, and for the captured Soviet weapons that they would be using on their mission. As many checks, and rechecks, that he had done on their weapons, Stoner knew that all it took was for something to go wrong for a mission to unravel, right before everyone's eyes. The new gunny tried to put it out of his mind as he cinched his field jacket tighter around him.

  These new troopers were supposed to be the best of the best that the United States Army had to offer. Never mind the fact that Stoner thought one Marine was worth ten of these jokers, but some of them were dressed in Soviet Red Army uniforms, others were dressed as you'd expect Army paratroopers would be, except for the fact that their berets were green, rather than red. Stoner knew that this was an ambitious plan, because being caught in an enemy uniform was still a breach of the Geneva Convention, meaning that if the enemy caught you wearing his duds, he pretty much owned you, and could do with you as he pleased.

  Stoner had been reviewing some of the weapons that these “Special Forces” soldiers would be using, and he had to admit that he was quite impressed. He hoped that the new trend of being equipped with the same arms and equipment that the Army was using, at the same time that the Army was using it, held true. He remembered the old “China Marines” in boot camp, al
ways complaining that they were getting worn-out “sloppy seconds” from the Army, as far as equipment went. Well, this go-around, they had nothing to complain about: their equipment was just as obsolete as the Army's. These new small arms had the potential of being a huge game-changer.

  Just the other day, one of the Special Forces officers had pulled him aside and asked him if he could fabricate some “party favors” for their “trip”. He had to ask for clarification from this lunkhead Army officer three times, just to make sure that he'd understood correctly. The Army officer was asking for some anti-personnel devices. The guy may have been a knucklehead, but it got Stoner thinking. He had been working on some “shredders”, tactical anti-personnel bombs that he had been tinkering with, for close air support from fighter-bombers, and he started thinking that he could convert them for use as command-detonated mines, triggered by a tripwire, or by an electrical detonator. So, following up on this thought, he got one of his bombs and spent all night tinkering. What he came up with was fairly crude, but he'd test it today. In essence, it was a piece of thick plate steel, upon which was a 2:1 mix of gunpowder-impregnated cotton wadding to TNT explosive, and a layer of clay, embedded with 00-buckshot, clipped barbed wire, anything that can be used as shrapnel, covered by a shaped thin sheet metal that was scored on the inside with flattened copper tubing “legs” protruding from the bottom, and marked “FRONT TOWARD ENEMY” in white paint on the face, and a grenade detonator minus the safety spoon fitted to the top side. Stoner had to admit that he was pretty impressed with his own work. He just hoped that it worked well enough to be manufactured in some of the local workshops. That way, there would plenty made in time for the mission.

  Now that his mind was racing, he was headed to the armory. That new rifle that came in from the 'States – the T46A1, was it? – has got his interest. He was going to take it apart and study it, with an eye to seeing if he could design and build a better battle rifle...

  *****

  1345

  14 September 1946

  Temporary Joint Allied Naval Base,

  The abandoned Imperial German Reichsmarine Base,

  Outside Tsingtao,

  Shantung Province, Republic of China

  Looking out on the derelict Japanese wrecks, scuttled in the harbor in the final days of the last war (only now being removed by the See-Bees, aided by a wealth of eager local manpower), Major Jack Devereaux, USMCR, was concentrating at the task at hand: the training and graduation of the first class of officers and non-commissioned officers of the new Republic of China Marine Corps. The ROCMC was not a new branch of service, as it has been in existence since December of 1914, but new in the fact that it was now being trained in the methods of modern amphibious warfare, by the finest fighting force of its kind in the world. Major Devereaux's advanced team had selected this site because of its proximity to Japan and Korea, should the need to be reinforced becomes necessary. The retraining and modernization of Chinese Marines had begun as a secondary project, at the behest of the new Chinese government, and deemed necessary, as he needed to multiply the small forces he had at hand for security in the province. But the mission soon grew into a passion to expand the greatest American ideals of liberty and justice into Asia, through the men he was training. No doubt, on the other side of the sprawling base, his Navy counterpart was doing the same thing, training the new recruits to man and command the surplus U.S. ships and other naval equipment that was being turned over as a part of their new mutual-defense pact.

  At first, there were a few seemingly insurmountable challenges, such as the local population taking over parts of the old colonial German base after the Japanese withdrawal, pilfering whatever wasn't nailed or bolted down, squatters occupying the abandoned barracks, people getting injured inside the old abandoned fortifications. Eventually, with the help of the local gendarmerie, the area was cleared out, and people who had made the abandoned base their home were relocated to a temporary camp that the See-Bees had built, while more permanent housing was being constructed by local work gangs, overseen by See-Bee NCO's and construction specialists, in their spare time, as they reconstruct the base and dredge the harbor to accommodate larger sea-faring transport ships, freighters and battle wagons.

  Another issue that had to be dealt with was the disparity in education between the officers and enlisted ranks, which Devereaux was ill-prepared to deal with. While considering the issue, he had an inspiration: Why not encourage the officers to educate, at least in part, the enlisted men? Offering cash and other material incentives for every new subject that the officers taught, and to those Marines who excelled in those subjects, sounded like a traditionally local way of disposing with an important serious issue, having the added benefit of encouraging a literate, semi-educated, armed force. Such a force would be capable of conducting complex combat operations, without assistance from, and independently of, other units.

  -----

  Major Devereaux's star apprentice, Major Wu Tse-hui, was already a very capable officer, in his own right, having worked his way up from enlistment, to his current field-grade rank, in the Nationalist Chinese New Revolutionary Army. He was noticed by General Sun Li-jen, who placed him in command of a regiment in the 38th Division, where he excelled beyond all expectations.

  He was later recommended as General Sun's representative to Lieutenant General Albert C. Wedemeyer, the commanding general of U.S. forces in the China Theater of Operations. It was during his time as the Chinese liaison to General Wedemeyer that Major Wu observed the United States Marine Corps in action, and impressed upon General Sun that the Republic of China restructure its own naval infantry force, based on the U.S. Marines, and their own long-forgotten sea-faring traditions, going back to Admiral Chang Ha and his Treasure Fleet. Noting Major Wu's enthusiasm, and perhaps also that he was correct in his historical perspective, General Sun placed him in charge of the project, and charged him with “requisitioning” the former Imperial German naval base at Tsingtao, as a training base and a base of operations.

  In order to become more effective at his new vocation, Major Wu placed himself at the disposal of the executive officer of the U.S. 4th Marine Regiment, Major Jackson Beauregard Devereaux, who was tasked with conducting an ad-hoc training course for Chinese Army and Navy personnel (including current Marine Corps personnel who were not cashiered for incompetence or corruption) who wished to be a part of this endeavor. Old ROCMC units were dissolved and as each new unit was stood up, an agreement was reached that they would be rotated through the U.S. III Amphibious Corps, to gain experience. After a few rotations, according to the plan, the entire training operation would be turned over to the Chinese themselves. The Americans had shown themselves to be honorable, perhaps not in the same way that they might consider honor, but in a way that was not less worthy of the word. The U.S. Marine would honor his word to his Chinese counterpart, for their concept of honor was in a class all their own. After all, all of this was in preparation for one of the greatest ventures that the Chinese military would embark on in centuries.

  -----

  On the other side of the base, The Navy of the Republic of China was reconstituting their “New” Northern Sea Fleet, replacing the old Nationalist “Beiyang” Fleet and its decrepit antiquated warships. Having just recently captured the deep-water port of Chefu (on the other side of the Shantung Peninsula) away from the Communists, President Sun's government was planning to have naval and civilian shipyards built there. To this end, his government was negotiating a deal with the Allied Control Council (minus the Soviet Union, for obvious reasons) for interim equipment to build up the navy, but he was also negotiating for special dispensation to do business with Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to help in building the new shipyards in Chefu, through the Allied Occupation Command, in Tokyo. It was the very least that the Japanese company, along with its co-conspirators at Nippon National Railways, Nippon Telegraph & Telephone and the Nippon Electric Company, could do in the way of reparations for
war damage. President Sun had a very ambitious plan to rapidly industrialize China and greatly expand the domestic armaments and defense industry. Over many years, Sun Li-jen had made contacts back in the United States (through his education at Purdue University and the Virginia Military Institute), and among American and other European expatriate educators and technical professionals he met while in India (most, by way of Generals Joe Stillwell and Bill Slim), that could help build an educational base so great, that China could become economically independent within his lifetime. He knew that he had an up-hill battle in undermining the seduction of the communists' message of central planning and the nationalization of agriculture and industry, but he was convinced that once his reforms started bearing the sweet fruit of prosperity, their message would be exposed for the corrupt lie that it was.

  President Sun Li-jen sent the trained engineers that he had at his disposal to Japan, then onto the United States, first to learn the manufacturing processes of their enemies, then to learn how best to improve upon them. His initial education having been in civil engineering, President Sun was very well aware of the high value of a technical education. Once the last of the Turkestani agitators has been driven back across the Soviet border into the Kazakh S.S.R., construction will commence on a massive industrial city that would help alleviate some of the widespread deficiencies in manufacturing.