ABSTRACT
A fter the victory over Japan, the United States deployed a considerable part of its naval strength in the China Sea. The Seventh Fleet established its headquarters in Tsingtao; American cruisers and destroyers rode at anchor in the roadsteads of Shanghai and Canton. As the Chinese civil war spread to the coastal regions, the U.S. Navy assumed an increasingly important role in supplying Chiang with war matériel. It ferried part of the Chinese Army across the Gulf of Pohai in order to secure Manchuria for Chiang. It became increasingly clear that the fortunes of the Nationalists would be decided by the success of this operation, for the industrial resources of Manchuria would enable Chiang to satisfy his pressing needs for war matériel and to proceed to the reconstruction of the Chinese economy, especially the railroad system. The crucial question was: how much of the industrial complex had been left intact by the Soviet forces which, after the Japanese surrender, occupied Manchuria for several months? According to Nationalist reports the Soviets had virtually wrecked the major industries of the country. How 218could the damage be repaired? In the winter of 1945-46 an American mission surveyed the situation. By then the Nationalist forces had advanced to the Sungari river. There they met the determined resistance of the Communists whom the Soviets, before their withdrawal, had eased into the control of Northern Manchuria.
