Chinese units?

[Matt W]

I just read Forgotten Ally about the Chinese experience in WW II and it reinforced my understanding.  It is not that we don't know that an engagement occurred and not that we can't identify what "units" were there.  It is more the case that Japanese troop strengths for units varied wildly from TOE and when it comes to the Chinese it depended on whether the warlords actual top quality units were there or whether they sent their untrained and poorly armed drafts forward.  

From an equipment standpoint the Chinese Army was ALL over the map.  Just because a warlord had received a shipment of arms didn't mean that those arms got to the troops in the field.  Indeed in most cases those arms went to the warlord's immediate guard and their retainers, often for resale to, for example, the Communists or even the Japanese.  The lack of records from the Chinese side is intentional in order to hide the massive corruption which was central to the Chinese governing process, despite the efforts of Chiang to reduce it and of Stilwell to use the supplies for his attempts to recapture Burma after having been chased (on foot!) out of the area in '42.

While certainly a game can be created about the war, and I would love to see it, the records are such that it would be difficult to have any confidence that the OOB, including the troop quality, etc. would be any more than a WAG.  There is some hope on the horizon, however, as the Kuomintang is being somewhat rehabilitated. Rana Mitter, the author of Forgotten Ally indicates that with the improved climate more is being learned about the war itself in China for all Chinese units, not just the People's Army.