The 31st Infantry Regiment In Shanghai

A study of U.S.-Chinese relations involving the U.S. Army, this work focuses at the personnel level on the Army's service in China. While studies have been published of the U.S. Marines' and U.S. Navy's involvement in China, little attention has been given the Army's missions in this theater. Operations in China were a key part of the history and traditions of the 9th, 14th, 15th and 31st Regiments, whose coats of arms still feature dragons as symbols of their service there. Many who served in the 15th in China went on to impressive careers as general officers, prompting one soldier to ask "what other infantry regiment of those days can boast of such an alumni list?" Also covered is the 31st Regiments' involvement in Shanghai during the Second Sino-Japanese War, the prelude of the coming of World War II in Asia.

Formed in 1916, the U.S. Army 31st Infantry Regiment--known as the Polar Bears--has fought in virtually every war in modern American history. This richly illustrated chronicle of the regiment's century of combat service covers their exploits on battlefields from Manila to Siberia--including Pork Chop Hill, Nui Chom Mountain and Iraq's Triangle of Death--along with their survival during the Bataan Death March and the years of brutal captivity that followed.

A study of U.S.-Chinese relations involving the U.S. Army, this work focuses at the personnel level on the Army's service in China. While studies have been published of the U.S. Marines' and U.S. Navy's involvement in China, little attention has been given the Army's missions in this theater. Operations in China were a key part of the history and traditions of the 9th, 14th, 15th and 31st Regiments, whose coats of arms still feature dragons as symbols of their service there. Many who served in the 15th in China went on to impressive careers as general officers, prompting one soldier to ask "what other infantry regiment of those days can boast of such an alumni list?" Also covered is the 31st Regiments' involvement in Shanghai during the Second Sino-Japanese War, the prelude of the coming of World War II in Asia.

Taking up its position astride the Peking-Mukden [Beijing-Shenyang] railway beginning in January, 1912, the United States Fifteenth Infantry Regiment was engaged in protecting American interests in China. The 1000 man force was especially challenged during the 1920s, those tumultuous years when warlords struggled to gain ascendancy in the Chinese Republic. Although Chiang Kai-shek established a measure of control in China by 1928, the regiment remained in China--partially to counter Japan's increasingly aggressive actions--despite considerable misgivings within and outside of the United States Army as to the feasibility, desirability, and ethical appropriateness of the policy retaining it there. The success of the Japanese in conquering much of eastern China finally compelled Washington to withdraw the regiment on March 2, 1938. This work recounts and assesses some aspects of the involvement and service of the Fifteenth Infantry Regiment during its fateful quarter of a century in the Orient between the World Wars. Also detailed is the Army's service in those years in general. Many insights are provided regarding the self-perceptions of a key generation of U.S. military personnel deployed there.

This work is an account of the China edition of the U.S. Army's daily newspaper, The Stars and Stripes, which was geared toward service personnel in the China Theater of Operations at the end of World War II and published for nearly a year. The book addresses Japanese repatriations, war-crime trials, the Chinese civil war and the rise of Communism as covered by the paper, and the paper's role in strengthening U.S. troop morale.

About the Book The United States Army Ground Forces During the Interwar Years 1919-1941 covers the period of the Interwar years 1919-1941. It is intended for individuals interested in US Army history of that era. Insignias and pictures lend to the experience of the era. About the Author MSG Jim Irwin (Retired) is a retired community college professor. He taught business and technology courses. He served two years in the US Army during the Vietnam war, and spent another twenty-seven years in the Indiana Army National Guard. His biggest hobby is reading fiction and non-fiction alike.

"Historians and sliders have not been kind to either [General Douglas] MacArthur or the soldiers whom he placed in harm's way in the summer of 1950 ... This study seeks to redress the imbalance that exists between fact and interpretation. For too long historians and soldiers have roundly criticized Task Force Smith's performance, extrapolated from its fate a set of assumptions about what constitutes readiness, and then used those assumptions to condemn the entire Eighth Army. The reality is much more complex. A proper examination of the historical record reveals wide disparities in the readiness and combat effectiveness of the subordinate units of America's first forward-deployed Cold War field force ... This work will demonstrate how units achieved that readiness by means of case studies of four infantry regiments, one from each of the four infantry divisions that constituted the Eighth Army in 1950. It synthesizes contemporary training doctrine, training records generated by maneuver units, unit histories, reports of inspections by outside agencies, contemporary self-assessments, and the observations of veterans who served in Japan in the fifteen months before the outbreak of the Korean War. It challenges the long-standing reputation of the Eighth Army as flabby, dispirited, and weak"--Introduction.