facilitate escapes from Hong Kong.
It has later
developed into a. British Group made use of by M.I.6 for Intelligence purposes, and by S.O.E.
clandestine operational purposes. The - Japanese successes in South China last autumn considerably disturbed its habitat, but it is still there though somewhat disrupted.
83
General Wedemeyer, on his appointment in China vice General Stillwell, surveyed this mixed and unco-ordinated collection of United Nations para-military activities in China, and is intent on tidying it up. He has decided that none shall be allowed to operate in China except with his approval and with a definite operational role approved by himself, and he has stated that in his capacity as Chief of Staff to General Chiang Kai Shek he will not approve any activities which would, in his opinion, be obnoxious to the Generalissimo. Although B.A.A.G.and S.0.E. have functioned in China with the knowledge of the Generalissimo, it would not be claimed to be the case that his approval has been obtained for all their objects.
In order to constitute a single and
substantial British para-military organisation in China, following General Wedemeyer's decision, S.0.E. proposed, and D.M.I. India were at first agreeable, that S.0.E. and B.A.A.G. should be combined and subjected to a single direction, since they felt that on that basis they could put in a claim to General edemeyer that they were a substantial force and worthy to be allotted an operational role in South China. The British Military Attaché at Chungking, however, who is technically the Commanding Officer of British forces in China, including B.A.A.G., has successfully objected to the S.O.E. proposal on the grounds that B.A.A.G. is the only British force in China which has any reputation, and that it would be likely to lose that reputation if it were amalgamated with S.O.E. This view has impressed the D.M.I. India, and they have now come
round
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