Chapter 4 Chapter 1 The Many-Faced Man Dai Li

A foreign reporter later recalled Dai Li in this way: a hidden person, always hiding in the dark of the room, while others are in full view.Yet the few Westerners who met Dai Li during the Pacific War, when he was in his prime, had strong and colorful impressions of him. "On the one hand, no one in World War II was darker than him; on the other hand, no one was whiter than him," almost everyone was shocked by his sharp eyes.An OSS (U.S. Strategic Intelligence Service) officer working behind enemy lines under the leadership of Dai Li said: "Dai Li has a medium-sized build, a rough and tough appearance, and the ability of a soldier. His face is well-defined, his sharp eyes are aggressive, and he has a determined face. mouth." An American military officer born in a Chinese missionary family wrote: "He is handsome and slender, with a pair of slender and graceful hands, and he walks as if steel bars are attached to the spine, with big and powerful steps, like a Chinese stage The exaggerated gait of the hero in the world. His sharp and examining eyes seem to record the facial features and personality of a person for future use."

For most foreigners in China in the 1940s, Dai Li was a legendary figure, widely regarded as "not China's Canaris, but Heinrich Himmler". Dai Li gives the impression of being clever and imaginative, cruel and unscrupulous.He is the Himmler of the Chinese Nationalist Party.He is the enemy of nearly all American democratic ideals.Under Chiang, he attempted to unify China with an iron fist.He is cold, cunning and cruel. The hat of the head of the SA was not taken lightly.Those Westerners who abbreviate Dai Li as TL often refer to Dai Li as "China's Himmler".At that time, in the intelligence circles of the US government, most officials believed that "General Dai Li was known as an executioner; the 'Blue Shirts Society' headed by him was an organization similar to the Gestapo, at least well known in Shanghai; concentration camps; he didn't like foreigners, and very few foreigners ever saw him".

Dai Li himself knew this nickname, and he tried more than once to prove to his American friends that "he supports democracy". On April 3, 1945, Chiang Kai-shek inspected the "elite troops" of the Institute for Sino-American Cooperation, the Ninth Division located in Geleshan outside Chongqing.Dai Li held a lavish banquet that night, using up 200 catties of precious rice wine he had brought from his hometown of Zhejiang.The Geleshan band learned to play "Yankee Doodle" and "Dix," and while the Americans in the crowd clapped and cheered the songs, the actors prepared to perform Chinese plays.At this time, Dai Li suddenly interrupted the party and insisted on persuading American friends not to believe bad things about him.Dai Li spoke incoherently for a long time through the official translator Liu Zhenfang, nothing more than trying to show that "he is not Himmler", but just "Dai Li of the commander-in-chief, nothing more".