Wei Lihuang () (16 February 1897 – 17 January 1960) was a Chinese general who served the Nationalist government throughout the

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on main ...

and

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific T ...

as one of China's most successful military commanders. First joining the

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Ta ...

(KMT) during the early 1920s, Wei would rise to become general after the

Northern Expedition The Northern Expedition was a military campaign launched by the National Revolutionary Army (NRA) of the Kuomintang (KMT), also known as the "Chinese Nationalist Party", against the Beiyang government and other regional warlords in 1926. The ...

, a two-year campaign to unify China. His later success under

Chiang Kai-shek Chiang Kai-shek (31 October 1887 – 5 April 1975), also known as Chiang Chung-cheng and Jiang Jieshi, was a Chinese Nationalist politician, revolutionary, and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China (ROC) from 1928 ...

during the Bandit (Communist) Suppression Campaigns from 1930 to 1934 would earn him the nickname "Hundred Victories Wei".

War with Japan

A general during the

, Wei commanded the First War Area. With the entry of Great Britain and later the United States in the war against Japan, he was transferred to southern China as commander of the Nationalist Chinese XI Group Army. He later replaced General

Chen Cheng Chen Cheng (; ; January 4, 1898 – March 5, 1965) was a Chinese political and military leader, and one of the main commanders of the National Revolutionary Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Chinese Civil War. After movi ...

as commander of the Chinese Expeditionary Forces, known as

Y Force Y Force was the South East Asia Command designation given to Chinese National Revolutionary Army forces that re-entered Burma from Yunnan in 1944 as one of the Allies fighting in Burma Campaign of World War II. It consisted of 175,000 troops divid ...

. Y-Force consisted of over 100,000 Nationalist soldiers, and participated in major ground operations in support of American General Joseph W. Stilwell's offensive in northern

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Wei was able to work effectively with American commanders. General Wei Lihuang on horseback

Beginning his offensive into southern

Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the ...

on 11 May 1944, Wei's troops captured Tengchung on 15 September after two months of heavy fighting. Proceeding southward despite heavy resistance, his forces eventually linked up with Chinese divisions in Wanting,

on January 27, 1945. The success of this offensive allowed the Allies to reopen the former

Burma Road The Burma Road () was a road linking Burma (now known as Myanmar) with southwest China. Its terminals were Kunming, Yunnan, and Lashio, Burma. It was built while Burma was a British colony to convey supplies to China during the Second S ...

supply network to China through Ledo, Burma, now named the Ledo Road. In concert with existing airlift operations over

The Hump The Hump was the name given by Allied pilots in the Second World War to the eastern end of the Himalayan Mountains over which they flew military transport aircraft from India to China to resupply the Chinese war effort of Chiang Kai-shek ...

, the Ledo Road enabled overland transport of military supplies from Assam to Nationalist bases in China.

Postwar career

Recalled to northern China to again replace General

following the war, Wei was placed in command of KMT forces in

northeast China Northeast China or Northeastern China () is a geographical region of China, which is often referred to as "Manchuria" or "Inner Manchuria" by surrounding countries and the West. It usually corresponds specifically to the three provinces east of ...

in October 1947. After being cut off from land communication with the KMT with the communist capture of Chinchow (

Jinzhou Jinzhou (, ), formerly Chinchow, is a coastal prefecture-level city in central-west Liaoning province, China. It is a geographically strategic city located in the Liaoxi Corridor, which connects most of the land transports between North Chin ...

锦州,

Liaoning Liaoning () is a coastal province in Northeast China that is the smallest, southernmost, and most populous province in the region. With its capital at Shenyang, it is located on the northern shore of the Yellow Sea, and is the northernmo ...

), he was supposedly planning for an offensive to recapture the Nationalist provincial capital before he was ordered to withdraw by

. Shortly before the communist capture of

Mukden Shenyang (, ; ; Mandarin pronunciation: ), formerly known as Fengtian () or by its Manchu name Mukden, is a major Chinese sub-provincial city and the provincial capital of Liaoning province. Located in central-north Liaoning, it is the provinc ...

(

Shenyang Shenyang (, ; ; Mandarin pronunciation: ), formerly known as Fengtian () or by its Manchu name Mukden, is a major Chinese sub-provincial city and the provincial capital of Liaoning province. Located in central-north Liaoning, it is the provi ...

), Wei would return to southern

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

following his replacement by his field commander

Du Yuming Du Yuming (; 28 November 1904 – 7 May 1981), was a Kuomintang field commander. He was a graduate of the first class of Whampoa Academy, took part in Chiang's Northern Expedition, and was active in southern China and in the Burma theatre of th ...

in October 1948. In spite of Wei's earlier success, his tenure in the northeast was remarkably unsuccessful. He defied orders for more than a year to withdraw, and lost 300,000 troops. Taylor (2009) writes that "Of those, 246,000 were captured, and many if not most were quickly incorporated into the

PLA PLA may refer to: Organizations Politics and military * People's Liberation Army, the armed forces of China and of the ruling Chinese Communist Party * People's Liberation Army (disambiguation) ** Irish National Liberation Army, formerly called t ...

" (p. 389). Chiang ordered Wei's house arrest. Wei made his way to

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...

in 1949, and moved to Beijing in 1955, where he would "participate in various organizations of the

People's Republic People's republic is an official title, usually used by some currently or formerly communist or left-wing states. It is mainly associated with soviet republics, socialist states following people's democracy, sovereign states with a democratic- ...

" (Taylor, 2009, p. 389). He would live in the PRC until his death in 1960.

References

*Dupuy, Trevor N. ''

Harper Encyclopedia of Military Biography ''The Harper Encyclopedia of Military Biography'' () was written by Trevor N. Dupuy, Curt Johnson and David Bongard, and was issued in 1992 by HarperCollins Publishers. It contains more than three thousand short biographies of military figures f ...

'', New York, 1992 * http://www.generals.dk/general/Qiu_Qing-quan/_/China.html *Ministry of National Defense R.O.
US Naval War College
* Taylor, Jay. ''The Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-Shek and the Struggle for Modern China'', New York, 2009 * http://cgsc.leavenworth.army.mil/carl/download/csipubs/bjorge_huai.pdf {{DEFAULTSORT:Wei, Lihuang 1897 births 1960 deaths Chinese military personnel of World War II National Revolutionary Army generals from Anhui People's Republic of China politicians from Anhui Politicians from Hefei Burials at Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery