Operation Dixie
OPERATION DIXIE
OPERATION DIXIE. In early July 1944, the U.S. Army Observer Group (renamed the Yenan Observer Group in July 1945) left Chongqing (Chungking), the temporary capital of Nationalist China, to journey to Yan'an (Yenan), the headquarters of the Chinese communist movement, seeking to use communist guerrillas in the war against Japan. The operation was dubbed the Dixie Mission because it was entering "rebel territory." Led by Colonel David D. Barrett, the group's number fluctuated between one and two dozen junior military observers, technicians, embassy officials, and operators of the Office of Strategic Services. Efforts proved abortive, for by January 1945 communist and American hostilities had grown, and U.S. involvement on behalf of Chiang Kai-shek had deepened.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Barrett, David D. Dixie Mission: The United States Army Observer Group in Yenan, 1944. Berkeley: Center for Chinese Studies, University of California, 1970.
Carter, Carolle J. "Mission to Yenan: The OSS and the Dixie Mission." In The Secrets War: The Office of Strategic Services in World War II. Edited by George C. Chalou. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1992.
Justus D.Doenecke
See alsoChina, Relations with ; China, U.S. Armed Forces in ; World War II .