Because of the language barrier and paucity of interpreters, training was largely by demonstration. The Chinese knack for imitation made it effective. “Thank God we don’t speak Chinese and don’t have enough interpreters,” said General Sliney. “We demonstrate and they copy. They are the greatest mimics in the world and are learning very, very fast.” Peasants from the fields who had never seen a machine mastered the use of the pack howitzer and machine gun in a week and learned with delight to operate field telephones and radios. Later, in combat, individuals were decorated, the first
...more
