Dixie Mission: The United States Army Observer Group in Yenan, 1944; China Research Monographs Number Six
Berkeley: University of California-Center for Chinese Studies, 1970. Presumed First Edition, First printing. Wraps. 96 pages. Illustrated front cover. Photographs. Map (with some color, inside back cover). Cover has some wear and soiling. Foreword by John Fairbank. The author was Commander of the Dixie Mission. David Dean Barrett (August 6, 1892 – February 3, 1977) was an American soldier, a diplomat, and an old Army China hand. Barrett served more than 35 years in the U.S. Army, almost entirely in China. Barrett was part of the American military experience in China, and played a critical role in the first official contact between the Chinese Communist Party and the United States government. He commanded the 1944 U.S. Army Observation Group, known as the Dixie Mission, to Yan'an, China. However, his involvement in the Dixie Mission cost him promotion to general, when Presidential Envoy Patrick Hurley accused Barrett of undermining his mission to unite the Communists and Nationalists. Barrett arrived in Beijing in 1924 and was Assistant Military Attaché for Language Study. He mastered the Beijing dialect through five hours of practice with Mandarin teachers each day, followed by two hours of personal study. Barrett recalled this time as a joy and said the dialect spoken in the former imperial capital was "the most beautiful Chinese in the world." Barrett's tour of duty in Tianjin ended in 1934. Two years later, he was assigned to be an Assistant Military Attaché to the American Legation in Beiping (Beijing). His executive officer in Beiping and acting Military Attaché, was Col. Joseph Stilwell. Barrett witnessed was the Marco Polo Bridge Incident in 1937, which began the Second Sino-Japanese War. On March 24, Barrett received an order to proceed to Chongqing for temporary duty, unaware of the plans for the observer group to Yan'an. Not until he met John Service four days after his arrival in Chongqing, did he learn he was to assume command of the mission. At the time, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek had not yet provided his consent to the mission and Barrett waited a month in Chongqing before being ordered back to Guilin. He remained there until the start of July, when the success of Vice-President Henry Wallace's mission to Chongqing signaled a green light for the mission. Col. Barrett, Maj. Ray Cromley, Maj. Melvin Casbert, Capt. John Colling, Capt. Charles Stelle, Capt. Paul Domke, 1st Lt. Henry Wittlesey, Staff Sgt Anton Remeneh, US Embassy 2nd Secretary John S. Service and political attaché Raymond Ludden arrived in Yan'an on July 22, 1944. While Service handled political discussions, Barrett was in charge of working out a cooperative military strategy. Barrett remained in command of the Dixie Mission until November 1944, when he was removed to help Ambassador Patrick Hurley in negotiations to unify the Nationalists and Communists, as well as help plan potential American-Communist cooperative plans at the theater headquarters of General Albert C. Wedemeyer. While serving as a courier and representative for Wedemeyer's chief of staff, General Robert B. McClure, Barrett was sent on two missions to Yan'an to speak with Communist leadership. The last discussion involved the possibility of a joint Communist-American military mission involving several thousands of American troops. As this plan, developed by McClure, hurt Hurley's attempts to bring the Communists into a joint-government plan, Hurley accused Barrett of sabotaging his negotiations. Hurley stopped a promotion in motion to make Barrett a brigadier general and had him removed to a small corner of the China theater for the rest of the war. The Dixie Mission: The United States Army Observation Group, commonly known as the Dixie Mission, was the first US effort to gather intelligence and establish relations with the Chinese Communist Party and the People's Liberation Army, then headquartered in the mountainous city of Yan'an, Shaanxi. The mission was launched on 22 July 1944, during World War II, and lasted until 11 March 1947. The goals of the mission were to investigate the Communists politically and militarily and to determine if the US would benefit from establishing liaison. Communist local governments had cooperated in rescuing American pilots downed in North China after bombing Japan, and the invasion of Japan might still have been launched from China, which would have involved landing American troops in China. John S. Service, of the US Department of State, was responsible for political analysis, and Colonel David D. Barrett, of the US Army, performed the military analysis. Initially, they reported that the Chinese Communists might be a useful wartime and postwar ally and that the atmosphere in Yan'an was more energetic and less corrupt than in Nationalist-held areas. After the war, the Dixie Mission's reports and Service and Barrett were condemned by pro-Kuomintang factions in the American government. After the war, in the debate over the "loss of China", many put the blame on wartime China Hands. Condition: Good.
Keywords: Dixie Mission, Mao Zedong, Yenan, Army Observer Group, Patrick Hurley, Anti-Communism, Kuomintang, Negotiations, Military Liaison, WWII
[Book #86690]
Price: $200.00