The daily monitor leader. [volume] (Mount Clemens, Mich.) 1942-19??, 1944-11-17
Wedemeyer Facing Two-FoId
Problem i'm StiIweII Post
BY THOMAS NJ. JOHNSON
SEA Military Writer

The recent upset in China
proves again that this war has
developed plenty of good
American Generals. For when
the able and distinctive Stllwell
had TO vacate, straightway arose
the likewise able and distinctive
Wedemeyer and Sultan, less
known but no less qualified, and
both already on the ground.
Albert c. Wedemeyer, one of
our youngest Major Generals,
is also on the spot-two spots.
He must be not only Chief of
Staff to Generalissimo Chang
Kai-Shek but commander of all
American troops in China. On
the first spot he is supposed to
be a sort of military advisor and
general manager 10 a comman-
der who by permitting corrup-
ton, incompetence and politics
has weakened an enterprise al
ready severely handicapped UNI
til it is near collapse. Wedemey-
er's second spot is that only a
near-miracle can provide the
means TO run the Chinese war
effort at all before the impend-
ing collapse.
Wedemeyer'S problem is two
fold: First there must be a
shakeup like an earthquake in
Chiang's REGIME and army; sec
ond, there must be major
American landing at a Chinese
port whence not only troops
and planes but supplies can
pour into what the Japs have
left of China. And though Chi
ang may be at the dock TO do
the official greeting, the recep-
ton committees real wheel
horse will be Wedemeyer.
D-DAY IN CHINA
He must not only get along
with the sorely beset Chinese
dictator but prepare the receiv-
ing end of D-Day in Asia, which
greater distance certainly, and
greater enemy sea-poWer proba-
bly, will make more difficult
than D-Day in Europe. 1t will be
test as rugged as any Ameri-
can statesman-general has faced.
Albert Coady Wedemeyer's
profile suggests Washington's.
His high gray pompadour tops
lean body over six feet. He is
quiet, yet friendly, frank yet
modest and unself-seeking. Like
General Marshall, whom he
greatly admires, he cooperates
with his Allies. His former
Chief in India, Lord Mountbat-
ten, likes him. So does Winston
Churchill, with whom Wede-
meyer lately conferred in Lon
don. At the important interna-
tional conferences he has at
tended, Wedemeyer, a Nebras-
ka-West Point American, has
been honest, but ShreWd and
tenacious of his country'S inter-
ests. His son is cadet at West
Point, his father-in-law, Lieut..
Gen. Stanley D. Embick, is an
elder statesman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff in Washington.
Until he went to India, he
headed a secret General Staff
group in Washington that help
ed map global strategy, includ-
ing some of D-Day in Europe,
Strongly favoring triphibious
training, he helped start the
new Joint Army and Navy Staff
College, drawing ON two years
study at the German Kriegska-
oemie (War Academy. Thence
he returned in 1888 a Major, at
Al.
RAPID RISE
His rapid rise Is due also to
his little-known earlier expert
ence in China, where he learned
Mandarin, and the Philippines,
as well as his Command and
General Staff School training.
He is an infantryman, but air
minded would probably be hap
piest commanding one of the
airborne divisions he considers
the units of the future. His air.
mindedness is lucky, since his
Job involves command OF all
American troops in China and
they are now largely air.
Dan /. Sultan, too, is well-flt-
ted for his job and unusual is
his name-for the same reason:
He is a technician who has per-
formed the unusual feat Of max
ing himself a field general.
Since graduating from West
Point he has been until lately,
mostly an engineer, and a good
one. He has built Notifications