19th Army

Good soldiers die too easily. This sad fact has been commented upon by the commander of every army from Julius Caesar to Chiang Kaishek. In the Shanghai battles of last winter against Japan, the19th Route Army, best drilled, best equipped, made a name for itself that rang around the world, but in building that name, 8,000 good soldiers died and had to be replaced by recruits. The new recruits did not drill as well, and they had ideas of their own, no part of a good soldier's equipment. The 19th Route Army is still China's crack corps. Recently it was sent to deal with China's gravest military problem, the spread of Communist armies in the central provinces (TIME, Aug. 15 et ante).

The 19th Route Army's first engagements were successful. Districts were recaptured and officers went about the business of returning communized farm lands to their old landlords. Then up rose the 8,000 recruits. Were they not fighting for the Nationalist Government? Does not the Nationalist Government revere the late great Dr. Sun Yat-sen as a hero and patron saint? Is not one of Dr. Sun's first principles the restoration of land to the peasants?

Embarrassed officers court-martialed and shot some 500 of the recruits, disarmed the rest of the 8,000 and were using them last week to build roads. Meanwhile they looked for 8,000 more recruits less learned in the principles of Dr. Sun.

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