Homer Lea

Homer Lea , was an an author of works on geopolitics, and became military advisory and general in the army of Sun Yat-sen.

Early life

Born in Denver, Colorado to Alfred E. and Hersa A. Lea, his father served with the 3rd Colorado Cavalry during the . His mother died before his third birthday, 13 August 1879. Alfred is listed in the Jackson County, Missouri 1850 census, Washington Township, with the entire family being born in Tenessee.

His grandfather, Dr. Pleasant John Graves Lea , is the namesake for Lee's Summit, Missouri, although the name became spelled with an "e" instead of "a" because a stone culvert next to the Missouri Pacific Railroad station was set this way.

Homer was born healthy, but after suffering a drop to a hearthstone as a baby, he became a , standing only with a weight under . He attended Los Angeles High School and even accompanied friends on camping trips in the San Bernardino Mountains, in spite of his physical hindrances. Lea aspired to be a great soldier and somehow managed to get an appointment to , though he was soon dismissed for health reasons. He was later admitted to Stanford University, where in addition to military history and politics, he became enamored with China and .

China

At 23, with the Boxer Rebellion underway in China, Lea decided to travel to the Far East and offer his services to Kang Youwei, a former prime minister of China who was attempting to restore power to the confined Guangxu Emperor. Lea convinced Kang to make him a lieutenant general and give him command of a small volunteer force. Lea's first command was not very successful as Kang's power and support was rapidly destroyed, but he did make it to Beijing in time to ride through the city with the international force that liberated it from the Boxers. Lea offered pursuit of the retreating , but his rag-tag soldiers were no match for the Imperial forces and he was repulsed. Without any support after Kang's fall, Lea fled to Hong Kong and then Japan, where he met Sun Yat-sen.

Sun was intrigued by the diminutive foreigner and saw his natural flair and western background could be useful in building support for the republican movement. He therefore dispatched Lea along with Prince Ch'i-ch'ao to the United States to raise funds. Lea returned to China in 1904 at the head of the Second Army Division, but this military campaign was unsuccessful and he was forced to return to the United States for health reasons.

Works

Once in the U.S., Homer Lea was instrumental in training the , using American soldiers as instructors. Lea was also an author of two works on geopolitics: ''The Valor of Ignorance'' predicted the rise of Japanese militarist aggression and a in the , while ''The Day of the Saxon'', commissioned by Field Marshal Lord , predicted the rise of a greater based on national supremacy and ethnic purity. Neither of these books sold particularly well in America, but ''The Valor of Ignorance'' sold 84,000 copies in Japan and impressed both General Adna Chaffee and General Douglas MacArthur, who tried unsuccessfully to make it compulsory reading at West Point. The books both contained a ring of truth about future events, but entrenched in America were not about to have their views challenged by a young, unknown upstart, and he was effectively ignored. His books remain little known today, as his theories were not particularly revolutionary; other geopoliticians could also see the same forces converging, but the public did not want to hear about it. Lea also planned to write a third book called ''The Swarming of the Slav'' predicting a Russian move to dominate Europe, but he died before he could complete it.

When Sun Yat-sen succeeded in making China a republic in 1911-1912, he made Lea a full general and his chief of staff. A stroke several months later, however, forced him to give up these positions and retire to the United States, where he died at age 35, in .

Bibliography

Works by

* 1908: ''The Vermilion Pencil: A Romance of China''. - New York: McClure. -
::Reprinted 2003. - Stirling: Read Around Asia. - ISBN 9780954545000
* 1909: ''The Valour of Ignorance''. - London, New York: Harper and Brothers. -
::Reprinted 1942. - ISBN 1931541663
* 1912: ''The Day of the Saxon''. - Harper and Brothers. -
::Reprinted 1942. ISBN 1932512020

Works about

*Anschel, Eugene, . - ''Homer Lea, Sun Yat-Sen, and the Chinese Revolution''. - Praeger Pubs. ISBN 0030000637
*Alexander, Tom, . - "The Amazing Prophecies of 'General' Homer Lea". - ''Smithsonian''. - p.102.

Lei Zhenchun

Lei Zhenchun was a Chinese general and Minister of war of the Republic of China in July 1917.

Li Chi-chun

Li Chi-chun, , a Chinese general from the beginning of the Republic of China, leader of a Japanese puppet force in southeast Manchukuo from 1933 -1935.

Li Chi-chun, born in Hubei in 1875, became a general after serving in the Republican Army during the Xinhai Revolution. During the Warlord Era little is known of his activities. In early 1933, following the Japanese Invasion of Manchuria and the establishment of Manchukuo Li appeared in southeast Liaoning province at the head of several thousand men calling themselves the "National Salvation Army", and flying the old five-barred flag of the Chinese Republic.

At first, Li's force was fighting the Anti-Japanese guerrillas, despite their claim to be ready to fight the Japanese. They then served with the Manchukuoan forces in the Japanese Operation Nekka in 1933. After that they began to make trouble in the disputed area between Manchukuo and northern China with the intent to establish an "independent" government there with the help of the Japanese, and they captured some small towns. However with the Tanggu Truce, and the establishment of the demilitarized zone, Li's army, now about 10,000 strong, was no longer wanted. The Japanese disbanded it, with only 2,000 of its men being recruited to serve in the demilitarized zone's Peace Preservation Corps.

General Li, disappeared. Reports at the time believed him to have retired to the Japanese Concession in Tianjin.

Source
*Jowett, Phillip J., Rays of the Rising Sun Vol 1., Helion & Co. Ltd. 2004.

Tang Juwu

Tang Juwu, Tang Chu-wu,唐聚五,, Chinese officer, general of one of the Anti-Japanese Volunteer Armies resisting the pacification of Manchukuo.

Tang Chu-wu joined the 27th Guard Brigade at the age of seventeen. While serving with the Northeastern Army Sixth Infantry Division he was sent to officer training in May 1926, graduating the following year. Tang Ju-wu had been the commander of the 1st Regiment of the eastern frontier defence force., that was disbanded and interned by the Japanese during the early days of the invasion of Manchuria.

He grieved over the loss of his homeland and the humiliation of his countrymen, after his regiment was disarmed and interned without struggle by the Japanese. Tang Juwu escaped and then cut one of his fingers and wrote eight Chinese characters meaning "Kill the enemy, punish the traitors, save our country and love our people."

After escaping internment, the Northeast National Salvation Society appointed Tang as commander and helped him get in touch with smaller forces which others were organising in eastern Liaoning province. Tang also made use of his extensive personal contacts with police chiefs, officials, local gentry militias and the leaders of the semi-clandestine Big Swords Society. Tang Juwu accepted any recruits who were willing to fight against the invaders including bandits. He was able to develop the Northeast People's Anti-Japanese Volunteer Army with some 10,000 troops under his command.

In May of 1932, Tang Juwu judged that the time was ripe for his army to go on the offensive. Tang's army, now 20,000 men surrounded the Japanese Tunghua garrison. In reaction the Japanese police and detachments of the Manchukuoan Army attempted to relieve the siege in the First Tungpientao Clearance. The Japanese were unable to defeat Tang and his force threatened the region to the east of the important city of and communications with Korea. Based in the Tonghua area, his army fought, with the Japanese Kwantung Army stationed in Shenyang and the Manchukuon army of South Liaoning province. Although all major cities had been lost, the volunteer armies gained a new lease of life during the summer of 1932 and reached their greatest strength.

On Oct 11th 1932, in the Second Tungpientao Subjugation Operation, two Japanese cavalry brigades, one mixed brigade, and 7 Manchukuo puppet brigades attacked Tang Juwu's forces in Tonghua & Hengren area. The threat of Japanese aerial bombardment of Tonghua forced Tang to withdraw from it in order to save the civilian population. After the defection of the Manchukuoan 37th Route commander Wang Yongcheng, Tang Juwu was able to break through the Japanese encirclement to the west and escape. On October 16th, the Japanese took over Tonghua, and on the 17th, Hengren, with a casualties of 500 men. Tang and the remainder of his force eventually were forced to flee into Rehe.

When the battle of Rehe broke out early in 1933, he was made head of the Northeast Anti-Japanese Volunteer 3rd Corps. Unable to stand idle against the Japanese following the Tanggu Truce Tang joined the Chahar People's Anti-Japanese Army in May 1933. He was later taken back by the Nationalist army and given command of a Regiment as part of Chiang Kai-shek's efforts to disperse the Anti Japanese Army and avoid war with the Japanese. After the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War he was assigned to operate behind the Japanese lines as a guerilla commander. He was killed in action in Hebei on May 18, 1939.

Ting Chao

Ting Chao or Ding Chao was a General, known for his defense of Harbin during the Invasion of Manchuria in 1931 and 1932.

Following the Invasion of Manchuria by the Imperial Japanese Army and the capture of Liaoning and Jilin . Hostilities did not commence in the Harbin area until the end of January 1932 when General Ting Chao resolved to defend the northern metropolis, a key hub of rail and riverine communication, against the approach first of General Xi Qia's "New Kirin" Army and then Japanese troops. He appealed to the city's Chinese residents to join his Jilin Self-Defence Army made of railway garrison troops and other regulars in battle against the Japanese.

Later after Ting Chao's beaten forces retired from Harbin to the northeast down the Sungari River, they joined the Lower Sungari garrison of Gen. Li Du as the nucleus of armed opposition in the north. After his retreat from Harbin he was made Chairman of the Government of Jilin Province and opposed the new puppet government of Manchukuo in their of the .

Wang Fengge

Wang Fengge （1895－1937）was born in Tonghua, Jilin, China. In 1914 Wang Fengge graduated from the Donghua normal school, and had studied traditional martial arts as a young man. In 1922 he was made a company commander in a brigade of the Northeast Army. In 1926 he retired from the army, going into business, and became involved in the Big Swords Society.

After the Japanese invasion of Manchuria, he raised a volunteer force by linking up with other citizens in the and Ji'an areas during late 1931 and announced the establishment of his army in March 1932.

In April, 1932 Tang Juwu revolted in Huanren, establishing the Liaoning Self-Defense Corps. Wang Fengge's unit and other groups of Big Swords became part of Tang Juwu's force. On May 7, 1932, Wang led his force and with Commander Fang Chun of the Huinan anti- Japanese force jointly attacked and occupied the Liuho county seat, and proclaimed the revolt against Japan in a circular telegram. Wang's unit of 1,000 men, suddenly increased to 5,000, and he organized them into six brigades.

By the end of February 1933, most of the large volunteer armies had fled to the Soviet Union, from where they were eventually repatriated. However Wang did not flee and fought on in a guerrilla unit, and continued to harass the Japanese and Manchukuoan forces for many years in Liaoning. Wang Fengge was captured in 1937 after a three day battle and was then executed, along with his wife and child.

Sources

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Wang Sheng (Taiwan General)

Wang Sheng was a general in the Republic of China Army, head of the General Political Warfare College and a close confidant to President Chiang Ching-kuo. He divorced his childhood wife and married Hu Hsiang-li in 1945, who bore three sons and two daughters..

Mainland life

Wang Sheng, born Wang Shiu-chieh on October 15, 1915, was the son of a rich Hakka land-owning family in Longnan County, Jiangxi, on the Guangdong border. He received an elementary education at Chih-liang Elementary School and then worked as a clerk in his brother’s traditional medicine store. After a return to formal study at Nanfang Institute of Chinese Literature, , Wang joined the Righteous Warriors Communist Suppression Squad, a militia mopping up after the remaining forces left behind by the Chinese Communist Party as it embarked on its Long March.

Wang subsequently joined the 12th Jiangxi Security Protection Regiment, in 1936, as a clerk. After a year, he was transferred to the training battalion of the 6th Strong Youth Training Regiment, which was directly under the leadership of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek’s son, Chiang Ching-kuo. CCK, as he later became known, had just returned from a decade in the Soviet Union, during which time he reportedly joined the communist party and then became disillusioned with it. Wang became aide de camp to a regimental commander working directly under CCK, but there is no indication the two men met at that time.

After a brief period of combat and further self-education, he entered Class 16 of the Jiangxi Third Branch of the Central Military Academy in February 1939. It was at this time that Wang joined the Kuomintang , and after graduating first in his class, he was sent to the Three Principles of the People Youth Corps Training Course, run directly by CCK. Again, Wang graduated at the top of his class, and was chosen to work for Chiang Ching-kuo, which he did for the next 50 years.

After several years in Southern Jiangxi administration, Wang was sent to Chongqing for further training and to attend the San Min Zhuyi Youth Corps’ 1st National Congress, in 1943. At the congress, CCK emerged from his post-Russian shadow and took leading roles in the half-million strong parallel youth organization. After the congress, Wang was sent back to Jiangxi as the third ranking leader of the provincial Youth Corps. In 1944, he entered the first class of the Central Cadre Academy Research Division, a type of political graduate school; one of his classmates was future Premier Li Huan. However, military set-backs shortened the students’ studies.

Desperate for more soldiers, the party in late 1944 created a youth militia, and made 35-year-old Lieutenant General Chiang Ching-kuo its Political Department Director. Lieutenant Colonel Wang was sent to the South-east Branch as political officer of the training base for the 208th and 209th Divisions. (While Wang was at this assignment, a young communist named Jiang Zemin was arrested, and later released by his unit. In 1989, Jiang became General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party.

At the end of the War Against Japan, Wang was in charge of the 1st Section of the 31st Corps Political Department, a logical progression when his 208th and 209th Divisions were reorganized into the corps-level unit. From November 1945 to June 1946, Wang was with his units on garrison duty in Hangzhou. He was then reassigned to the seemingly low position of Director of Student Affairs at Chia-hsing Youth Middle School, a specially established training and education institution for demobilized soldiers of the Youth Army. He was, however, still directly under the orders of Chiang Ching-kuo..

A year later, in July 1947, CCK tapped Col. Wang as an inspector in the Ministry of National Defense Bureau of Preparatory Cadres, a revamped Youth Army demobilization organization. Ironically, the transfer coincided with a general mobilization to staff the newly erupting civil war. As needs changed, Wang was tasked as Deputy Section Chief in the KMT Youth Department, his first party assignment. He was nominally based in Nanjing, but travelled to universities across Nationalist-held territory.

Hyperinflation

In mid-1948, inflation reached such a rate that wheelbarrows full of bank notes were insufficient to keep pace with price changes The government replaced the worthless ''fabi'' with a new, gold-backed ''Chin-yuan Chuan'' at a rate of three million to one. Simultaneously, hording and speculation were banned. Chiang Ching-kuo was assigned to implement this financial revolution at the Shanghai branch of the Economic Supervisors’ Office, and immediately sent for Col. Wang.

Wang Sheng brought the 6th Suppression and Reconstruction Brigade to Shanghai, and CCK began offering rewards for information on those not complying with the new laws. The unit comprised only 100 junior officers, and was later supplemented by seven other similar units, all under now-Major General Wang’s authority. He then established a 30,000-strong Greater Shanghai Youth Service Corps to patrol the streets, enforcing the financial regulations.

CCK and General Wang needed credibility, and fast. They found it by moving against high-profile figures, under the protection of the Chiang family name. Among those arrested were Tu Wei-ping, the son of “Big Ears” Tu Yue-sheng, the senior-most Green Gang triad boss; “Rice Tiger” Wan Mou-lin, a close associate of Tu; and the managers of several industrial establishments owned by former prime minister TV Soong. Ultimately, the effort failed and the regulations were lifted by end-October and hyperinflation returned with a vengeance.

In the chaos of late 1948 and early 1949, Gen. Wang took command of the Jiangxi 3rd Political Work Brigade and became Jiangxi Province KMT Secretary. After barely a month in Nanchang, he was ordered to Ganzhou, then Nanjing and Guangzhou. As Guangzhou became untenable, Wang's unit retreated into Chongqing, Sichuan Province; said to have been the last unit to leave Guangzhou for Chongqing. In November 1949, President Chiang Kai-Shek flew from Taiwan to Chongqing, to personally supervise the defense of Sichuan. That gave Wang an occasion to meet the President. Still, despite the Chiang's presence, Chongqing fell to the Communists in the same November, the KMT government retreating to Chengdu. On December 10, the President flew from Chengdu back to Taiwan. Wang hoped to stay in Sichuan and to lead guerilla fighting; but on Chiang's orders, he also left Chengdu, arriving to Taiwan by the way of Hainan. His subordinates stayed behind in Sichuan; many of them made it to Taiwan much later, via Burma.

Taiwan

The Taiwan Wang arrived at in 1950 was the new home for over one million refugees, including many of the very elite of Republican society, government and business. It was also a place emerging from 50 years of mostly benevolent Japanese colonial rule, and one where thousands had been slaughtered by the new Nationalist occupiers only three years earlier in the bloody 2-28 purge.

After arriving in Taiwan in 1949, CCK established a Political Action Committee in Kaohsiung with General P’eng Meng-ch’i and Air Force Commander Chou Chih-jou . Much of the responsibility for the committee’s work, however, was delegated to Wang Sheng, intelligence chief Mao Jen-feng and others . This would have put Wang at the center of the mass purges that resulted in up to 10,000 arrests and as many as a thousand executions during 1949-50.

Gen. Peng deserves special mention. Known as the Butcher of Kaohsiung, Peng oversaw the reestablishment of control over the city, through the use of military force, after reinforcements arrived from the mainland. The association with CCK and General Peng would have had a very important influence on Wang's public reputation.

In the following year or so, numerous high-ranking officials were accused of being communists, and executed. Among these were an Army deputy chief of staff and his wife; the head of conscription; a vice minister of national defense; and the commander of the 70th Division.

In Taiwan, Wang established the precursor to the General Political Warfare College, the elite training school for army and party cadres. Nominally second in charge in the civil-military programs, welfare and services section of CCK’s cadre system, Wang’s main task was laying the foundation for the Chinese Youth Anti-Communist League, or China Youth Corps as it was renamed.. His mentor, Chiang Ching-kuo, was in 1952 named to the reformed KMT politburo and proceeded to take on a series of both military and economic responsibilities directly related to the future of Taiwan. Wang himself was nominated for the Central Committee in 1957, but gave up his seat to a more senior military officer, and as first alternate, joined the CC in May 1959.

Col. Wang spent most of the later 1950s and 1960s training army political cadres in the General Political Warfare College, a position that allowed him to develop a teacher relationship with rising officers throughout the armed forces. All units from company level up were to have a political officer, and those above company level were trained at Wang’s ''Fu Hsing Kang'' College in Taipei. In 1953, he was named Assistant Commandant and in January 1954 was restored to the rank of Major General. By the end of 1955, Wang was Commandant, and 40 years of age.

In 1960, Maj. Gen. Wang was transferred to the post of Deputy Director of the General Political Warfare Department , and about a year later in mid-1961 was promoted to Lieutenant General and Executive Deputy Director. He remained in the post, until being promoted to Director in April 1975, the same month in which Chiang Kai-shek passed away.

General Wang served as Director of the General Political Warfare Department of the ROC Armed Forces from 1975 to 1983.

Domestic enemies

Opposition to the ruling KMT turned violent in the 1970s. Bombings in Tainan and Taipei targeted the American presence on the island in 1970 and 1971, although casualities were light. Explosives also knocked out electric power in the southern part of the island in early 1976. The campaign then escalated toward assissination when letter bombs were sent to Governor Hsieh Tung-min , former Governor Huang Chieh and KMT Organization Department Director Li Huan, who later became KMT Secretary-General and Premier. Governor Hsieh lost his right arm and an eye in the attacks, whereas the others escaped injury. in 1980, bombs at the Los Angeles homes of General Wang's second son, Wang Pu-tien and the son of Kaohsiung Mayor Wang Yu-yueng detonated, killing Mayor Wang's brother-in-law.

In the Spring of 1977, KMT rising star Hsu Hsin-liang published a mildly critical memoir of his years in the provincial National Assembly, to raise support for his campaign for the seat of Taoyuan County Magistrate. When the KMT failed to nominate him, he ran as an independent, and was expelled from the party. In the run-up to the election, Gen. Wang undertook a campaign criticizing local literati as leftist..

Election irregularities in Chungli County that year led to violence, creating the pretext for a crack-down on dissent and, simultaneously, solidifying the foundations of the opposition political network known as the ''Tangwai'', or “those outside the party.” One year laer, amid a very tight domestic political environment, the United States switched its formal diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing.

Exile

Toward the end of his tenure, as President Chiang Ching-kuo's health was failing, General Wang travelled to the US. The trip, to discuss succession plans and possibly win backing for his own candidacy, has been described as either "secretive" or unauthorized. It also marked the end of Wang's special role in Taiwan politics. That CCK was getting potential successors out of the way was confirmed by his posting his own son, Chang Hsiao-wu, to Singapore.

Wang Shizhen

Wang Shizhen was a Chinese general and politician of the Republic of China.

Biography

Wang was born in Zhengding, Hebei in 1861. He was the Minister of War in the Republic of China three times, 1915-1916 and twice in 1917. He was the Premier of China from 1917 to 1918.

Yao Zhenshan

Yao Zhenshan , （？－1938）Chinese soldier and leader of Anti Japanese volunteer army forces in the resistance to the Pacification of Manchukuo.

Before the Mukden Incident, Yao was a captain commanding a company in the Third Battalion, 676th Regiment, 27th Brigade of the Kirin Provincial Army. Following the invasion of Manchuria he joined Wang Delin's Chinese People's National Salvation Army.

After the Army of Wang Delin was defeated and retreated from Manchukuo, Yao Zhenshan remained behind in eastern Kirin province. National Salvation Army's acting Commander-in-Chief Wu Yicheng soon appointed him brigade commander. He lead it north and south to on various expeditions, and coordinated with other Anti Japanese forces in harassing the Japanese. In 1934, was made the First Corps commander of the one of three in the National Salvation Army. He later cooperated with the 2nd Route Army of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army in the war against Japanese and their Manchukuoan armies.

Following Yao's death in battle in 1938, the wife of Kong Xianrong another of Wang Delin's subordinates, led the remains of his forces, a small band which fought on until the spring of 1941 when it was annihilated.

Zhang Shaozeng

Zhang Shaozeng was a Beiyang Army general in charge of the 20th Division.

Biography

He was born in Zhili province and graduated from a Japanese military academy in 1901. He was a known radical who advocated constitutional monarchy and supported Wu Luzhen's mutiny during the Xinhai Revolution. He became the boss of Tianjin.

In 1912, he secured the loyalty of the Inner Mongolian tribes to Yuan Shikai. He broke with Yuan during the National Protection War and was one of the first to fight against 's attempt to restore the Qing dynasty in 1917.

He became affiliated with Cao Kun's Zhili clique and ruled Rehe. He and Wu Peifu advocated the return of the original . He served as Li Yuanhong's in 1923. He opposed Cao and Wu's plan to invade Guangdong to defeat Sun Yatsen's rival government, preferring to negotiate unification. His tenure as premier in the Beiyang government was marked by greed and self-glorification and he was forced to flee to the British legation in Tianjin after his resignation.

In 1928, he was assassinated by Zhang Zuolin after he was found to have contacts with the Guominjun and Kuomintang.

Chang Hai-peng

Chang Hai-peng or Zhang Haipeng, , was a Chinese Northeastern Army general, who went over to the Japanese during the Invasion of Manchuria and became a general in the Manchukuo Imperial Army of the state of Manchukuo.

In early October 1931, shortly after the Mukden Incident, at Taonan in the northwest of Liaoning province, General Chang Hai-peng, who was commander of the 2nd Provincial Defense Brigade, took command of the local forces including the and declared the district independent of China, in return for a shipment of a large quantity of military supplies by the Japanese Army.

General Chang Hai-peng followed his political move up by leading the men of the Hsingan Reclamation Army north to attack General Ma Zhanshan the newly appointed governor of Heilungkiang province. Soon after Chang Hai-peng advanced upon Ma's capital at Qiqihar, Ma offered to surrender it. Encouraged by General Shigeru Honjo, Chang advanced cautiously to accept General Ma's surrender. However Chang's advance guard was attacked by Ma's troops and it was routed.

Following the establishment of the State of Manchukuo in March 1932 Chang Hai-peng commanded his old force now renamed the Taoliao Army leading Manchukouan troops against the Manchurian volunteer armies and in the Japanese invasion of Rehe in Operation Nekka. Afterward he commanded the newly organized Rehe Guard Army, later the after the 1934 reorganization of the Manchukuoan Army.

Sources

*
*Jowett, Phillip J., ''Rays of the Rising Sun Vol 1.'', Helion & Co. Ltd. 2004.
* China's Anti-Japanese War Combat Operations
** Author : Guo Rugui, editor-in-chief Huang Yuzhang
** Press : Jiangsu People's Publishing House
** Date published : 2005-7-1
** ISBN:7214030349
** This is transcribed at
** http://www.wehoo.net/book/wlwh/a30012/A0170.htm

Chiang Wei-kuo

Chiang Wei-kuo , or Wego Chiang was an adopted son of Chiang Kai-shek, adoptive brother of Chiang Ching-kuo, and an important figure in the Kuomintang . His nickname was Jianhao and sobriquet Niantang .

Early life

Born in Tokyo when Chiang Kai-shek and the KMT was exiled to Japan by the Beiyang Government, Chiang Wei-kuo has long been speculated to be an offspring of Tai Chi-tao and a Japanese woman, Shigematsu Kaneko . Chiang Wei-kuo previously discredited any such claims and insisted he was a legitimate son of Chiang Kai-shek until his later years, when he admitted that he was adopted.

According to popular gossip, Tai believed knowledge of his Japanese tryst would destroy his marriage and his career, so he entrusted Wei-kuo to Chiang Kai-shek, after the Japanese Yamada Juntaro brought the infant to Shanghai. Yao Yecheng , Chiang's wife at the time, raised Wei-kuo as her own. The boy called Tai his "Dear Uncle" .

Chiang moved to the Chiang ancestral home in Xikuo Town of Fenghua in 1910.

Wei-kuo studied at Soochow University. With his sibling held as a virtual political hostage by Stalin, Chiang sent Wei-kuo to Germany for a military education at the Munich Military Academy. Here, he would learn the most up to date German military tactical doctrines, organization, and use of weaponry on the modern battlefield such as the German-inspired theory of the Maschinengewehr led squad, incorporation of Air and Armored branches into Infantry attack, etc. After completing this training, Wei-kuo completed specialized Alpine warfare training, thus earning him the coveted Gebirgsjäger Edelweiss sleeve insignia. This was not an easy accomplishment, as part of the training selection included carrying 30 kilos of ruck sack through the Bavarian Alps. Wei-kuo was promoted to Unteroffizier and was evidently a fine marksman, as his pictures depict him wearing the Schützenschnur lanyard.

Wei-kuo commanded a Panzer during the 1938 Austrian Anschluss, leading a tank into that country; subsequently, he was promoted to Leutnant of a Panzer unit awaiting to be sent into Poland. Before he was given the mobilization order, he was recalled to China. There, Wei-kuo became a Major at 28, a Lieutenant Colonel at 29, a Colonel at 32, and later, a Major General. Wei-kuo was in charge of a M4 Sherman tank battalion during 1948 Nationalist-Communist campaign against Deng Xiao Ping's troops, scoring some early victories. In 1949 he moved his armor regiment to Taiwan.

In 1944, he married Shih Chin-i, the daughter of Shih Feng-hsiang , a textile tycoon from North West China. Shih died in 1953 during a child birth. Wei-kuo later established the Jinsin Elementary School in Taipei to commemorate his late wife.

In 1957, Chiang re-married, to Chiu Ju-hsüeh , also known as Chiu Ai-lun , a daughter of Chinese and German parents. Chiu gave birth to Chiang's only son, Chiang Hsiao-kang, in 1962. Chiang Hsiao-kang is the youngest of the of the Chiang family.

Political career

His positions in the Republic of China government included:
* Commanding general of the armored vehicles regiment
* Commanding general of the unified logistics division
* Commandant of the Army Strategies College
* Chancellor of the Three-Military University
* Senior advisor to the President
* Secretary-General, Council of National Security

After Chiang Ching-kuo's death, Chiang was a political rival of native Taiwanese Lee Teng-hui, and he strongly opposed Lee's Taiwan localization movement. Chiang ran as vice-president with Taiwan Governor Lin Yang-kang in the . Lee ran as the KMT presidential candidate and defeated the Lin-Chiang ticket.

In 1991, Chiang's housemaid, Li Hung-mei was found dead in Chiang's estate in the Taipei City. The following police investigation discovered a stockpile of sixty guns on Chiang's estate. Chiang himself admitted the possibility of a link between the guns and his maid's death, which was later ruled a suicide by the police. The incident permanently tarnished Chiang Wei-kuo's name, at a time when the Chiang family was increasingly unpopular on Taiwan and even within the Nationalist Party. A new generation of Nationalists no longer had the will or desire to cover the decades of corruption and scandal that the Chiang family had surrounded itself with ever since Chiang Kai-shek rose to power in the 1930s.

Final years

In the early 1990s, Chiang Wei-kuo established an 11-person unofficial Spirit Relocation Committee to petition the Communist government to allow his father and brother to be exhumed and re-interred in mainland China. His request was largely ignored by both the Nationalist and Communist governments, and he was persuaded to abandon the petition by his stepmother and his father's widow, Soong May-ling in November 1996.

In 1994, a hospital was supposed to be named after him in Sanchih, Taipei County, after an unnamed politician donated to Ruentex Financial Group , whose founder was from Stician. Politicians questioned the motivation.

In 1996, the Chiang home on a military land was finally demolished by the order of the Taipei municipal government under Chen Shui-bian. The estate had been constructed in 1971. After Chiang moved elsewhere in 1981, he deeded it to his son. The justification was that son was not in military service and thus was not entitled to live there.

Chiang Wei-kuo died at the age of 82 from kidney failure. He had been experienced falling blood pressure complicated by diabetes after a 10-month illness at Veterans General Hospital, Taipei at 82. He wished to be buried in Suzhou in mainland China, but was instead buried at Wuchih Mountain Military Cemetery.

Chiang Wei-kuo was a Master Mason and was a Past Master of Liberty Lodge #7 in Taipei, Taiwan.

Hau Pei-tsun

Hau Pei-tsun was of the Republic of China from May 30, 1990 to February 10, 1993 and a 4-star general in the .

Biography

Born to a well-to-do family in Yancheng county, Jiangsu province, Hau received a military education from the Chinese Military Academy, Chinese Army University, U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, and the War College, Armed Forces University. Hau was appointed an artillery officer in 1938, and served in the Chinese expeditionary forces in India during World War II. In the subsequent Chinese Civil War he was a staff officer.

As commander of the 9th Infantry Division from 1958 to 1961, Hau presided over the 44-day bombardment of Quemoy by the People's Liberation Army. He commanded the 3rd Corps from 1963 to 1965, served as Chief Aide to Chiang Kai-shek from 1965 to 1970. He continued his army career as Commander of the 1st Field Army from 1970 to 1973, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the ROC Army from 1975 to 1977, Executive Vice Chief of the General Staff in the Ministry of National Defense from 1977 to 1978, Commander-in-Chief of the ROC Army 1978 to 1981, and Chief of the General Staff in the Ministry of National Defense from 1981 to 1989.

He was a member of the Central Standing Committee of the Kuomintang from 1984 to 1993 and served as Minister of National Defense from 1989 until 1990 when he was appointed Premier. He was appointed by President Lee Teng-hui in part to mollify the conservative mainlander faction within the KMT that had threatened to run a rival presidential ticket in the March 1990 election. Hau's appointment sparked protests by those who believed it marked retrogression toward military rule, while President Lee defended his decision by saying he valued Hau's tough stance on crime. As premier he held high approval ratings - he was tough on crime and promoted a multi-billion-dollar economic development plan to industrialize Taiwan. Hau submitted his resignation in January 1993 after the KMT's poor showing in the 1992 Legislative Yuan election.

Appointed as one of four vice-chairmen of the KMT in the 14th Party Congress in another effort by Lee to pacify the mainlander faction, Hau served from 1993 to 1995.

In the , he ran for vice-president as an independent on the ticket of Lin Yang-kang and had his KMT membership "cancelled" . His party membership was restored in 2005.

He married Kuo Wan-hua and has two sons and three daughters. One of his sons is politician Hau Lung-pin, the former chairman of the , and incumbent Mayor of Taipei.

I Hua Huang

General I Hua Huang , originally named Shian, was born in Yizhang county, Hunan province. During his youth, the country was in turmoil and suffered from civil war and warlord-ism. After graduating from high school, I Hua joined the military and spent the next 10 years studying and applying military science. The general sentiment of relatives at the time was that joining the army was a bad decision. Despite the negative opinions of others, Huang never regretted his decision.

Military

World War II and Anti-Japanese War 1937-1945

Huang participated in the following battles:
Battle of Shanghai : The opening battle of the Anti-Japanese War.

Battle of Nanjing : Huang was a Colonel at this time. On Dec. 13, Nanjing fell. The Japanese army massacred the populace of Nanjing and Huang was almost captured by the Japanese during their attack on the city.

Battle of Wuhan : The battle involved areas of four provinces, Anhui, Jiangxi, Hubei, and Hunan. The battle lasted approximately six months and was especially difficult. Casualties of the Japanese forces were estimated at 200,000. Wuhan was abandoned in November and the Nationalist army withdrew to regroup and prepare for subsequent battles.

Battle of Xian-bei : The goal of the Japanese army was to advance toward Changsha, the capital of the Hunan province. At this time, Huang was promoted to major general and stationed to the 9th military region at Nanyu, Hunan as a staff officer. Huang's appointment to Major General was noteworthy in that he was only 30 years old at the time and became one of the youngest generals in the country. General Chen Chen, Huang's superior commander, highly regarded Huang's skills and praised him frequently. Huang drafted many of the directives and orders for General Chen and frequently represented him in meetings. It was during this campaign that Huang's second child, Yue Shiou, was born.

Battle of Zhao Yi : The battle was marked by its ferocity. During the battle, one of the high ranking nationalist army generals, General Zhang Zhi Zhong, was lost. General Zhang was a 3-star general and the highest ranked officer to lose his life during the Anti-Japanese war. During the Battle, Huang's units were overrun by the Japanese and escaped to the safety through enemy lines. During the escape, they hid in farm fields and only moved at night. With the assistance of the local population and militia, they were able to make their way to safety after seven days. Many people at the time thought that Huang had perished.

Huang's third child, Ling Shiou, was born when he was with the stationed at Ensi, Hubei.

December 7th, 1941: Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese and America entered the war. The Japanese advance in China halted at Yichang, Hubei. General Huang was promoted to deputy division command of the 4th division and stationed in Shangdouping, Hubei for about three years. Shandouping is in Yichang, Hubei and is near the present day 3 Gorge's Dam.

Huang's fourth child, Ying Sheng, was born.

1944: General Huang was promoted as division commander of the 16th division at age 36. It was at this time that the Japanese began their attack towards Chongquing from occupied Guilin and Vietnam. The 16th division was redeployed to the southern area of Sichuan to prepare for the Japanese attack. However, since the Japanese advance was defeated by another Chinese unit, the 16th was redeployed back to Shandouping. It was at this time that Huang's fifth child, Cheng Sheng, was born.

1945: The Japanese surrender after the bombing of Hiroshima and . The 16th division was ordered to receive the Japanese surrender at Yichang, Hubei. Th 16th division received the surrender of the 132th division of the Japanese army at Tianmen, Hubei. By President Chiang Kai Shek's order, the Chinese army did not mistreat the surrendering Japanese.

Civil War Years

In the subsequent years after World War II, General Huang participated in the Civil War against the Communist forces from 1947-49 and engaged in many battles. Hann Sheng and Shian Sheng were born. Huang became the 103rd Corp Deputy Commander in 1948. The 103rd consisted of 3 divisions (347th, 234th, and a third division. The 103rd Corp was lost in battle in Guangxi near the Vietnamese border. General Huang escaped through Communist lines to safety.

Life in Taiwan

1950- General Huang arrived in Taiwan and was appointed Chief of staff of the Eastern Defense military Region headquartered at Hualien. Afterwards, General Huang became the head of the 8th and 3rd Army Officer Fighting Regiments and eventually retired from the army in 1955. After the army, Huang worked in the Bureau of National Property as a regional director. At the age of 65, I Hua retired from public office.

Life in the United States

I Hua came to the United States in 1975 and lived in Elmhurst, Queens, New York with his family. General Huang and his wife, Lee Yuen were both born in the countryside of Hunan. They married early and their marriage lasted over 72 years. Lee Yuen lived until 1998. All of his seven children are currently in the United States. Of the seven, four attained PhD Degrees and one attained a Master's Degree. Two of his children were left behind in China after the civil war and were not able to rejoin him in the United States until the 1980s. The two sibling left behind didn't have the same opportunities as the other five and suffered greatly from Communist persecution. I Hua and Lee Yuen always regretted stranding of their two children in China and were moved to tears whenever the incident was mentioned.

Personal

For his entire life, Huang I Hua was characterized as a very gentle person. He seldom got angry and demanded little. He enjoyed reading, writing, walking, and moderate amounts of drinking. He drank a lot of water/tea every day. He quit smoking after reaching 50 years old. Walking was his favorite hobby. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, he enjoyed the company of friends and family and frequently engaged in mahjong. After the death of his wife , he grieved for a long time and seldom engaged in social activities. Instead, he asked Ning Sheng or Yi Sheng to represent him at the veteran association events.

Huang Xing

Huang Xing or Huang Hsing , Chinese revolutionary leader, militarist and statesman, was the first arm commander-in-chief of the Republic of China. As one of the founders of the Kuomintang and the Republic of China, his position was next to Sun Yat-sen. Together they were known as Sun-Huang during the Xinhai Revolution. He was also known as the "Eight Fingered General" because of wounds sustained during the war.

Rememberence

* In Changsha, Nanzheng Street was renamed to Huang Xing Road in 1934. There are also roads named in honor of Huang Xing in Shanghai and Wuhan.
* The county where Huang Xing was born was renamed to Huang Xing Town in his honor.
*Similar to the Zhongshan Parks, The Huang Xing Park in Shanghai is named after Huang Xing .