Robert W. Maynard; OSS and the Challenge of Liberating Allied Prisoners Held in China
Just prior to the arrival of General Donovan in Kunming in early August 1945, I received an order stating that I was to serve as his substitute aide during his stay in China. As a lowly first lieutenant, I had never met a general, particularly one as famous as General Donovan, and certainly had never been an aide before. I was told that my duties were to administer his stay and do whatever he told me to do.?
Much could be said by persons better qualified than l about his mission on that visit to the China-Burma India (CBI) Theater. It included the planning of the "Mercy Missions" to liberate thousands of Allied POWs (including LTG Jonathan Wainwright) held in Japanese prison camps in the CBI Theater, conferring with Allied leaders on the allocation of regional surrender responsibilities in case of an early Japanese surrender, and the planning for the postwar role of the OSS.?
My recollections here are two examples of how kind and considerate he could be despite his busy schedule. The first night, he asked me to provide him with a shave and haircut before breakfast the next day. I brought in the town's old Chinese barber dressed in a long, dark blue native smock who had been our regular barber for months. As the barber unpacked his scissors, comb, and straight razor, the general asked me whether he was one of our men and whether he had been cleared by security. Obviously not! ?Luckily, I had heard that a corporal had once been an apprentice barber. He reluctantly and nervously took on the assignment and did very well. I expected a harsh reprimand for my flagrant failure to think of the general's safety, but all he said and thanking the corporal was something like, "Well lieutenant: wasn't that a better choice?" I got the message.
?Colonel Heppner had told me prior to the first night that I should be sure to see that the general was wearing his dress uniform in the morning to be ready for some formal gatherings. I repeated Colonel Heppner's order to the general who smiled and put on the nondescript baggy suit complete with blue and white striped socks. He said I could tell Colonel Heppner that 1 delivered his uniform suggestion but that a combat type uniform seemed more appropriate when awarding medals to heroic OSS operatives. He did, however, appear in a perfectly tailored uniform for a dinner with Chinese officials that evening.?
Having spent even such a short time in the close presence of greatness is one of the most treasured memories of my life. General Donovan treated me as kindly as I could have imagined.
OSS in China: Prelude to Cold War
Surrender by Japan and Communist Hostility Toward OSS
exerpt:
"The sudden end of the war completely surprised OSS. Immediate action had to be taken in order to have any impact at all on the war history of the United States in China. As Heppner informed Donovan and his party, which had just reached Honolulu en route to Washington, "Although we have been caught with our pants down, we will do our best to pull them up in time."
Heppner showed great resolve and sent an urgent cable to Colonel Davis, chief liaison with Wedemeyer's headquarters in Chungking, asking to secure logistical support from Wedemeyer. This cable outlined the general ambitions of OSS/China "In view of emergency caused by Jap capitulation, request you prosecute the following moves in relation to theater with utmost vigor" 1. Command teams are available to drop into principal Chinese cites. Urge that airlift be provided in order that these men may raid Jap headquarters and seize vital documents and personalities both Japanese and puppets. These commandos ready to leave tomorrow. 2. Urge theater to provide airlift immediately for placing of OSS teams in critical spots in Manchuria in order that we may be on ground before arrival of Russians. 3. Urge airlift he provided that OSS teams now available be placed in strategic spots in Korea in order that our interests may be protected before Russian occupation. 4. Urge airlift to put OSS teams already available in key localities in China proper in order that American interests and Chinese National Government interest may be safeguarded.
"The Mercy Missions"
On 12 August 1945, Colonel Heppner moved swiftly by ordering OSS teams into strategic spots in three areas: Mukden (Shenyang) and Harbin in Manchuria and Weixian (Weihsien) in Shandong. These teams included SI, SO, medical, and COMMO (communications) personnel and interpreters. Three days later General Wedemeyer issued a comprehensive directive to various special agencies under his control to locate and evacuate POWs in north China, Manchuria, and Korea. To Wedemeyer, this was a job of the highest priority. Although AGAS was mandated with POW rescue work by the War Department, OSS was invited to join the effort, which provided an excellent cover for intelligence penetration into these areas. Nine air sorties were executed from the OSS base in Xian, and the 14th Air Force was ordered to provide the necessary staging facilities. OSS immediately organized eight operational missions, which were coded Magpie (Peiping), Duck (Weihsien), Flamingo (Harbin), Cardinal (Mukden), Sparrow (Shanghai), Quail (Hanoi), Pigeon (Hainan Island), and Raven (Vientiane, Laos). The Duck mission was sent to Shandong Province on 17 August under Major S. A. Staiger and quickly discovered a big POW camp where 1,038 captured British military personnel, 205 Americans, and 200 troops from other nations—Belgium, Norway, Uruguay, Iran, and Cuba had been detained. One of the tasks of OSS super-agent William Christian was penetrating this camp. The only Chinese operative allowed to enter the maximum-security camp happened to be Christian's agent. The Magpie mission covered the Peiping area and was commanded by Major Ray Nichols of OSS. The mission locoed 624 Allied POWs. The Pigeon mission, under a young OSS captain fresh out from the European theater, John C. Singlaub, parachuted onto Hainan Island on 27 August, located about 400 POWs, and evacuated them all to nearby Hong Kong. The OSS team to Lao, the Raven mission under Major Aaron Banks, located 143 internees near Vientiane. A more complicated story unfolded around the Quail mission, under a young Captain Archimedes L. A. Patti; it included five Frenchmen who were not necessarily friendly toward the Vietnamese Communists led by Ho Chi Minh. On 22 August, Patti and his men walked into Hanoi and "liberated" the city; this was the first American military team to confront the Japanese military authority there. However, the connection between OSS and the Frenchmen in the crucial days of August 1945 put Donovan's organization in an extremely precarious position vis-à-vis the Communists and their sympathizers. In examining the historical documents carefully, we can easily discern that political ideology did not lead OSS to take sides in French Indochina. In fact, OSS was by and large innocent in the whole messy arena where so much American blood would be shed in years to come. For Donovan, getting intelligence was the paramount reason for contacting and/or cooperating with certain groups. By contrast, those who were ideologically motivated were unhappy with the pragmatism and lack of ideology in OSS. As Charles Fenn saw it, "Alternately supporting the Vichy-French, Free-French, Vietminh and other native groups, OSS managed to infuriate even liberal French opinion while at the same time disillusioning the natives as to any real American understanding." Curiously, De Gaulle's special emissary to Vietnam, Jean Sainteny, issued the most biting criticism of OSS, "I often ask myself why OSS, so well endowed with able men, sent into Vietnam only second-string underlings, incapable of evaluating the stake and the incalculable results of the drama then taking place in the month of August 1945." Above all, OSS's top priority was to penetrate Korea, Shandong, and Manchuria. In the days immediately following the official Japanese surrender, dramatic episodes took place in each of these areas. The OSS team drawing the most attention in the waning days of the war was the Eagle mission, designed to cover Korea The Eagle team was originally commanded by Clyde Sargent and had now been taken over by Lieutenant Colonel Willis Bird, the deputy director of OSS/China. On 16 August the mission boarded a C-47 and headed for Keijo, Korea While in the air, the mission received intelligence reports that kamikaze planes were attacking U.S. carriers and that the Japanese emperor was unable to enforce his own cease-fire order. The plane was ordered to turn around and return to Xian. Bird, ever publicity conscious and eager to gain fame by "liberating" Korea single-handedly, added a Mr. Lieberman ― an OWI writer — to the Eagle mission in violation of Heppner's specific orders. The entire team then took off from Xian again and landed at Keijo on 18 August. This was the first time US. military personnel originating from the China theater had touched Korean soil since the war began. The official record chronicles what ensued: "On arrival, this mission was met with a 'friendly and helpful attitude from the Japanese command,' which informed them that all POWs and civilians were safe and well but that since no instructions had been received from the Japanese Government, the presence of the mission in Korea was 'embarrassing.'" The Japanese suggested, therefore, that the mission return to China and come back later. Gasoline for the return to China was provided by the Japanese. Eagle flew to Weixian, Shandong, the next day and contacted Duck mission there. On 20 August, OSS Headquarters instructed the mission to return to Keijo immediately and remain there, even if this resulted in temporary internment; but Bird reported that the Japanese had refused to accept the mission even though requested to do so and had ordered it out of Keijo at tank gunpoint. He flew to Chungking on 22 August in order to present in person his opinion that a return to Keijo would mean execution by the Japanese of the twenty-two members of the Eagle mission and the crew. Then something went terribly wrong. On the afternoon of 22 August, Bird went directly to see Wedemeyer and described the dangerous situation that the Eagle team had encountered in Korea. While Bird was meeting Wedemeyer, however, Lieberman was writing a news story about the first American encounter with the Japanese in Korea. Lieberman accurately recorded something else that had gone on in Keijo between the Americans and the Japanese, something Bird had not told Wedemeyer. As Colonel Davis stated, Lieberman's story "included a couple of paragraphs about Japs entertaining our people with beer and sake and each nationality singing own national songs." Early the next morning, Wedemeyer heard Lieberman's news story over the worldwide OWI radio broadcast and became infuriated. He believed that Bird had disgraced US. armed forces in the China theater because Lieberman's story could easily be construed as fraternization with the Japanese troops. Particularly disgusting to Wedemeyer was the fact that Bird had taken an OWI man and photographer along, but no medical supplies or food for POWs. Moreover, the contrast between Bird's report on how hostile the Japanese still were toward Americans and Lieberman's piece on American-Japanese drinking and singing undoubtedly smacked of dishonesty on the part of OSS.
Wedemeyer immediately ordered that all POW rescue efforts in Korea "be reconstituted and completely divorced from Eagle project." Wedemeyer's chief of staff recommended sending Bird back to the United States at once for disciplinary action. Colonel Davis, the most senior OSS officer then in Chungking, panicked at Wedemeyer's rage and wired Heppner, advising him to replace Bird immediately as the head of the Eagle project. Heppner complied, designating Gustav Krause instead. Further, Heppner instructed Davis to "take whatever steps you deem necessary to keep Bird out of contact with all persons outside 055 and theater Headquarters.". On the same day, Heppner hurriedly informed Donovan of developments and urged the director in Washington to "take whatever steps may be necessary to protect the organization [OSS]. Donovan sent back an angry reply the next day: "Make sure that action taken [against Bird] for violation of your orders. If necessary, send Bird home at once or, in your discretion, prefer charges.". Two days later, to tighten control over OSS/China public relations, Heppner appointed Roland Dulin, the MO chief, as public relations officer in charge of all press releases; Heppner also ordered that no OSS personnel be allowed to discuss 0SS activities with any member of the press. On 28 August the entire Eagle team was ordered back to Xian for reorganization. Two days later, the mission was canceled because an American corps would shortly occupy the Korean Peninsula.' As for Willis Bird no harsh action ever befell him, aside from becoming the laughingstock of Chinese Communist intelligence.
# end of excerpt ...
Robert W. Maynard; OSS and the Challenge of Liberating Allied Prisoners Held in China[1]
At the end of the war against Japan, some 20,000 American and Allied prisoners-of-war and 15,000 civilian internees were being held in more than 30 major Japanese prison camps scattered throughout China, Manchuria, Korea and Indochina. ?Allied planners knew that regular military units would be unable to reach these camps quickly enough to protect the POWs and internees from Japanese desperate actions in the event of an invasion of Japan or surrender. There were disturbing reports of Japanese plans to kill the prisoners, force them into death marches, abandon them without food or medical care or hold them as hostages in surrender negotiation. Unlike the military POW situation in Europe where Allied armies were on hand to take over the camps, there were no significant Allied forces within thousands of miles of the POW camps in the CBI Theater.?
There was an embarrassing feeling of obligation in the United States to look out for the welfare of the POWs and civilian internees who had suffered so much as prisoners of the Japanese. Much like General George Marshall's order in 1944 to "Save Private Ryan" in Europe, a cry came up from Washington to "Save General ‘Skinny’ Wainwright and the other POWs and internees in the CBI Theater". Among the prisoners were some of the surviving crews of the Doolittle Raider planes who were imprisoned after crash landing in China in 1942 after bombing Japan. There were also thousands of Allied servicemen who were left in hopeless positions in the Philippines, on Wake Island and in Indochina during the first year of the War. Special attention was drawn to General Wainwright who was left in command of U.S. forces in the Philippines on the March 11, 1942 departure of General Douglas MacArthur for safety in Australia. General Wainwright was seized by the Japanese at the surrender of Corregidor on May 6 1942 and treated as a coward due no respect because of the Japanese scorn for surrender. Thousands of survivors of the Bataan Death March and Wake Island surrender were to join him for years of humiliating imprisonment at the POW camps in China and Manchuria.?
Because of its broad network of agents behind Japanese lines and its experience in many rescue missions, this appeared to be a natural assignment for the Office of Strategic Services. OSS Director, Major General William J. "Wild Bill" Donovan, and his OSS organizations took on the challenge and began secretly developing plans for "The Mercy Mission" as early as April 1945 in anticipation of a possible early end of the war.?
OSS Rescue Mission Experience in Europe?
Following the example of the British MI-9 (Evasion & Escape units), OSS had set up networks in Europe for the supply and rescue of downed airmen and agents. The NY Times reported that the OSS teams rescued at least 4,000 allied airmen downed behind enemy lines. The OSS furnished airmen with maps, local contacts, escape training, signal mirrors, safe-houses, communications and escape transportation. ?In Yugoslavia, OSS Marine Major Walter Mansfield (later a highly respected Judge of the Federal Circuit Court of Appeal in NYC) jumped into enemy controlled Yugoslavia in August 1943 to form a network to rescue downed Allied airmen in the Balkans. In a mission near Bucharest, a team rescued over 100 airmen from one Nazi camp. The OSS claimed that many more than 1,300 downed airmen were rescued in Yugoslavia and Rumania alone.?
OSS Rescue Mission Experience in Burma & China?
Under Colonel Carl Eifler and Colonel Ray Peers, OSS Det. 101 rescued hundreds of Allied crews and passengers downed on flights between India and China over the "Hump". It also rescued hundreds of Allied airmen and personnel of the OSS, Merrill's Marauders and Mars Task in Burma, Thailand and Indochina. ?Early in 1944, General Donovan, Colonel Heppner of OSS Det. 202 in Kunming and General Chennault of the 14th Air Force formed the Air Ground Aid Section (AGAS) as an OSS-14th Air Force joint venture to rescue downed airmen, Allied troops and OSS agents in Japanese-controlled areas of China. OSS secret agents had penetrated most of the camps to determine their location, size, condition, prisoner profile and guard strength.?
POLITICAL-MILITARY ENVIRONMENT OF CHINA IN 1945?
Any plans to protect and rescue Allied POWs in China in August and September of 1945 were faced with political and military chaos and uncertainties that might endanger the lives of the prisoners and rescue teams and undermine the success of the mission. Among the most troublesome factors were the following:?
The Japanese Army and Guards?
The major Japanese POW camps were each guarded by several hundred Japanese soldiers under ruthless commanders who might not know that the war had ended and might fight the rescue teams, execute the prisoners to hide evidence of atrocities, move them in. marches or abandon them to die for lack of food and medical care.? No one could predict whether the Japanese in each camp believed that there had been a surrender and how they would react to the OSS rescue team. Since the teams might well be outnumbered at each camp by hundreds or even thousands of Japanese to seven or eight rescuers, these missions could be suicidal and very risky for the prisoners.?
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP)?
Under the leadership of Mao Tse-tung and Chou en Lai, the CCP claimed local authority over most of the areas in Northern China and were not friends of the OSS which it viewed as being allied with the Nationalists. It wasn't known how the Chinese Communists would react to the OSS rescue teams, but no support could be expected.?
The Nationalist Party (Kuomintang)?
Under the leadership of Chiang Kai Shek, the Nationalists were in theory allied with the United States in fighting the Japanese, but in fact did very little for that cause. They stored most of the supplies they received from the U.S. for future use against the Communists. There had been bitter conflicts between Chiang and General Stilwell with only slightly improved relationships when General Wedemeyer replaced General Stilwell in 1944 as Chiang's titular Chief of Staff.
Chiang's Chief of Secret Police, Gen. Tai Li ("Chinese Himmler"), worked openly to limit the OSS function in China. Not much, if any, support for the rescue missions could be expected from Chiang.?
The Chinese Provincial Warlords
No one knew whether the powerful provincial governors or warlords would support or hinder the rescue efforts. For example, in September 1945, while on a courier run with Sergeant Tanabe, we were seized and detained under armed guard at a Chinese military post outside Kunming from early morning until late afternoon when an OSS combat team led by Colonel Cox came to the rescue. Our captors were troops of the Yunnan Province Governor (Lung) who were engaged in a revolt against Chiang. Neither they nor we knew whether we were allies or enemies.?
The Russian Authorities in No. China & Manchuria?
In accordance with concessions made to Russia by Truman and Churchill at the Potsdam Conference in July-August 1945, Russia was given authority over part of North China and Manchuria.? Several of the most critical POW camps were located in these areas which were jealously controlled by the Russians who didn't want any US incursions into their area of influence. As turned out to be the case, they could present obstacles.?
The British and French?
It was no secret that the British and French looked with disfavor on the spread of US influence in the Far East and were particularly insistent that any rescue missions in Viet Nam, Indochina and Thailand be subject to their terms which favored dealing with local groups allied with the prewar colonialists rather than with the indigenous liberation groups that the OSS seemed to favor.?
The Conflicting US Policy Factions?
The most bothersome consideration was probably the uncertainty of US policy which boiled down to instructions not to offend any Chinese faction. The US China Lobby led by Clare Booth Luce backed the Nationalists as did the official US policy. However, at the urging of General Stilwell and Henry Wallace, steps were taken to explore the possibility of closer ties between the United States and the Communist Chinese. A delegation known as the "Dixie Mission" and composed of representatives from the State Department, Army and OSS was sent to Yenan in July 1944 to establish a relationship with Mao's Chinese Communist Party. The team was led by John Service who was targeted later by Senator Joseph McCarthy as being a dangerous communist. The delegation did manage to convince General George Marshall, Secretary of State Dean Acheson and Ambassador Patrick Hurley that Mao might be a better choice than a corrupt Chiang to lead post-war China. The British shared this view. It was difficult for the OSS leadership to know what constituted the official US policy.?
OSS Loose Cannons?
Known for its own adventurous loose cannons, the OSS would have to take steps to avoid unauthorized action in this tense and uncertain environment.?
ORGANIZATION OF THE MERCY MISSIONS?
With this set of regional problems and dangers in mind, Donovan took on the challenge of liberating General Wainwright and as many as 20,000 other Allied military POWs and 15,000 civilian internees stranded in more than 30 Japanese prison camps in the CBI Theater.?
In April 1945 and in anticipation of extended OSS operations in China, Colonel Heppner at General Donovan's suggestion sent Colonel Gustav Krause and 46 men to the OSS Hsian Detachment in northeastern China (1,200 miles from Kunming) to establish a base for sabotage operations and to set up air ground aid networks for the rescue and repatriation of downed Allied airmen and OSS personnel stranded behind enemy lines. It was decided that this was also to serve as the takeoff base for the teams that might be needed to rescue Allied POWs and internees in Japanese prison camps in China after the war. On August 10th, Colonel Heppner activated a previously prepared OSS contingency plan for the rescue of POWs that provided for eight teams of six to eight men each for possible rescue mission duty. Each team was to have a leader, a radio operator, a medic, a Chinese interpreter, a Japanese interpreter, two or three special force enlisted men and room for the local secret agent.?
A command team was established composed of Colonel Richard Heppner (Commander of OSS Det. 202 in Kunming), Colonel Ray Peers (former Commander of OSS Det. 101 in Burma), Lt. Colonel Richard Farr, Lt. Colonel Harry Little and Colonel Hugh Chandler. General Donovan flew over the 14,000 foot "hump" into Kunming in late July 1945 to meet with the command team. I was fortunate to be appointed General Donovan's aide for the duration of his visit and then to play a rather unheroic role in the Mercy Mission, so was familiar with the Mercy Mission adventure from start to finish. Colonel Bill Davis and Colonel Harley Steven arranged with the 14th (General Chennault) and 10th (General Davidson) Air Forces for planes to transport the teams to their targets and to drop cargo of nourishment, medical supplies and clothing for the prisoners. No date was set for the drop, but all personnel totaling about 100 were on alert.?
The rescue mission plan involved five steps for each team:?
It had been decided that the rescue teams would take off just as soon as the Japanese accepted the surrender terms provided in the Potsdam Agreement which happened on August 15th. By that morning, the eight teams were ready to go, and the first four were assembled at the Hsian base to board planes to take them to the target jump areas. Although there were well over 30 large Japanese prison camps in China and adjacent territory holding over 30,000 prisoners. the OSS rescue mission was directed at the eight which seemed most vulnerable and where most of the US military personnel and dignitaries were being held, namely Peking, Weishien, Mukden, Harbin, Shanghai, Hainan, Hanoi and Korea. Each team bore the name of a different kind of bird.?
Magpie Team (Peking "Beijing" area):?
On August 15th, the Magpie Team led by Major Ray Nichols and including Captain Ned Carpenter (AGAS), Lt. Fontaine Jarman and Lt. Mahlon F. Perkins, Jr. flew to the OSS main base at Hsian and then on August 19th to Beijing aboard a B-24. They dropped leaflets telling the people that the war was over and that they were coming for the prisoners. All eight jumped safely followed by the drop of supplies and medical items for the prisoners. Not convinced that the war was over, the Japanese soldiers captured them and took Major Nichols to the Japanese general for clarification. The general was very apologetic and put the entire team up at a good hotel for two days to await final clearance. On August 20th, approximately fifty US, British & Australian prisoners were released to the rescue team. Among these prisoners was Commander Winfield S. Scott, Commander of naval and marine forces captured at Wake Island on December 23, 1941. Among the more than 500 prisoners freed the next day were many marines captured on Wake Island including Major James P. Devereux and four of the surviving Doolittle Raiders who had been kept in solitary confinement since being captured in 1942. On August 27th, B-24s took off from Peking with loads of liberated Wake Island marines and took them to OSS headquarters in Kunming.?
Duck Team (Weihsien)?
On August 17th, the 7-man team composed of its leader, Major Stanley A. Staiger, Ensign James W. Moore (SI), Lt. James J. Hannon (AGAS), a medic, a radioman and a Japanese translator jumped from a B24 near Weihsien on the Shantung Peninsula southeast of Peking about 90 miles west of Tsingtao and not far from Korea. A distinguished looking Chinese gentleman wearing a business suit and carrying a briefcase joined the team immediately after the landing. He knew the area and the camp very well. He was an OSS Special Intelligence agent who, disguised as a humble Chinese peasant, had been allowed into the camp daily for many months before to clean the latrines and gather "night soil" for fertilizer use on the farms. He provided the OSS with a map of the area and had contacts within the camp that enabled him to file reports on the strength of the guards, the general identity of the prisoners and an appraisal of their physical condition.?
Since most of the 2,000 internees at this Civilian Assembly Camp were Allied civilians, the administration and guards were under the direction of the Japanese Consular Service, but a Japanese Colonel and a contingent of his troops kept close watch nearby. As the Duck Team members jumped, they saw many armed Japanese guards and soldiers running out from the camp toward the drop area ready for battle, but hundreds of jubilant internees held them off, embraced the rescuers and then helped gather the supplies being dropped from the plane. After that, the Japanese put up no significant resistance.?
领英推荐
One of internees there was the Scottish 1924 Olympic Gold Medal winner, Eric Liddell, who was the main character portrayed in the "Chariots of Fire" movie, but he died on February 21. 1945 just six months before the liberation.?
Another notable internee there was a fragile middle-aged woman in solitary confinement with a room by herself and who seldom spoke to anyone. The Japanese treated her specially and never referred to her by any name other than the "Yank Lady". In 1985, a State Department officer found a file of short messages sent by liberated internees from this camp a day or so after their liberation. One without the name of an addressee or addressor was sent to the address where Amelia Earhart and her husband had lived at the time of her disappearance in 1937. It merely said "Camp liberated, all well, volumes to tell. Love to Mother". This has led to a theory that the
"Yank Lady" in the Weishien Camp was Amelia Earhart, but another theory is that the message could have been from some friend of her husband who might have been an internee there.
No one knows what happened to the "Yank Lady" after the liberation, so the Amelia Earhart mystery lives on.?
mFlamingo Team (Harbin in Heilongjiang Province)?
The Flamingo Team which had been scheduled to jump into Harbin had to be canceled at the last minute because Harbin was under communist control and clearance couldn't be obtained from the Russians who had occupied the area in early August 1945.?
Cardinal Team (Mukden -now Shenyang)?
While most of the POWs in the Mukden area were held at the Hotan camp, there was another smaller camp for VIP prisoners about 100 miles northeast of Mukden. Both were Cardinal Team targets, but I'll treat them and an additional support team separately.?
1.???? ?Hotan POW Camp at Harbin?
On the night of August 16-17th, the Cardinal Team of six OSS operatives led by Major Robert Lamar took off from Hsian and jumped in near Mukden on the Hun River in China's northeast province of Liaoning. They moved by foot three miles to the Hotan prison camp at Harbin. This area was the main industrial center in Japanese-occupied Manchuria and was heavily dependent on POW slave labor for work in machine factories, mines and a large tannery. Japanese medical teams at Unit 731 of the Hotan camp were alleged to have used the prisoners for life-threatening medical experiments and as live targets for testing weapons and the effect of poison chemicals. It was estimated that among the approximately 1,600 prisoners in the camp were 280 US officers and 1,038 enlisted men at the time of liberation and that over 500 prisoners had died since first moved to Mukden in early November of 1942. An Allied B-29 bombing raid on Mukden factories on December 7, 1944 hit the camp killing 19 POWs and wounding 35 others.?
Apprehended by a Japanese patrol unaware of the Japanese surrender, the team was disarmed, stripped and beaten. After several hours, Major Lamar was taken to the Japanese headquarters in Mukden where he was told that word had just arrived that the war had ended. The next day the OSS team was released, but they were told that the prisoners couldn't be released without formal permission from the Russians who controlled the area. On August 20th, several Russian officers supported by a force of soldiers came to the camp, disarmed the Japanese and grudgingly agreed to let the OSS team proceed with the liberation of over 1,600 prisoners including four of the Doolittle raiders (Lt. Robert Hite, Lt. Chase Nielson, Lt. George Barr and Cpl. De Shuzer) and numerous survivors of the Bataan death march. On August 29th, a 19-man relief team reached Mukden to assist in the evacuation.?
Marine Captain R. F. Hilsman, Jr., fresh from OSS Det. 101 and duty with Merrill's Marauders in Burma, suspecting that his father might be imprisoned a Hotan, requested permission to join the Cardinal Team. He had the emotional experience of liberating his own father, Colonel R. F. Hilsman, who had been the US commander on Negros Island captured two months after the fall of Corregidor. Rising slowly from his cot, the emaciated Colonel tried to appear military amid tears and asked his son "What took you so long?" The main body of the 1,600 Allied POWs at the Hotan camp left Mukden by train to Darien early in September to board ships bound for Okinawa on the way home.?
2.???? Seihan Camp: (Seihan) (Liao-yuan)?
General Wainwright and several dozen other VIP prisoners were at a smaller camp in Seihan (Liao-yuan) about 110 miles northeast of Mukden commanded by Japanese Colonel Matsuda. Since it was well inside the area of Manchuria controlled by the Russians, the OSS rescue team needed their permission to enter the Seihan Camp. When limited permission was obtained the next day (August 19th), the team moved on to Seihan and were given access to but not control of the prisoners. It was permitted to visit with 62 year old General Wainwright and the other high ranking prisoners including British General Arthur E. Percival (former British commander at Singapore), Sir Mark Young (former governor of Hong Kong), C.R. Smith (former governor of Borneo and Australian Major General Callahan.?
After more delays, a senior Russian officer escorted the VIP prisoners to Mukden on August 24th. Three days later, this group boarded a train at Mukden for the 1,200-mile trip to the OSS base camp at Hsian. From there, they were flown to Chungking. General Wainwright was very frail and needed two canes. He kept asking whether the American people blamed him for the Philippine surrender and seemed to think he might be court-marshaled. Instead, General Wedemeyer managed to find him a new uniform complete with two stars, insignia and all his ribbons.?
General Wainwright and British General Percival were flown to Tokyo Bay in time to join General MacArthur for the surrender ceremony on September 2nd aboard the USS Missouri. Shortly after his return to the United States he received his permanent third star (Lt. General rank) and the Congressional Medal of Honor which MacArthur had previously blocked, perhaps because he didn't want his subordinate to receive this prestigious medal before he did. General MacArthur could never accept the fact that General Donovan (when a mere National Guard Lt. Colonel during World War I ) received the Congressional Medal of Honor while he (a proud West Point Colonel), serving in the same division, received no such high honor.?
The Cardinal Team returned to Kunming on September 19th.?
3.???? Captain Birch's Support Team?
While leading an OSS team in support of the Cardinal Team, Captain John Birch and his small group left the liberated Hotan camp near Mukden on August 25, by railroad handcar headed for Suchow in Jiangsu Province. The team was stopped by a Communist Chinese patrol at a road block 30 miles short of Suchow. After Captain Birch insisted strongly that he be allowed to go on, the Chinese officer ordered that the team be disarmed. When Captain Birch refused to surrender his pistol, his teammate (Lt. Tung) tried to intercede and was shot in the leg. The Communists then shot Birch in the hip and tied his hands and ankles. After forcing him to kneel, the Chinese soldiers destroyed his face with at least twelve bayonet thrusts before shooting him in the back of the head. They threw his body and a beaten but surviving Lt. Tung in a garbage ditch.?
On August 30, 1945 during a meeting in Chungking with Ambassador Hurley, Mao Tse-tung and Chou En-lai, General Wedemeyer protested the murder of Captain Birch, but nothing further was done about it. The US Government kept details of his death secret to avoid a reaction that might offend Mao and Russia at a time when efforts were being made to improve relation with them. (See "The Secret File of John Birch" Hefley, J. C.) His family were told that he was killed in accidental crossfire.?
3а. Birch Background:?
A little background on John Birch seems appropriate here. He was the son of Baptist missionaries in India, a magna cum laude college graduate and a Rhodes Scholar.
After ordination as a Baptist minister, he studied Chinese and went to Japanese-occupied China as a missionary in 1939 when just 22 years old. After Pearl Harbor, he volunteered for duty as a U.S. Army chaplain, but was turned down because of his unwillingness to end his missionary work in China.?
While hiding from the Japanese in the Shanghai area in April of 1942 disguised as a native coolie, he was taken by friendly Chinese to see a group of Americans hiding on a sampan. It was Lt. Colonel Jimmy Doolittle and several of the 80 US airmen who had taken off on 16
Army Air Forces twin-engine B-25 bombers from the carrier USS Hornet on April 18, 1942 to begin the surprise bombing raid on Tokyo, Kobe, Osaka and Nagoya in Japan. After the successful raid, they crash-landed in southeastern China. Some died in the crashes, many were imprisoned or killed by the Japanese and others survived with the help of friendly Chinese. Colonel Doolittle and his crew landed in a rice patty near Hangzhou southwest of Shanghai. Birch led Doolittle and a few other surviving Doolittle raiders through over 1,000 miles of Japanese occupied territory to safety in Chungking. Colonel Doolittle persuaded General Claire
Chennault of the 14th Air Force ("Fighting Tigers") to offer Birch a commission to improve the unit's intelligence operations in China. He accepted the offer on the condition that he would be allowed to continue to do his missionary work. During the following two years, he set up field intelligence networks for Chennault and the OSS, traveling hundreds of miles behind Japanese lines in China to identify targets, direct the construction of three airstrips within enemy territory and engage in the rescue of Allied airmen and other Allied personnel. For this, he was awarded the Legion of Merit on July 17, 1944.?
In mid-1944, he transferred to OSS Det. 202 in Kunming as a Secret Intelligence specialist and by September 1945 had established 12 networks of intelligence agents from Peking to the Yellow River bend near Hsian. In early 1945 he was sent to the OSS base at Hsian under the command of Major Gustav Krause to participate in its AGAS rescue operations and eventually in the OSS Mercy Mission. For his "exceptionally meritorious service" Birch was awarded posthumously an Oak Leaf Cluster to his Legion of Merit medal.?
In 1959 during the reactionary period of the McCarthy hearings, Robert Welch founded an ultra-conservative organization to oppose the spread of Communism and named it the "John Birch Society" since he considered John Birch to be the first American killed by communist armed forces. This seems to have been a strange choice because John Birch was never active politically and would probably have objected to this use of his name.?
Sparrow Team (Shanghai)?
On August 16th, led by Lt. John Cox, the Sparrow Team flew into Shanghai and were all interned by Japanese troops until their status could be clarified.?
Pigeon Team (Hainan Island)?
The Team parachuted into Bakli Bay (Kainan Island) southwest of Canton (Guangzhou) and Hong Kong where many US citizens were among the 400 interned in the camp there. Most of the internees were quite ill and in need of extensive medical care. There was no serious opposition to the liberation.?
Quail (Hanoi)?
On August 22nd, the twelve-man Quail Team led by Major Archimedes Patti and accompanied by French Major Jean R. Sainteny (head of French intelligence M-5 in Kunming) and his entourage of four Frenchmen sent along "to keep the Americans in their place," landed at an airport near Hanoi. As the team prepared to do battle when the plane was surrounded by truckloads of belligerent Japanese soldiers with several tanks, a crowd of Indian POW workers captured at the fall of Singapore held off the Japanese until higher Japanese officials allowed the team to proceed to the POW camp.? On September 26, 1945, Lt. Colonel A. Peter Dewey, chief of the OSS Embankment Project to which the Quail Team reported was killed in Saigon by a Japanese patrol.?
Eagle (Korea)?
Lt. Col. Willis Bird leader of a team of about 20 landed in Weishien on August 19, 1945 on its way to liberate camps in Korea, but it was decided that liberation wasn't needed. Colonel Bird returned to Chungking on August 21th.?
Seagull (Hankow)?
OSS Nisei Ralph Yempuku led a team into the POW camp at Hankow (Wuhan) 500 miles southwest of Shanghai and Nanking on the north side of the Yangsze River at its junction with the Han River in Hupeh Province. The Japanese there were aware that the war was over and offered no resistance.?
Although not a part of the original Mercy Mission plan, there were several other OSS rescue missions to be mentioned:?
Canton (SW China)?
An OSS team landing at an airstrip near Canton came under Japanese antiaircraft fire and once landed were detained under heavy guard for five hours before being forced to leave without reaching the POWs.?
Raven (Laos)?
I don't have any details about this mission.?
Petburi Liberation (Bangkok)?
Although beyond the China area, OSS operatives jumped into the Petburi POW camp near Bangkok (Thailand) and liberated 315 survivors of the USS Houston sunk by the Japanese in February 1942.?
CONCLUSION?
No one will ever know what might have happened to the more than 35,000 Allied prisoners and internees if General Donovan had not sent out the OSS Mercy Mission teams. Perhaps a mass execution, another death march, abandonment or a peaceful voluntary liberation. The end result was that none of the 35,000 prisoners and internees in China or Indochina were killed or abused after the end of the war in August 1945. Although some considered the rescue teams to be on suicidal assignments, only two of about 100 participants died on these missions. Captain John Birch was killed on August 25,1945 near Mukden and Lt. Colonel A. Peter Dewey on September 26, 1945 in Hanoi. This was probably the last major OSS mission, because President Harry Truman, who knew little about the OSS and was influenced against it by J. Edgar Hoover, the Director of the Budget and other of General Donovan’s detractors, abolished the OSS late in September effective as of October 1, 1945. President Truman was told that General Donovan had too much uncontrolled power and wanted to form a U.S. Gestapo. General Donovan resigned immediately and left to assume his new duties as U.S. Deputy Prosecutor at the war crime trials in Nuremberg and a leading advisor in the formation of the Common Market and Marshall Plan. Acknowledging his mistake in abolishing the OSS, Truman reestablished it as the Central Intelligence Group on January 22, 1946. In July 1947, The National Security Council, the Department of Defense and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) were created. The CIA was almost exactly what General Donovan had recommended in 1945.
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[1] Maynard, Robert W., Fox and Hounds Talk on OSS Mercy Mission, undated.