793.94/15518: Telegram
The Ambassador in France (Bullitt) to the Secretary of State
[Received 4:08 p.m.]
2866. I discussed with Mandel8 last night the situation in China. He said that he was intensely disturbed by the Japanese capture of the suburbs of Nanning. He stated that the Japanese advance had destroyed the possibility of continuing shipments of supplies by truck which has been going from Indo-China to Nanning over the new road.
Aside from the serious physical difficulties which the cutting of this route would impose on the Chinese Government he felt that the loss of the positions around Nanning indicated much greater feebleness on the Chinese side than he had thought existed. Just previous to the Japanese advance on Nanning he had received from China what appeared to be authoritative information to the effect that the Chinese Government was absolutely confident of its ability to maintain the Chinese military positions protecting the road from Indo-China to Nanning.
He had as yet no adequate explanation for the Chinese collapse in the Nanning region and thought that it might have been due to treachery. If so the indication of Chinese weakness would be even more serious since his latest information indicated that Chiang Kai Shek had had an unusual degree of confidence in the military leaders in the Nanning District. Since Mandel has been the chief advocate of support to the Chinese Government and since he is now doubtful about Chinese resistance I feel that the questions referred to in my No. 2845, November 28, 5 p.m.,9 may in the near future become even more important.