Memorandum from General Alfred Wedemeyer to General Dwight Eisenhower

DECLASSIFIED E. O. 11652, Sec. 3(E) and 5(D) or (E) TOP SECRET Dept. of State letter, Aug. 9, 1973 By NLT HC , NARS Date 6.2475 chair The following message is from General Wedemeyer to General Eisen- hower, dated 8 March 1946. "I propose a program for the inactivation of the China Theatre on 1 May as follows: After elimination of as many residual functions as possible, and assumption by the Navy of certain functions which by virtue of equipment and position they are best fitted to accept, I propose to reorganize my present Shanghai Port Command into a Shanghai Station Command which will take over to the largest extent practicable all operating functions re- maining to United States Army Forces in this area. Transferred to the U.S. Military Advisory Group Headquarters will be overhead policies and administrative control matters, liaison with the Chinese Govt, War Dept, US Navy and adjacent theaters. Proposal includes abolition of Headquarters, China Theater and Hqs Army Air Forces, China Theater. At present there are no activities speci- fically to be taken over by MacArthur, although a possible exception might be prosecution of war criminals. Conferences are now in progress with representatives of Com 7th Fleet to determine the specific activities to be accomplished by the Navy. In general terms they are: 1. Operational control of US Marines in China. 2. Coordination with SCAP of Japs repatriated from China ports to ports in Japan. 3. Operational control of water movement of Chinese Military Forces as directed by Joint Chiefs of Staff. General Marshall is hopeful that he may be justified in proposing the start of the withdrawal of Marines except transport, air, housekeeping TOP-SECRET