Chapter 141 cultural gap

This extreme confusion among American young people is partly due to their kindness and elder-like affection for the slightly smaller Chinese cadets. In their eyes, these recruits are often childlike, slow on the one hand, On the other hand, it is extremely tough and fierce.People's first impression is often of the frail health of the Chinese recruits recruited at SACO's training sites. The guerrilla recruits were selected by Dai Li from the "Loyalty and National Salvation Army" or from the Japanese-occupied areas.The recruits from Shanghai and East China were obviously very hard-working, eager for revenge because of their suffering in the Japanese-occupied areas.But by American standards, their physiques are "pathetic."The average recruit is 5.6 feet tall and weighs 140 pounds.Hundreds of cases of scabies, conjunctivitis, and ulcers occurred among these people.Due to the poor eyesight of these people, the vision requirement had to be reduced from 20/20 to 6/15.However, these people have an extraordinary physical endurance, which makes people like them immediately.As "effective human machines," they were capable of daily rapid marches of up to 48 to 56 kilometers, and "climbed mountain passes almost as effortlessly as marched flat and curved field paths."

In the eyes of the instructors, the reason why Chinese recruits are outstanding is precisely because of their primitive adaptability.SACO training officers often talk about the "tough" Chinese feet, which wear only straw sandals instead of leather-soled shoes.Their full "peasant spirit", as well as their animal-like wildness, makes them excellent and fierce night killers, and they are very accustomed to operating in the dark.As a result, the Americans were "surprised by the incredible night vision of the Chinese guerrillas. They can see clearly in the dark like a cat."Described as "stupid" and "exquisite," the Chinese recruits quickly mastered the art of close-quarters combat thanks to their agility at using their hands, feet and legs to take down their enemies.However, these descriptions are still aimed at a kind of youthfulness, not adult proficiency.The instructors reported that the Chinese took part in raid practice "with the excitement of an American kid on a sandy playground."

The cultural distance between the young American instructors and their "students" was enormous.Language barriers have always been an obstacle, especially given the lack of competent translators and the wide variety of regional dialects.Many instructors think they are very popular, but most of them are only barely accepted.Worst of all were the instructors who believed that the Chinese had to be "trained in the American military way". But in all fairness, the Americans "taught those who were trained every technology we knew": one-man combat, demolition, radio, photography, medicine, "and even started to have a bit of an FBI flavor."The Chinese shoot exceptionally well and are excited to use the new, clean, fast weapons provided by the US Navy, replacing the outdated German, Czech and Japanese weapons they are used to (not to mention the rusty Chinese knockoffs and old shotguns).Although some Americans felt that they should not provide 45 caliber Thomson machine guns because they were too heavy for the average size of Chinese recruits, Mellors decided that after graduation from each training class, students should have Thomson machine guns or 30 caliber carbines slung over the shoulder, or 38 caliber revolvers or 45 caliber military Colt automatic pistols.

Naturally, each weapon accounted for a fraction of the tonnage of cargo transported to SACO by transport planes bound for Geleshan.Dai Li wanted all his field agents to have at least one gun.Melles insisted that the guns be fired only after the training was complete.The two disagreed throughout the war on this point.Apparently, this is because the Americans "cannot understand the significance of modern weapons to China, either from a military point of view or from an emotional point of view," and Dai Li's people all have a "Chinese unique obsession to obtain every possible weapon." desire".

For SACO's training camp, the results were absurd. In April 1945 a large number of students graduated from the tenth class.Because American military commanders couldn't tell the difference between the Chinese, they worried that American-made pistols and semi-automatic machine guns would end up in the hands of fake graduates.But how to distinguish them in the queue, especially among the Chinese who wear the exact same military uniform?RL Grief, a naval doctor from Baltimore, came up with a solution: Even when U.S. instructors are fairly sure of the current class, they often fail to notice that at least some of the previous graduates are re-grading in training classes over and over again.