Evening star., 1939-01-08

TnLdS, QLLTGcLeQ NattOn-1 -1Dtde Gttcn-
tion. Noa0, il, series OF tDo
stories, this same correspondent
brings Striking-SometineS star
Ting, sometimes tantastic-,Dord
picture OF the uast Chinese army
noio in death struggle ,Uith the
Japanese inUaderS. The second
story ,DiH appear in The Star merit
Sund1y.)
KWEILIN, Kwangsi Southwest China.
The question who runs the Chinese
Army?" has frequently been posed by
observers who are mystified by China
prolonged resistance
Is 1t Chang Kai-shek alone who holds
the army together? Or is it the few
big generals whose pictures appear in
the newspapers like Chang Chin
chung at Shanghai, Ii Tsung- -jen at
Hsuchow and Chen Cheng at Hankow?
Or is it some secret war council COM
posed of brainy strategists and foreign
advisers-German and Russian-which
makes the plans?
The fact is that the Chinese Army
has no clearly defined organization
whereby the responsibility for battle
plans, victories and defeats can be
traced. And this lack of dependable staff
work is responsible for the almost daily
blunders in the army.
For example, the supreme commander
Of the South China war zone at the
time of the Canton f1asco last October
81 was the Chinese war minister, Gen.
Ho Ying-chin. Yet he had never visited
the province and took no responsibility
for the disaster.
Staff Officers Lack Authority.
At Chang Kai-sheks headquarters,
which is now scattered over the three
cities Of Kweilin, Kweiyang and Chung
king, a group of about 400 staff officers
are drawing up battle plans, arranging
transportation and supply lines. training
the new recruits and supervising replace
ments. Most Of these men are little
known because their names never appear
in the newspapers. But even this group
Of bureaucrats has little authority.
All important decisions must be sub
nitted to Chang Kai-shek personally.
The generalissimo then consults a few
Of his most trusted men, This inner
cabinet"-if it can be called such-def-
nitely includes two of Chiangs oldest
enemies, Gen. Pal Chung-hsi of Kwang
81 and Chou En-lai of the Communists.
They have been consulted during every
crisis of the past 10 months
Two other men equally close to the
ear of Chang Kai-shek are his youthful
chief of staff, Gen. Chen Cheng, and the
war minister, Gen. Ho Ying-chin.
No foreign advisers are credited with
having had any great influence upon
the generalissirno during the present war.
The So German officers recalled by Hitler
last June had been used primarily as
training directors for Chang Kai-sheks
new divisions. They sometimes gave ad-
vice. It was seldom followed.
The Russian officers who are now CIV
Ing instruction in the use of Russian
machine guns and artillery have even
less influence upon Chang Kai-shek
than the previous Germans.
One Westerner Has Influence.
The only Westerner reputed to remain
In position of confidence on the Chi
nese staff is Edmund SHINES, German
who acts as conlmandant of the head
quarters, controlling Chang Kai-shek's
private radio, airplane and bodyguards.
Beneath the generalissimo's "inner
cabinet" and 400 bureaucrats are the
field generals, about 100 army corps
commanders and 200 division chiefs.
These are the men responsible for the
maneuver, combat and retreat of Chang
; Kai-shek's 100000 soldiers.
Most of the blunders during the first
year and a half of the war have been
attributed to the army corps command
ers. More than half of these SO men are
Kai-shek. They are relics of feudalism
Yet all battle plans must pass through
their hands.
The list of such generals controlling
from 10000 to 10000 troops includes
Chang Tze-chung, Mayor of Tientsin
when the war began; Feng Chih-an, the
Governor of Hopeh in 1887; Liu Ju-
ming, the erstwhile Governor of Chahar,
who fled from his post, was court
martialed and later pardoned.
Chang Kai-shek has given all these
men positions of great face" thus choos-
Z, ing his Pershings, Fochs and Hinden-
burgs from soldiers Of comic opera era.
A modicum of change has been COM
pleted in the field staff. The Shantung
Governor, Han Fu-chu, was executed.
Half dozen other generals have been
cashiered or given nominal positions
with little actual authority. This group
includes the Shansi war lord, Yen Hsi-
shan; the defender of Nanking, Gen.
Tang Sheng-chih; the defender of
Shanghai, Gen. Chang Chih-chung; the
former Peiping commander, Sung Cheh-
yuan, and the prewar Governor of Ho-
nan, Gen. Liu Chih.
Few Generals Killed in Action,
A few generals have been killed in
action-very few, because their head
quarters are at least 30 miles behind the
lines.
On the whole, Chang Kai-shek has
made little progress in the organization
Of an efficient staff. Among the 200
divisional commanders few are young
men in their 30s who have excellent field
generalship, but they are not promoted
to higher positions as they would be in
. Western army.
Tor eyo rop1a tho d;vir{oy,o1 cov,,roo ,,da~