FORMOSA: To Win or to Lose?

Nationalist China's tough old Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek was increasingly impatient.

Three weeks ago, when Communist shells smashed an LSM on Quemoy's beaches and left it a smoking wreck, Chiang made up his mind. Quemoy could never be saved by bigger and better convoys, he argued. Under the hail of Communist fire, the convoys could never be made big enough to keep the island supplied. The only solution, he insisted, was to knock out the Communist guns. He proposed to do it with Nationalist planes. All he asked was U.S. consent.

Others in his government, notably Chief of the General Staff...