Book Pick: Forgotten Ally: China's WWII 1937-1945, by Rana Mitter

It dawned on me I never read a word of Chinese history when I spied "Forgotten Ally" at my local library. The closest I came was nearly 60 years ago devouring "God Is My Co-Pilot", Col. Robert L. Scott's memoir as fighter pilot with Gen. Claire Chennault's Flying Tigers, the shark nosed P-40's dog-fighting Japanese Zeros on behalf ...of the Chinese Nationalists. It turns out much of our current political strains with now world economic and political powerhouse China were born in the crucible of WWII, when China suffered early and often at the hands of the Japanese and the neglect of the Brits and Yanks who did little to relieve horrific Chinese suffering. How horrific? China was the sole nation to battle Japan for eight long years when one of many skirmishes over Japanese "concessions", imperialistic economic interference that characterized China for nearly a century, ignited into all out war in July, 1937. Upwards of 20 million Chinese perished, possibly matching Russia's colossal losses, from combat, disease, famine and floods. Much of dead were caused by Nationalist war strategy. Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek was forced to blow up dykes, causing a massive flood, to stop a Japanese advance. Result: The Japanese stopped advancing but 400,000 Chinese stopped breathing. In another painful action, Chiang had peasants pay their taxes in grain to feed his malnourished soldiers. Result: 3,000,000 civilians starved to death.

Until WWII began, Chiang devoted much of his resources battling the Chinese communists under Mao Zedong. During the war Mao mostly played 'rope-a-dope' with the Japanese while Chiang engaged them fully, suffering millions of casualties. The final victory over Japan in August, 1945, was Chiang's greatest triumph and greatest tragedy. Triumph because China was elevated to the top of the world stage as one of the four major victors with Russia, England and the US. Besides veto power in the newly created UN, China was finally and forever freed of imperial interference. Tragedy because Chiang's Nationalists were so weakened by the ravages of war, government corruption and lack of vision that civil war with the communists ended just four years later in complete communist rule with Chiang fleeing to the tiny island of Taiwan. He died there 30 years later still dreaming of return to the mainland.

I remember coming of age when McCarthyite zealots were scoring political points bashing Democrats with the question "Who lost China?" 'Forgotten Ally' reminds us that China was never ours, or any other nation's possession to lose.