Spent a great deal of time this week gathering primary source material and researching Evans F. Carlson and his observations in China.
Dietrich's claims are so pathetic and sloppily made that I doubt he ever makes them more publicly than on his own shit show.
Although obtaining primary sources on this subject was difficult, I was able to find several which refute Dietrich. These include Carlson's own diaries and reports (available online from the University of Southern California
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/digital/collection/p15799coll12/id/1160 the University of Michigan and the USAF Air Command and Staff College, as well as books by WW2 Historians.
Probably the single most important is the research of Historian Evan Taylor presented to the Royal Asiatic Society of Shanghai in 2019. Taken largely from Carlson's personal diaries (only recently published), but also includes the specific whereabouts of Carlson and his daily interactions with US and foreign diplomats and military personnel in Shanghai and Nanking during the Japanese invasion of 1937-38.
At this point, I can place Carlson in Nanking observing Thanksgiving at the US Embassy (where he met Claire Chennault) and 1,000 miles NW of Nanking on Christmas Day 1937, with the Chinese 8th Route Army.
Carlson (then a Captain) was not in command of a unit, but was an "International Observer" for the US Navy Department, who also reported privately to the President of the United States (FDR).
This is a copy of an original Intelligence Report submitted by Carlson on December 20, 1937 to the US Navy Captain John Stapler:
visitors can't see pics , please
register or
login