Joseph Stilwell

Joseph Warren Stilwell was a career United States Army officer with long experience in China. During World War II he served as chief of staff to Chiang Kai-shek and held senior Allied responsibilities in the China–Burma–India theatre, where he sought to reopen overland communications to China and commanded forces operating in northern Burma.

Stilwell’s abrasive personality and disputes with Chinese, British and American leaders made his command politically contentious. His campaigns nevertheless formed an important part of Allied operations in Burma and of the difficult coalition warfare surrounding the China supply effort.

In John Masters’ The Road Past Mandalay, the central episodes concern the 1944 Chindit campaign, including the isolated strongpoint known as Blackpool and the brutal decisions forced on 111 Brigade during withdrawal. Masters also gives sharply observed portraits of commanders such as Orde Wingate, William Slim and Joseph Stilwell, making the book both a personal account of combat and an examination of leadership under extreme pressure. Caroline Alexander’s Skies of Thunder treats Joseph Stilwell as one of the principal Allied commanders in the China–Burma–India theatre, following his efforts to reopen a land route to China amid difficult coalition politics and the Burma campaigns.