Marshall Mission Files, Lot 54–D270
Minutes of Meeting Between General Yu Ta-wei and General Marshall at 5 Ning Hai Road, Nanking, May 10, 1946, 11 a.m.
| Also present: | Colonel Caughey |
General Marshall handed General Yu Ta-wei a list itemizing the ammunition which had already been delivered and ammunition yet to be delivered to National Armies in Manchuria on United States requisition by United States resources. General Marshall told Colonel Caughey to investigate further with Theater Headquarters the basis upon which the “day of fire” was calculated.
General Marshall told General Yu that he had just seen two American correspondents who recently returned from Changchun. General Marshall explained briefly to General Yu their reactions to the experiences they had had during the attack on, and occupation of[,] Changchun by Communist forces in late April.
General Yu Ta-wei said that the reason for his coming this morning was to obtain from General Marshall his written comments with respect to the basis for a solution to the Manchurian problem which he asked for the previous day. General Marshall indicated that he [Page 824] had already prepared a statement47 but he was not satisfied with it and, therefore, would read to General Yu Ta-wei that part pertaining to the military situation. He promised General Yu to rework the memorandum with respect to the political aspects and give it to him as soon as possible. At this point General Marshall read from the Memorandum to the Generalissimo previously prepared by him. General Yu thanked General Marshall and said he would come back later this afternoon to get the revised memorandum.48
General Yu, in retaliation to a comment made by General Marshall in his memorandum to the Generalissimo (which he had previously read to General Yu), attempted to clarify his position with reference to occupation of places north of Changchun by Government forces. He stated that he had no idea of occupying in force, but visualized the use of one battalion deployed along the railroad from Harbin to Manchouli out of an army whose headquarters and major proportion of troops would be located at Harbin. General Marshall stated that he still did not concur with this proposal since the position of the forces would be precarious.
General Yu asked General Marshall to be more explicit in rewriting his memorandum to the Generalissimo regarding the zones of military occupation of Communist vis-à-vis Nationalist forces in Manchuria and also more explicit about the proposed alteration of the ratio between Communist and Nationalist forces in Manchuria.