OSS CBI Photobook 16 - Team JACKAL, Black Ducks, Transition to Kaifeng, Part 2, The Dollar

In Part 1, we began the study of Page 16, and noted the transition from the first base camp, somewhere near Kunming, the terminus of the Burma Road, south of the Yangtze.  The majority of the photos on the page are from that location.  

Team JACKAL has moved about a thousand miles to the northeast, to Kaifeng of many canals, on the Yellow River, east of the target destination, Hsien.

The photo top right is the first to show a canal; the photo bottom center shows a houseboat on a canal or a lake.  See how they and the dollar bill slant off - to the northeast, as it were.

Page 16, scan of bottom half.

Eugene Zdrojewski and Albert Robichaud.

Why save this dollar?  Let us take a close look.

C.H. Phelps,

F. A. BucKANAN,

G.A. Cook,

J. KEllEY

S.W. Hart

S.P. LIU

James D. Kelley rotated the bill
and wrote his address:  Pritchard, West Virginia.

Roy Perkins, Jr.

GABRIEL MASH
B'KLYN, N.Y.

The dollar bill is glued to the page with the purple letters backwards.  When we flip the image of the scan, we see this, below.  Can you read the top line?  If so, please let me know.

"KAIFENG, CHINA" is Dad's writing; I can tell you that.

Captain Edward B. Zarembo

Kaifeng

Chinese commando patch.
From the OSS site.

Bridge Demolition Class from "Time Runs Out in CBI"

"DEMOLITIONS CLASS ON A BRIDGE. Men of the Chinese 14th Division show members of an officer candidate class how to destroy a bridge with properly placed demolitions."

Photo and caption are taken from Romanus & Sunderland, The United States Army in World War II, China-Burma-India Theater, Time Runs Out in CBI.

This is one of the entries in Hyperwar:  A Hypertext History of the Second World War.

OSS Jump Instructors Near Kunming, in David W. Hogan, Jr.'s Special Ops Book; Albert Wedemeyer

U.S. Army Special Operations in World War II is an online book, in which Chapter 5 deals with Special Operations in CBI Theater.

Below is an excerpt from pages 124-126, in Chapter 5 (emphasis mine):

 "The establishment of an independent OSS branch in China and the end of the war in Europe in early 1945 greatly facilitated the expansion of OSS operations. After assuming command of the new China Theater in October 1944, Maj. Gen. Albert C. Wedemeyer pushed hard for control over all U.S. clandestine operations in China. His arguments before the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Donovan's constant complaints to President Roosevelt of Chinese obstructionism finally resulted in the creation of an OSS agency independent of the Sino-American Cooperative Organization and under Wedemeyer's control. Meanwhile, the end of the war in Europe enabled the OSS to shift materiel, supplies, and personnel, including trained operational groups, to the Far East. By the summer of 1945 four-man OSS teams were training and leading large groups of Chinese partisans in operations against Japanese communications in southern China.39

Even before the end of the war in Europe, OSS personnel had been attempting to organize Chinese commando forces for operations behind enemy lines. The idea apparently drew its inspiration from Wedemeyer, who, as a staff officer, had been involved in the formation of Darby's Rangers. Given the generally deplorable performance of Chiang's regular army in the field, the American theater commander hoped that smaller Chinese units, with intensive American training and guidance, might fight more effectively than the standard Chinese divisions. After some opposition, Chiang's government grudgingly agreed in February 1945 to provide about 4,000 troops, food, clothing, and equipment for a force of twenty commando units. Almost immediately, the project encountered problems. The Chinese soldiers failed to arrive at the training area in Kunming until mid-April, and the quality of those who finally came varied greatly. Not surprisingly, Chiang's generals gave little support to the effort. Nevertheless, with the Office of Strategic Services in China providing most of the supplies and equipment, the OSS instructors began a hurried eight-week course in weapons training, guerrilla tactics, and parachuting. By July three commando units, each containing about 150 Chinese and 20 American advisers, were ready for the field.40

On balance, the program was a success but came too late in the war to have much of an impact. Under the operational control of the Chinese military command, the commandos were to attack communications, to capture significant operational objectives, to gather intelligence, and to protect key facilities from destruction by retreating Japanese forces. Although the commandos later suffered severe losses in the field, they exhibited a fighting spirit rare in the other Nationalist combat units, but lack of coordination and their subsequent misuse as line infantry were major problems. For example, during an assault by three commando units and the Chinese 265th Regiment on Tanchuk airfield, the OSS-trained forces seized high ground overlooking the airfield but took heavy casualties and were forced to withdraw when the 265th failed to arrive in time to support them. An attack on Taiyuanshih by another commando unit and local guerrillas also failed for similar reasons. Nevertheless, by the time the Japanese finally surrendered in August 1945, the commandos appeared to have become an effective fighting force. The Chinese Nationalist high command, however, continued to mistrust these American-inspired units and showed little grasp of their proper employment.41"

Citations:

"39. Roosevelt, War Report of the OSS, 2: 364, 417-18, 440-47; Miles, A Different Kind of War, pp. 433-41, 455, 476; Smith, OSS, p. 266; Albert C. Wedemeyer, Wedemeyer Reports! (New York: Holt, 1958), pp. 252-53, 271. 

40. Roosevelt, War Report of the OSS, 2: 417, 443, 454-55; see OSS/China monthly reports in OSS, History Office Files, Entry 99, Boxes 65-66, RG 226, NARA; Memorandum of Information to the JCS, 10 Aug 45, OSS, History Office Files, Entry 99, Box 68, Folder 218, RG 226, NARA.

41. Operational group monthly reports and the Nanking Mission in Folders 207 and 208, OSS Activities China, 11 Jun 45, and Memorandum of Information for the JCS, 30 Aug 45, Sub: OSS Special Operations in China, Folder 211, all in OSS, History Office Files, Entry 99, Boxes 65-66, RG 226, NARA."

The photo below is linked within page 125, Chapter 5:

Officers and men of the OSS who instructed Chinese commandos in parachute jumping and commando tactics at the commando training camp in Kunming, China (U.S. Army photograph)

Fourth row, standing, second from the right:  Eugene Zdrojewski.
(My identification.)

Second row, seated, second from left:  Is this Frenchie?
Edit: Yes.

Third row, standing, fourth from left.

First row, seated, third from left.
This looks like Ralph Sebastian
from A.S.T.P. Chicago days.

General Albert Coady Wedemeyer pushed the Joint Chiefs
to get OSS in CBI out of the SACO.
(Widipedia photo.)

Wedemeyer on the Ledo Road.
(Source: LedoRoad site.)

Nebraska boy in China.
(Source: Romanus & Sunderland.)

Chinese Commandos in Training - Detail from OSS CBI Photobook 16 - Team JACKAL, Black Ducks, Transition to Kaifeng, Part 1

The OSS website "Primer" section has a short introductory page to Detachment 202.  This photo, from that page, shows Chinese commandos at jump training given by OSS Operational Groups instructors, using a crashed C-47 airplane.

Their hats, in particular, interest us today.  Their hats and uniforms are the same as those of the eager young soldier in Photobook Page 16, introduced in previous post.

Major Wu Ping Lin

 

The Americans and their allies taught the Chinese how to jump, how to fight hand-to-hand, how to perform reconnaissance of the sort required, and how to use plastic explosives.  The objectives were to harry the Japanese, impede their transport, keep them on the defensive in China rather than in reinforcement of their other troops defending the islands of the southwest Pacific, and gather information necessary in the event of an Allied land invasion of China to defeat the Japanese.

OSS CBI Photobook 16 - Team JACKAL, Black Ducks, Transition to Kaifeng, Part 1

Scan of top half of Page 16

Still on guard for bad guys in that cave!  What's that patch on Dad's left shoulder?

I wonder if this page shows us a transition from the first HQ, from earlier pages, to Kaifeng.  See the masts of the houseboats - and that dome; what is it? - and those black blobs on the nearest houseboat.

This is as close-in as I can scan it.  Things also become more clear just from straightening the picture.  See the ripples on the water surface?  Those blobs are ducks, black ducks: two on the house roof and one at the stern.  You can see the blade of the oar that the woman is rowing, and the pole being worked by the man in the bow.

Two more houseboats are in the background.  What is the dark blob seemingly attached to the rightmost houseboat?  Maybe it is a gadget; maybe a person is holding a jar.

Some damage shows up in the enlargement, below.

Zdrojewski and Robichaud together.  Frenchie taught Dad some French; I recall it now, and perhaps it explains why he would not let me spend senior year of high school in France as an exchange student.

Details of equipment show up, below, including dog tags, shoulder patch, wristwatch (which we still have), camera, something in his shirt pocket.

Here pops up on enlargement another fine view of the carbine an strap, watch, camera, bracelet.  We have the strap and the jump bracelet.  Now, who is the proud young man bottom right?

Who is he? How come he has no insignia?  The pouch on his belt is stamped "U.S."

Notice what is behind him: a soldier in all the kit (Is it Dad?) on a Kansas mule or Chinese pony. Where are they and what is happening?

UPDATE 2023:

This is Major Wu Ping Lin.

He was on the JACKAL team for the bridges demolition.

His daughter and friends have contacted me;

I have their kind permission to post his memoir.

OSS CBI Photobook 15 - Southwest China, 1945- Reconnaissance, Part 5, Foldout of Terrain

Previous posts concerning this page include:

Part 1,

Part 2, "Is This Frenchie?",

Part 3, "The Rifle Strap",

Part 4.

A clutch of prints, taped together and folded up, were stuck somewhere in the Photobook.  Finally I figured out that they constituted a foldout from the top of Page 15.  Together they afford a wide-angle view of a certain valley, taken from pretty high up on one side.

Ten prints, roughly cut to 4x4 inches, have a total length of 41 inches.  I jumped up onto my desk to give you this overview.

Prints 1 and 2, by my numbering system, are glued into the book.  Presumably they are, by Dad's notation, J/R15NP13 and J/R15NP14.

Part of Print 2, all of 3, part of 4, below.  Print 3 has J/R15NP15 written on the back in his handwriting.

Prints 4 and 5, labeled J/R15NP16 and J/R15NP17, below.

Prints 6 and 7, labeled J/R15NP18 (presumably; the writing is obscured) and J/R15NP19, below:

Prints 8, 9, and 10, labeled J/R15NP20, J/R15NP21, (writing again obscured), and J/R15NP22, below.

Below are the same three, 8, 9, and 10, scanned.

Scan below of Prints 1 and 2, glued to Page 15:

Prints 3 and 4, below, with the village in its trees coming into view:

Prints 5 and 6, with the rest of the village at the left, and in the center a road that curves toward the village and then runs straight across the valley:

Prints 7 and 8 below, with another village consisting of several long buildings, and the first tufts of grass in the foreground:

Prints 9 and 10 complete the panorama:

One photo Record Book, at least, is in the Trove.  So far I have found records of other rolls, but not Roll 15.   The "J" is a mystery, but the rest surely means, for example, "Roll 15, Negative Print 20."

If I find an annotated record of Roll 15, we can learn precisely where this was.

Julie