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To: henkster

I’ve read only some of your list. One of my favorites is PANZER BATTLES by von Mellenthin.

But one I have mixed feelings about is STILLWELL AND THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE IN CHINA. It makes Chiang Kai-Shek out to be such a poor ally with his reluctance to concentrate only on the Japanese but in the end it was Chiang who saw the big picture. He stated that “the Japanese are a disease of the skin while the communists are a disease of the heart”. Of course Stillwell only had one mission and that was the Japanese. When China was lost to the communists we soon faced war in Korea and more Americans perishing by the thousands.


104 posted on 01/10/2014 9:27:29 PM PST by Monterrosa-24 (...even more American than a French bikini and a Russian AK-47)
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To: Monterrosa-24

An interesting book is Joseph McCarthy’s “Retreat From Victory” (which is considered to be ghostwritten)

If my memory serves me correctly, Stillwell absolutely and without reservation detested and despised Chaing Kai-Shek.

I think McCarthy’s analysis of “who lost China” was spot on.


106 posted on 01/10/2014 9:33:15 PM PST by rlmorel ("A nation, despicable by its weakness, forfeits even the privilege of being neutral." A. Hamilton)
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To: Monterrosa-24

Tuchman was a communist, or at least a communist sympathizer. In her book, she strongly intimated that had we dumped Chaing during the war, and embraced Mao, we could have together defeated the Japanese and had a wonderful post-war relationship.

She didn’t know Mao very well.


112 posted on 01/10/2014 9:49:06 PM PST by henkster (Communists never negotiate.)
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To: Monterrosa-24

My supposed favorite Chiang story goes something like this:

When the General was asked what he thought about the French Enlightenment he said, “It is too soon to tell.”


128 posted on 01/11/2014 6:16:47 AM PST by KC Burke (Officially since Memorial Day they are the Gimmie-crat Party.ha)
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To: Monterrosa-24; henkster

I distinctly remember an interview with Schwartzkopf in the command bunker before Desert Storm. They visited his little monk’s cell of a room, and Panzer Battles was on the table or the bed, I can’t remember which. But close at hand, obviously being (re)read.


142 posted on 01/14/2014 1:29:05 PM PST by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est)
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