Vladimirov was even more dismissive. When Mao sent a telegram to Moscow on July 19, 1944, claiming that the Communists had enjoyed a string of successful operations against Japan, Vladimirov informed Moscow that Mao had inflated the figures. “The Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army have actually folded up military operations since 1941,” he reported. Years later, Barrett acknowledged that he, too, had been “unduly impressed with the Communists.” He pleaded “naiveté.”
