Joseph Stilwell
Joseph Warren "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell (March 19, 1883 – October 12, 1946) was a United States Army general who served in the China Burma India Theater during World War II. An early American popular hero of the war for leading a column walking out of Burma pursued by the victorious Imperial Japanese Armed Forces, his implacable demands for units debilitated by disease to be sent into heavy combat resulted in Merrill's Marauders becoming disenchanted with him. Infuriated by the 1944 fall of Changsha to a Japanese offensive, Stilwell threatened the Chinese Nationalist leader, Chiang Kai-shek, that lend-lease aid to China would be cut off, which made Ambassador Patrick J. Hurley decide that Stilwell had to be replaced. Chiang had been intent on keeping Lend-Lease supplies to fight the Chinese Communist Party, but Stilwell had been obeying his instructions to get the Communists and the Nationalists to co-operate against Japan.
Joseph Stilwell | |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | "Vinegar Joe", "Uncle Joe" |
| Born | March 19, 1883 Palatka, Florida, US |
| Died | October 12, 1946 (aged 63) San Francisco, California, US |
| Allegiance | United States |
| Service/ | United States Army |
| Years of service | 1904–1946 |
| Rank | General |
| Service number | 0-1912 |
| Unit | Infantry Branch |
| Commands held | 7th Infantry Division III Corps China Burma India Theater Chinese Expeditionary Force (Burma) Chinese Army in India Northern Combat Area Command Army Ground Forces Tenth United States Army Sixth United States Army Western Defense Command |
| Battles/wars |
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| Awards | Distinguished Service Cross Army Distinguished Service Medal (2) Legion of Merit Bronze Star Medal |
| Other work | Chief of Staff to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek |
Influential voices such as the journalist Brooks Atkinson viewed the Communists as benign and Stilwell as a victim of a corrupt regime. The ousting of Stilwell sparked the beginning of anti-Chiang sentiment by US policymakers that culminated in the 1947 end of American assistance to the Republic of China during the Chinese Civil War.
Stilwell's admirers saw him as having been given inadequate resources and incompatible objectives. Critics viewed him as a hard-charging but ultimately unprofessional officer whose failings contributed to the loss of China.