Ultimatum to Lwanhsien

U.S. commanders in China have orders to: 1) disarm the Japs; 2) help Nationalist China to her feet; 3) do all this without losing a man. Last week order No. 2 collided with order No. 3. Result: representatives of the most powerful nation on earth threatened to strafe a Chinese village.

Communist guerrillas had cut the rail road from the great Kailan coal mines to the port of Chinwangtao. For nine days none of the Kailan coal, which China desperately needs, had moved. U.S. Major General Dewitt Peck, commander of the ist Marine Division, tried the route to Chinwangtao. For two days Communist guerrillas sporadically attacked his train. Near Lwanhsien village, his train was stalled by Communist small-arms fire. General Peck ordered the marines to fire back, while he sat smoking his pipe and cursing. Then he called for a Piper Cub to finish the trip. His superior, Major Gen eral Keller E. Rockey, commander of the III Amphibious Corps, radioed a message to the U.S. commander in chief in China, Lieut. General Albert C. Wedemeyer:

"I am directing General Peck to send an emissary to [Lwanhsien] to inform the Communist leader that if the fire continues against our forces, I will order an air strafing mission against the village. . . ."

From Shanghai, General Wedemeyer replied :

"If American lives are endangered . . . it is desired that you inform the military leader or responsible authority in that vil lage in writing, both through a carefully selected emissary and through dropped leaflets, that . . . such firing must be stopped. . . . Should firing . . . continue, you are authorized to take appropriate military measures. Your warning and action should include necessary measures to ensure the safety of innocent persons." General Wedemeyer sent copies of his order to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek and to General Chou Enlai, chief Communist representative in Chungking.

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