Tuesday, April 6, 2010

CHINESE TRAINING COMMAND

Posted by Mitch Williamson at 2:59 PM





American soldiers attached to a Chinese division send a message from the field. (U.S. Army Military History Institute)
In response to Japanese advances during Operation Ichigo, in fall 1944, Lieutenant General Wedemeyer had a small force of about 4,800 American officers and soldiers under his command assigned to various training centers and as advisers to the Y-Force and Z-Force. Wedemeyer reorganized these advisers into two commands: the Chinese Training Command, which was responsible for running training centers for the Nationalist Army, and the Chinese Combat Command, which was actually an advisory force that functioned as a network down to the regimental level of command in the Nationalist Army.

The Chinese Training Command was led by Brigadier General John W. Middleton. It trained both individual soldiers and the cadre and staff of units and divisions that had special roles. This training structure was centered in Kunming, Yunnan Province, at the end of the Burma Road, where resupply was easier, and it was protected from Japanese forces. The center operated a major field artillery training center, which concentrated on teaching Chinese officers and soldiers to use and effectively employ American-supplied artillery, and seven other service schools, concentrating on the logistics structure to provide support for the combat forces of the Nationalist Army.

The United States also began to operate a command and general staff course to school midgrade officers for handling positions on division and corps staffs, a war college to train senior officers for regimental command and in battlefield operational art. Modeled on the U.S. military schools system, the Chinese Training Center opened specialized schools for training troops and officers to use heavy mortars, operated an infantry school and a signal school, and established an English-language training center to train interpreters to assist the American advisers. The effort was short-lived and withdrawn after the surrender of Japan and the opening of the Civil War between the Nationalists and the Communists. Many of the installations used by the Training Center are still operational People's Liberation Army bases in Yunnan today.

REFERENCES F. F. Liu, A Military History of Modern China: 1924-1949 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1956); Barbara W. Tuchman, Stilwell and the American Experience in China, 1911-45 (New York: Macmillan, 1971); Charles F. Romanus and Riley Sutherland, The United States Army in World War Two. The China-Burma-India Theater: Time Runs Out in CBI (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1959); Albert C. Wedemeyer, Wedemeyer Reports! (New York: Henry Holt, 1958).

 

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3 comments:

dave warren said...

My father, Lt. Pratt A Warren was part of the corps of troop trainers in Kunming in 1944 and 45. Have you ever come across his name?

He was awarded a medal by General Stillwell in 1945 I think. Please let me know if you have any information on him. He retired in 1961 as a Lt. Colonel and died in 1974 and was buried at Arlington cemetary w/ full honors.

Thanks,

Dave Warren

my email is: lamp@post.com

November 12, 2010 12:52 AM  
Anonymous said...

My Grandfather, Roy E. Beddingfield was attached to the Chinese "Y" Forces, as Light Weapons Instructor. He retired in 1966, as Sergent Major. Finding out anything about the Chinese Infantry Training Center, Kunming China(I suspect this is where he was) is next to impossible. Anything from Anyone would be greatly appreciated.
beddingfieldb@yahoo.com

April 2, 2011 4:42 AM  
Mitch Williamson said...

There was also U.S. Army Chinese Training and Combat Command at Ramgarh, India. BEFORE Kunming

http://cbi-theater-5.home.comcast.net/~cbi-theater-5/ramgarh/ramgarh.html

April 2, 2011 10:20 AM  

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