Joseph Stilwell

Joseph Warren Stilwell (March 19, 1883 – October 12, 1946) was a United States Army four-star general best-known for his service in China.

Stilwell was born in Palatka, Florida in 1883 of patrician Yankee stock, and graduated from West Point in 1904. He served in the Philippines, taught at West Point, attended the Infantry Advanced Course, and the Command and General Staff College. During World War I, he was the U.S. Fourth Corps intelligence officer and helped plan the St. Mihiel offensive. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for his service in France. Between the wars, Stilwell served three tours in China, where he became fluent in Chinese and was the military attaché at the United States Embassy from 1935 to 1939. In 1939-40 he served in the U.S. 2nd Infantry Division and, in 1940-1, organized and trained the U.S. 7th Infantry Division at Fort Ord, California. It was there that his leadership style that emphasized concern for the individual soldier earned him the nickname of “Uncle Joe.” This was ironic in view of the resentment felt by many servicemen under his command in Burma.

Just prior to World War II, Stilwell was recognized as the top corps commander in the Army and was initially selected to plan and command the Allied invasion of North Africa. However, when it became necessary to send a senior officer to China to keep that country in the War, Stilwell was selected. He became the Chief of Staff to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek, was the commander of the China-Burma-India Theater, was responsible for all Lend-Lease supplies going to China, and later was Deputy Commander of the Southeast Asia Command.

Stilwell's post in the China-Burma-India Theater, while a geographical command on the same level as the commands of Eisenhower and MacArthur, was a more complicated one due to the lower priority of the Theater for supplies and personnel and the greater need to balance political and military activities. The British and the Chinese, ill-equipped, and often on the receiving end of the Japanese were largely on the defensive. Chiang Kai-shek, in particular, was only interested in hoarding the US Lend Lease supplies for later use during the inevitable civil war, putting him directly at odds with Stilwell who wanted to use the supplies to prosecute the War. While outwardly giving Stilwell command of some Chinese troops, he continually issued countermanding directives and actively created roadblocks. General Marshall acknowledged he had given Stilwell the toughest assignment of any theater commander.

Stilwell Arrives in CBI

Arriving in Burma just in time to experience the collapse of the Allied defense of that country, which cut China off from all land and sea supply routes, Stilwell personally led the American forces out of Burma on foot. This courageous walkout from Burma and his bluntly honest assessment of the disaster captured the imagination of the American public, badly in need of candor and an American hero at that stage of the War. China was now cut off completely from Allied aid and material, except through the hazardous route of flying cargo aircraft over the Himalayas from India, which was known as flying "The Hump". Early on, the Combined Chiefs of Staff had determined that US ground forces would not be sent to China; they realized that there was an inability to support them adequately. Conceptually, the Allies' strategy was that China would supply the ground forces to fight the Japanese and the Americans would provide logistical and air support. Convinced that the Chinese soldier, given the proper care and leadership, was the equal of any, Stilwell established a training center for two divisions of Chinese troops in India. Stilwell's primary goals remained the opening of a land route to China from northern Burma and India so that greater supplies could be transported to China, and to organize a competent Chinese army that would fight the Japanese. Strategically, this was the only area at that time where the possibility existed for the Allies of engaging large numbers of troops against the common enemy, Japan. Stilwell was constantly embroiled in disagreements with Chiang Kai-Shek about engaging Chinese forces against the Japanese. Stilwell would press Chiang to fight, while Chiang, with some legitimacy, preferred to preserve a defensive posture, both for political and military reasons. Chiang wanted to keep Chinese Nationalist forces ready to fight the Communists under Mao Tse-tung after the end of the war with the Japanese; he was also concerned that his troops lacked training and adequate supplies. Infuriated by what Stilwell regarded as Chiang's corruption, incompetence and timidity, Stilwell constantly filed reports to Washington complaining of Chiang's inaction. Eventually, Stilwell’s belief that Chiang and his generals were incompetent and corrupt reached such proportions that Stilwell sought to cut off Lend-Lease aid to China. In his diary, which he faithfully kept and in which he poured out vitriolic comments, Stilwell began to refer to Chiang as "the Peanut." For his part, Chiang would actually countermand orders issued by Stilwell to Chinese units in his capacity as Chief of Staff to Chiang. Additionally, since the amount of supplies that could be transported to China by air were inadequate, Stilwell constantly fought not only Chiang, who demanded impossibly large amounts of supplies before he would agree to take offensive action, but also the American Air Forces in China under General Claire Lee Chennault, which demanded large percentages of the supplies for their own operations. Stilwell continually clashed with the British Commander-in-Chief and later Viceroy in India, Field Marshal Wavell, and apparently came to believe that the British in India were more concerned with protecting their colonial possessions there than helping the Chinese fight the Japanese. In August 1943, as a result of the conflicting goals of the British, Americans and Chinese, the feuding between the three allies, and the lack of coherence of a strategic vision for the (CBI) theater, the Combined Chiefs of Staff split the CBI command into a Chinese theater and a Southeast Asia theater.

With the establishment of the new Southeast Asia Command in August 1943, Stilwell was appointed Deputy Supreme Allied Commander under Vice-Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten. He built up the Chinese forces for an offensive in northern Burma and on 21 December he assumed direct control of operations to capture the Burmese city of Myitkyina. The city did not fall until August 1944. Among other reasons, Stilwell blamed the British Long Range Penetration Groups for not obeying his orders promptly enough. When British General Slim, commander of British and Commonwealth forces in Burma, said the men were exhausted and should be withdrawn, Stilwell would not agree until the men had undergone a medical examination. Although he was hampered by his own unrealistic goals, his refusal to co-operate with his allies, and arguments over division of Lend Lease supplies, the Chinese troops as well as British Imperial troops under his command eventually managed to achieve the shortening of the air supply route and eventually reopened the Burma Road (later renamed by Chiang Kai-Shek the Stilwell Road in grudging acknowledgment of Stilwell's efforts) as the primary land supply route to China. During 1944, the Japanese launched Operation Ichi-Go and overran US air bases in Eastern China to prevent bombardment of the home islands of Japan. Chiang Kai-Shek seized this opportunity to rid himself of the querulous Stilwell, and blamed him for the Japanese successes, demanding that the Americans recall him. In October 1944 Stilwell was relieved of his commands by President Roosevelt, and returned unceremoniously to the USA.

Barbara Tuchman claims in her book Stilwell and the American Experience in China, that he was sacrificed as a political expedient due to his inability to get along with his allies in the theater. Stilwell's removal was certainly a result of substantial political pressure by Chiang Kai-Shek, both through diplomatic means and through Chiang's wife and Chiang's friends in the U.S. "China Lobby", an influential group of Americans, including Time Magazine publisher Henry Luce, and his wife, Clare Boothe Luce, that supported Chiang's government. However, Stilwell did not help his case in Washington with his acerbic comments and feuds with his Allies, subordinates and other American commanders (notably Chennault) in China, which led to his nickname of "Vinegar Joe." Some historians have asserted that President Roosevelt was concerned that Chiang Kai-Shek would sign a separate peace with Japan, thereby freeing many Japanese divisions to fight elsewhere, and that Roosevelt wanted to placate Chiang Kai-Shek. Finally, there was also the perception among some troops, British and American, that he was incompetent in command and lacked empathy with the troops he commanded. Units, particularly the Chindits and Merrill's Marauders that fought under his command were virtually destroyed and consistently worn down in combat under extremely difficult circumstances. Stilwell may not have clearly understood the environment in which they were operating, and has been criticized by some historians for his tactical employment of these units.

Despite prompting by the news media, he never complained about his treatment by Washington or by Chiang Kai-Shek. He later served as Commander of Army Ground Forces; Tenth Army Commander in the closing battle for Okinawa in 1945; and as Sixth Army Commander, dying on October 12, 1946, of cancer at the Presidio of San Francisco while still on active duty. His ashes were scattered on the Pacific Ocean; a cenotaph was placed at the West Point Cemetery. Among his military decorations are the Distinguished Service Cross, Distinguished Service Medal with one Oak Leaf Cluster, the Legion of Merit degree of Commander, the Bronze Star, and the Combat Infantryman Badge.

Stilwell was never troubled by scandal in his private life. Of his disagreements with Chiang Kai-shek and his recall from China he wrote: "The trouble was largely one of posture. I tried to stand on my feet instead of my knees. I did not think the knee position was a suitable one for Americans."

He was known for his impatience and sharp tongue when confronted with incompetence, inaction, or pomposity. As with many leaders, he had a surplus of personal courage; whether it was in the Philippines, during the Sino-Japanese War, or on the Walkout from Burma, he was always moving forward and tried to imprint his leadership on all those around him.

His trademarks were an old campaign hat, GI shoes, and no insignia of rank. Portraying himself as a sort of Soldiers General.

Stilwell’s home, built in 1933-4, on Carmel Point, Carmel, California is still a private home with a plaque in front identifying it as Stilwell’s home. A number of streets, buildings, and areas across the country have been named for Stilwell over the years, including Joseph Stilwell Middle School, in Jacksonville, Florida. The Soldiers’ Club he envisioned in 1940 (a time when there was no such thing as a soldiers’ club in the Army) was completed in 1943 at Fort Ord on the bluffs overlooking Monterey Bay. Many years later the building was renamed “Stilwell Hall” in his honor, but because of the erosion of the bluffs over the decades, the building was taken down in 2003.

On August 24, 2000, the United States Postal Service issued a 10¢ postage stamp honoring Stilwell.

Awards and decorations

Distinguished Service Cross
Distinguished Service Medal with Oak leaf cluster
Legion of Merit
Philippine Campaign Medal
World War I Victory Medal
China Service Medal
American Defense Service Medal
Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal
World War II Victory Medal
Combat Infantryman Badge (to date, Stilwell is the only soldier ever to receive a CIB as a general officer, through an act of Congress)
Chevalier Légion d'honneur

External links

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Stilwell Arrives in CBI

Awards and decorations

See also

External links