The International Medical Relief Corps in Wartime China, 1937–1945

Both before and during World War II, the Nazis restricted the rights of Jewish and communist doctors. Some fought back, first by fighting against Fascism in the Spanish Civil War and then by helping the Chinese in their struggle against Japan. There were, however, two rival factions in China. One favored Chiang Kai-shek (the nationalists) and the other, the communists—and 27 foreign medical personnel were caught between them. Amidst poverty, war and corruption, living conditions were poor and traveling was hazardous.
This book follows members of the Chinese Red Cross Medical Relief Corps through the war as they became enemy aliens and pursued their work despite the perils. These doctors had a keen sense of public health needs and contributed to the recognition and management of infectious diseases and nutritional disorders, all the while denouncing corruption, inhumanity and inequality.

Robert Mamlok, M.D. is a clinical professor of pediatrics at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine. He is the son of one of the physicians who joined the Chinese Red Cross Medical Relief Corps in 1939 and co-founder of the Friends of the International Medical Relief Corps. He lives in Lubbock, Texas.

Robert Mamlok, M.D.
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 249
Bibliographic Info: 44 photos, appendices, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2018
pISBN: 978-1-4766-7583-1
eISBN: 978-1-4766-3426-5
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments vii
Preface 1
Introduction 7
Part I: The Physicians’ Fight Against the Global Rise of Fascism
1. The Call of Spain: 1936–1939 11
2. The International Medical Response of 1939 21
3. The Call of China: 1936–1939 35
4. The Journey to the Chinese Red Cross Headquarters 60
Part II: The International Medical
Relief Corps in Wartime China
5. Political and Cultural Conditions at the Chinese Red Cross Medical Relief Corps Headquarters 83
6. Medical Conditions in Wartime China 98
7. Travel to and from China’s Battlefields: 1939–1940 112
8. The Forced Restriction of Healthcare Delivery: 1941–1942 129
Part III: The International Medical Relief Corps and the Chinese Expeditionary Forces: 1943–1945
9. The International Medical Relief Corps and the Chinese Expeditionary Force in Burma and India 147
10. The International Medical Relief Corps and the Chinese Expeditionary Force in China 167
11. The International Medical Relief Corps’ Epilogue: 1945–2012 186
12. What Did the International Medical Relief Corps Members Accomplish? 193
Appendix A: International Medical Relief Corps Timeline 197
Appendix B: The International Medical Relief Corps’ Memorial Dedication (September 1, 2015, Tuyunguan, China) 201
Appendix C: Other International Volunteers of the Chinese Red Cross 204
Chapter Notes 209
Bibliography 231
Index 235

• “Every page of this scholarly book is chock full of information…a gripping, detailed, heavily researched and illustrated story, well worth the telling”—Points East