CO129-591-14 Military Administration- liaison with Chinese and American forces 11-4-1945 - 25-7-1945 — Page 49

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26

mo

Gest

Colonial Ofie

THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY'S GOVERNMENT

48

IVED

July 10 1945 7 AUG 1945

0. O. REGY

SECTION 2.

CHINA.

With

CONFIDENTIAL.

Sumerce

Under & servtary of State

for Foreign Affairs

[F 4125/88/10]

20 JUL 1940

Copy No.

134

copied B/T

Sir H. Seymour to Mr. Eden.-(Received 10th July.) HIS Majesty's Ambassador at Chungking presents his compliments to His Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and with reference to Despatch to Foreign Office No. 682 of the 20th June, 1945, has the honour to transmit a copy of a Central News Agency message, dated the 23rd June, 1945, entitled "G-5 Helps to Gear China's Economy War Effort."

Chungking, 26th June, 1945.

POT Mut

By s/plans

D/I. Jill

Enclosure.

G-5 Helps to Gear Economy War Effort.

31 JUL 1945.

C. D. REGY

Chungking, 23rd June (Central): It might seem a little hard to connect rescued fliers with production schedules, or fluctuating currency exchange rate with increasing the efficiency of guerrilla operation, but a United States army brigadier-general and his associates in Chungking, China, has come to look on all of these as just part of their day's work.

Brigadier-General George Olmsted, 44, of Des Moines, Iowa, Assistant Chief of Staff, G-5, to Lieut.-General A. C. Wedemeyer, Commanding General of United States Forces in the China Theatre, heads one of the most complex organisations in the China Theatre. Under his jurisdiction lies control of the greater part of the contact of the United States Army with Chinese and other civilian agencies. Behind his every achievement lies the organized co-operation of millions of individuals.

Every day, G-5 is performing modern miracles in helping to gear the Chinese economy war effort. As a part of their assignment, General Ölmsted and his assistants procure military supplies from local factories, stimulate production of military and essential civilian goods, and advise the Chinese Government in the control of inflation and the development of long-range economic policies aimed at a progressive, modern post-war China.

The G-5 section in the China Theatre is unique in that it has functions and responsibilities found in no other theatre of war. G-5 under General Eisenhower in the European Theatre was concerned solely with military government and civil affairs. In China, military government is only one of the branches into which the G-5 section is divided.

General George Olmsted, a hearty, competent soldier who graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1922, is an ideal man for a job that calls for top-ranking military and business experience. In civilian life he was the Board Chairman of the Hawkeye Casualty Company in Des Moines; General Olmsted also has had 27 years of military experience, in the regular army, national guard and organized reserve, including service in World War I.

The combination of soldier and business man is precisely what the assignment calls for, and during his six months in the China Theatre, General Olmsted has done much to aid General Wedemeyer in establishing a harmonious relationship with the Chinese Govement and with all the civilian agencies, both Chinese and those of other Allies, with which the complex affairs of his organisation bring him

in contact.

Assisting General Olmsted are a number of United States army officers and civilian workers, many of the latter actually members of other organizations which are working in close conjunction with G-5. His closest immediate assistants are

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