FROM WEEK TO WEEK

Grey River Argus, 26 November 1942, Page 7

FROM WEEK TO WEEK

(By 1

H. Winston Rhodes)

Carlson of the Marines. If one can judge from the remarks of a commentator during a recent radio talk from one of the leading American stations the Americans are proud of Carlson of the Marines. I have been interested in Major Evans F. Carlson mainly because. 1 have been interested in China, and M’ajor Carlson probably knows more than most people about the Chinese war and the guerrilla fighting which has been such a marked feature of tnat war.

It was in 1927 that he went to China. He became familiar with Chinese conditions. He studied the Chinese language. When war broke out he was appointed the United States Government Military Observer. He wa's at Shanghai. He was present at the first major victory won by the Chinese at Taierhchuang. He was a military observer who really observed and tried to discover all that could be discovered about military operations in China. Fifteen years of experience in that country has made him something of an authority, and it is said that many who have written books about the Eighth Route Army have been able to learn much from personal conversation with Major Carlson.

He did not observe the war from Chungking. In the north he attached himself to the Eighth Route Army and marched thousands of li with the men watching their operations as guerrillas, noticing the relations beitween the officers and men, discovering the reasons why they were so successful against the mechanised forces of Japan. He obtained first hand experience of the Japanese military' tactics.

Towards the end of 1940 he accompanied Rewi Alley, the New Zealander, on a four thousand mile journey across nine provinces, learning much about the Chinese Industrial Col-oper-atives and co-operation between the army and the people. Writing of his visit to Southern Anhwei he said: “I arrived in this area shortly after a particularly aggressive Japanese drive had been turned back by the New Fourth Army. The Japanese came in two columns, one from Wuhu, the other from a point higher up the Yangtse. They were allowed to make a deep penetration before the mobile units of the New Fourth fell upon .their flanks and rear, forcing them to withdraw with a loss which was estimated, both by New Fourth and Central Government officials, at an aggregate of 7,000 casualties. The losses of the New Fourth as reported to me were said to be about 400 only.

“An interesting feature of this op- 1 eration was the action of members of 12 co'.-operatives which lay in the path of the enemy advance. Co-op. members removed their equipment and supplies to places of safety in the mountains, and then returned to assist the .army in driving out the invaders. When I arrived, live days after the action, business was going on as usual.” Training the Marines. It seems that the American High Command recognised the value of Major Carlson’s work as official observer, that he was regarded not only as one capable of observing but also as one capable of leading and organising. After the attack on Pearl Harbour he was called to a position of considerable importance. He was a Major in the United States Marine Corps, and his new task was to choose the toughest marines he could find in America and train them for Commando operations and guerrilla' work.

Somewhere in California, we ■arc told, he made his base. An there he began to train the marines he had chosen. He was given a free hand. He knew he had to train anti-fascist fighters who would have to undertake the most difficult of military tasks. This man who was the author of two books—The Chinese Army and Twin Stars of China —had learnt much and knew as much as anybody about the forces against which he would soon be fighting.

It is said that two hours a day were devoted to discussion, that his men learnt not only how to fight but why they were fighting, that their training made them tougher in body and tougher in mind. Major Carlson was able to apply the experience he had gained of warfare in China to the training of troops in America. Distinctions between officers and men were reduced to a minimum. They were all anti-fascist fighters. They were students as well as soldiers. The recent American broadoast to which I have referred suggested that we would hear more of Major Carlson. Tol-day he and his men are fighting somewhere in the Pacific and they are fighting as well-trained men should fight—with the weapons and with their minds. This is the sort of news which is better than the announcement of victories, because it is one of the necessary pre-requisites for total victory. Major Carlson and his men are helping to win both the war and the peace. Like the Americans -we should be proud to have such defenders.