Joseph Warren Stilwell

Joseph Warren Stilwell (1883 - 1946), was a senior American general in World War II as commander of American forces in the China-Burma-India theater, commander of the main Chinese armies in Burma, (1942-44) with four-star rank, and, as commander in the late stages of the battle of Okinawa in 1945. He was scheduled to lead the invasion of Japan when the war suddenly ended. "Vinegar Joe" was notoriously difficult to work with, especially in a role in China that was primarily diplomatic. A fighting general who spoke Chinese and knew the villages well, he possessed a fierce integrity, and a hatred of incompetence and pretentiousness, but was sometimes devious and secretive.

Career

He was born in Palatka, Florida, where his wealthy parents were vacationing, and brought up in New York City. Both bookish and athletic, he was headed for Yale until his pranksterism caused his father to send him to West Point to be straightened out. Stilwell was graduated from West Point in 1904, and eagerly made a career in the Army. After service in the Philippines he was an intelligence officer (G-2) in the American Expeditionary Forces in France during World War I.

World War II

Japan's plans to control key areas of China, 1941; Japan already held Manchuria as the puppet state of Manchukuo

Ledo Road

see Ledo Road

land and air routes to China

Bibliography

• Anders Leslie. The Ledo Road: General Joseph W. Stilwell's Highway to China. (1965).
• Bidwell Shelford. The Chindit War: Stilwell, Wingate, and the Campaign in Burma,

1944. (1979)

• Byrd Martha. Chennault: Giving Wings to the Tiger. (1987).
• Dod Karl C. The Corps of Engineers: The War against Japan. (1966),
• Liang, Chin-Tun. Gen. Stilwell in China, 1942-1944 (1972), a pro-Chiang view
• Romanus, Charles F. and Riley Sunderland. Stilwell's Mission to China (1953), official U.S. Army history online edition
• Romanus, Charles F. and Riley Sunderland. Stilwell's Command Problems (1956) online edition
• Schaller Michael. The U.S. Crusade in China, 1938-1945. (1979). online edition
• Tuchman, Barbara. Stilwell and the American Experience in China, 1911-45, (1972), 624pp; Pulitzer prize (The British edition is ttiled Against the Wind: Stilwell and the American Experience in China 1911-45,) excerpt and text search
• Ven, Hans Van De. "Stilwell in the Stocks: the Chinese Nationalists and the Allied Powers in the Second World War." Asian Affairs 2003 34(3): 243-259. Issn: 0306-8374 Fulltext: Ebsco, revisionist argument that Stilwell was incompetent, had no command training or experience, and did not appreciate air power. Ven suggests that Roosevelt's needs in the presidential election of 1944, the strategic decision to defeat the Nazi menace in Europe before giving full attention to Japan, and the unwise yielding to the needs of the Soviet Union during World War II all led to the defeat of the Chinese Nationalists.
• Young, Kenneth Ray. "The Stilwell Controversy: A Bibliographical Review," Military Affairs, Vol. 39, No. 2 (Apr., 1975), pp. 66-68 in JSTOR

Primary Sources

• Stilwell, Joseph Warren. The Stilwell papers edited by Theodore H. White, (1958).

See also

• Burma Road and Ledo Road
• CBI
• Chiang Kai-shek
• Okinawa, battle of

Online resources

• CBI Background & Overview; elaborate guide to all units in CBI, with histotries