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(F2496/917/10)
TOP SECRET
MINUTE
97
In the course of a dinner party conversation, Brigadier General Olmsted evinced a desire to discuss with me, in further detail, the ideas about which he had already spokon to the Military Attache - sec paper $15/21. I called on him yesterday.
The General said that he had gathered from a conversation with Mr. Asquith that we had been under some misapprehension as to the scope and purposes of his suggestion that it would be useful if we could appoint an economic liaison officer to work in contact with his section of American Army Headquarters. His proposal, he said, had nothing to do with supplies; and he had better give me some idea of the functions of the G5 section of which he was chief, so that I should see more clearly what his idea was,
The basic purpose of American G5 sections was to deal with civilian affairs in occupied territories. In General Eisenhower's command that was the sole function of the section; but since everything here was on a smaller scale, General Wedemeyer had handed over to G5 not only civilian affairs but also various political and local problems which were connected with strategic planning etc. This was a wide field ranging from advising the Chinese War Production Board on production plans in China for military requirements to coordinating into the general strategic plan the arrangements for taking over existing utilities and buildings in re-occupied areas, So far as questions of supply and production went, existing arrangements for liaison between ourselves and American departments worked quite satisfactorily and it was in connection with the post-occupational function that he thought that more effective liaison was required.
The General said that, in their planning with the Chinesc, American Army Headquarters were much hampered by security considerations: it was not possible to discuss with the Chinese any specific plan or project which meant that in the case of invasion from the sea he was forced to prepare schemes covering points all along the coast, leaving as a matter for last minute communication which plan was to be actually used. same applied mutatis mutandis to an offensive by the Chinese armies from inland.
The
There was much British property in China and it would be most useful to his section if they could have some military officer in Chungking to whom they could refer queries as to facilities available on such property. It was not his business to suggest to whom such an officer should be attached. What he required was a channel for enquiry and consultation.
Supposing,
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