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 U.S. FORCES ORGANIZE

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The War Department's radio went to Stilwell's staff in Chungking which promptly relayed it to General Sibert in New Delhi. The latter headquarters at once relieved the personnel of the several troop movements which had arrived in China and India from their assignment to Army Group, Washington, D. C,

and reassigned them to "this theater of operations." There were no more radios on this point between Washington and Chungking, but thereafter communications from Stilwell's headquarters to the War Department, and from the War Department to Stilwell, referred to him as theater commander, to his headquarters as theater headquarters, and to his command as the China, Burma and India Theater of Operations.3 In the absence of further, conflicting evidence, it must be assumed that both the War Department and General Stilwell regarded

the Department's 22 June radio as sufficient authority for the establishment of an American theater of operations in China, Burma, and India. The next step in the evolution of the CBI Theater was a letter of instructions from Stilwell on 6 July 1942 setting up the command structure for his theater. Stilwell made his headquarters at Chungking the office of record of his command, under the name "Headquarters, American Army Forces, China, Burma and India." The New Delhi headquarters was titled "Branch Office, Headquarters, American Army Forces, China, Burma and India." New Delhi was specifically authorized to issue directives in line with established policies in the name of the "Theater Commander." 4 Henceforth, the U.S. Army correspondence and orders within CBI Theater clearly differentiated between the

functions and personnel which were assigned to Headquarters, CBI, to the SOS, and to the Tenth Air Force. A few days later Stilwell established a branch office in Kunming to make the city's shift from a Burma Road terminal to an air ferry discharge point and a major base for Chennault as smooth as possible. Colonel MacMorland, who had suggested the step, commanded the new U.S. Kunming Area Command. MacMorland was to relieve Chennault of housing, mess, supply, and communications responsibilities and to give the Chinese a central American agency with which to deal on supply matters for that area.5 Thus with two branch offices under way at mid-July Stilwell awaited the outcome of his Pacific Front proposals before undertaking any more expansion in his theater. It was not until Currie was off for Washington with the Generalissimo's set of modified demands and the Pacific Front plan that Stilwell left to inspect his new theater organization. During August he traveled from Kunming to

3 (1) SO 25, India Hq, Stilwell Mission, 16 Jul 42. This special order indicates that it was issued

pursuant to a 25 June 1942 radio from Stilwell in Chungking. (2) CM-IN and CM-OUT messages in the Staff Communications Office, Department of the Army, for the period after 16 July 1942 refer to Stilwell, his headquarters, and his command as being a "Theater of Operations." Ltr of Instructions, Stilwell to Sibert, Wheeler, and Naiden, 6 Jul 42. Corresp Folder (MayNov 4 2 ), CT 23, Dr 2, KCRC. The abbreviation AAF conflicted with Army Air Forces, so it became the accepted practice to use U.S. Army Forces, China, Burma and India. 5 (1) Memo, MacMorland for Stilwell, 9 Jul 42, sub: Liquidation of Kunming Office. AG 500, Hq USAF CBI, KCRC. (2) GO 5, Hq USAF CBI, 18 Jul 42. 4