4 - Showdown in Friendship Valley

Summary

Push increasingly came to shove in the troubled relationship between the OSS hierarchy and Captain Milton Miles during the fall of 1943. Also, to the dismay of the OSS and the State Department, events surrounding the arrival of the latest group of Thai representatives from Bangkok touched off a new row between Thai Minister Seni and his military attaché that drew members of the Thai group in China into the fray. Finally, near the year's end, General Donovan flew to China in a personal effort to clear the obstacles impeding his organization's progress in the Middle Kingdom, including its Thai operation.

Although Donovan's first attempt to remove the Thai group from SACO had failed, he had laid the groundwork for future success by attaching Lt. Col. Richard P. Heppner to General Stilwell's New Delhi staff, making him “part of his official family.” Heppner, who returned to India via London in the company of John Paton Davies, wasted little time in expanding his beachhead. He requested a substantial staff of approximately thirty, including a research and analysis team, a microfilm unit, personnel, and equipment for a radio base station, a special intelligence group for Burma operations, and five clerks and stenographers.

Although Heppner steered clear of China for the time being, he closely monitored the situation there. In a letter to Donovan, he forecast that Miles was headed for trouble because of growing antagonism in Stilwell's command over “his attitudes and methods” and concern about the political implications of SACO's training program for Tai Li's police.