Marshall Mission Files, Lot 54–D270
Minutes of Meeting Between General Marshall and General Yu Ta-wei at No. 5 Ning Hai Road, Nanking, September 11, 1946, 6 p.m.
| Also present: | Colonel Caughey |
General Yu Ta Wei presented a map of the railroad situation in North China, mentioning the fact that a great many of the previously held Communist sections had reverted to National Control.
[Page 183]General Yu then mentioned that great progress had been made by the National Government in demobilization and reorganization of its forces. Of the 124 Armies consisting of 325 Divisions which the Government had during the war, 59 armies had now been reduced to divisions and reorganized. The remaining 65 armies would be reduced to 31 divisions which added to the 59 divisions would equal the 90 divisions called for in the reorganization plan. In addition to this it would retain 13 Cavalry Brigades. General Yu said that he would furnish General Marshall with a disposition map showing the present location of these forces.
General Yu continued by asking General Marshall what had been the result of his meeting with the Generalissimo. General Marshall told General Yu that the Generalissimo had agreed to permit the discussion of military matters by the Committee of Three and that he had agreed to the settlement of the Kiangsu civil administration problem by the State Council. The Generalissimo stated that the cessation of hostilities would depend upon the submission by the Communists of their candidates for the National Assembly and that the Constitutional Draft Committee should get back to work as soon as the State Council had been reconvened. General Marshall stated that the Generalissimo had also implied that the reorganization of the Executive Yuan would not take place before the convention of the National Assembly and that various areas occupied by Government troops since 13 January and 7 June would not be given up by the Government. General Marshall stated that he had mentioned all this to General Chou because the Generalissimo had given his permission.
General Marshall told General Yu Ta Wei that the negotiations at present have resulted in a stalemate since the reaction on the part of General Chou to this information had not been favorable. General Chou objected to the fact that the Generalissimo stipulated that the cessation of hostilities depended upon the nomination of Communist members to the National Assembly. General Chou objects on the basis that this is an entirely new demand in that it is not in accordance with the resolutions of the PCC.
At this point General Yu stated that he did not understand General Chou’s reaction since the submission of lists of candidates appeared to be a very easy matter.
General Marshall explained to General Yu that the Communists were very apprehensive over the good intentions of the Government. They did not want to submit their list until they are sure of the conditions for the formation of the government and the National Assembly, since they did not want to be found in a position of having acceded to the Government’s demands and then at a later date accused of not [Page 184] going through with the complete procedure. General Marshall added that he too felt that General Chou was making a mistake by not going ahead but that General Chou was filled with inhibitions.
General Yu stated that his own personal opinion was that the crux of the entire problem was to attack and resolve the ratio of Communist divisions to National Government divisions. General Yu stated that of the 108 divisions during the first phase of the reorganization plan, 18 were Communist. If arrangements could be made to geographically locate these units the entire problem would be solved. General Marshall pointed out to General Yu that attempts to resolve this problem had in fact led to the present stalemate in that is brought up the five conditions by the Generalissimo and the civil administration problem which thus far had been unresolvable.