Ding Delong ( zh, s= 丁德隆 }; 24 May 1904 – 24 February 1996) was a Chinese

National Revolutionary Army The National Revolutionary Army (NRA; zh, labels=no, t=國民革命軍) served as the military arm of the Kuomintang, Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang, or KMT) from 1924 until 1947. From 1928, it functioned as the regular army, de facto ...

general from

Hunan Hunan is an inland Provinces of China, province in Central China. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the Administrative divisions of China, province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to the east, Gu ...

Biography

Ding Delong was born in 1904 in

You County You County () is a county in Hunan Province, China; it is under the administration of Zhuzhou City. Located on the south eastern margin of the province, the county is bordered to the north by Xiangdong District, Pingxiang City of Jiangxi, Li ...

Hunan Province Hunan is an inland province in Central China. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to the east, Guangdong and Guangxi to the south, and Guizhou and Chon ...

, China. At the age of 20, he enrolled in a military academy, later in the same year, in November 1924, the school became one of the institutions that merged to become the

Whampoa Military Academy The Republic of China Military Academy ( zh, t=中華民國陸軍軍官學校, p=Zhōnghúa Mīngúo Lùjūn Jūnguān Xúexiào, poj=Tiong-hôa Bîn-kok Lio̍k-kun Kun-koaⁿ Ha̍k-hāu), also known as the Chinese Military Academy (CMA), is ...

. He was named the commanding officer of the 6th Regiment of the 1st Division of the Nationalist Chinese 1st Army. In 1931, he was named the commanding officer of the Independent Brigade in the 1st Division. In 1936, he was named the commanding officer of the 78th Division after the 1st Division was expanded to become the 1st Corps, in which role he participated in battles against local warlords and in actions against

Chinese communists The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Civil W ...

. Ding remained with the 1st Corps as the war began in 1937, seeing action in

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

, Henan Province, and

Wuhan Wuhan; is the capital of Hubei, China. With a population of over eleven million, it is the most populous city in Hubei and the List of cities in China by population, eighth-most-populous city in China. It is also one of the nine National cent ...

. In 1940, he graduated from the war college at the head of his class, and was personally named him the commanding officer of the 1st Corps by Chiang Kai-shek. In 1942, he was given command of the 57th Corps, and later in the year given the concurrent duty as the deputy commanding officer of the 38th Army. In 1944, he became the commanding officer of the 37th Army. In March 1945, he was promoted to the rank of

lieutenant general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was norma ...

, in which rank he served as a senior military adviser to the government and oversaw units in training in

Xi'an Xi'an is the list of capitals in China, capital of the Chinese province of Shaanxi. A sub-provincial city on the Guanzhong plain, the city is the third-most populous city in Western China after Chongqing and Chengdu, as well as the most populou ...

, China. In 1949, when the Nationalists lost the civil war to the Chinese communists, he fled to Taiwan with the Nationalist government. After retirement from the military, he became a member of the National Assembly representing Hunan Province and was a committee member for the liberation of China. He died of illness in

Taipei , nickname = The City of Azaleas , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Taiwan#Asia#Pacific Ocean#Earth , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country ...

, Taiwan on 24 February 1996 and was buried in the

Wuzhi Mountain Military Cemetery The Wuzhi Mountain Military Cemetery (, sometimes romanized as ''Wuchih'') is Taiwan's most prominent military cemetery. The cemetery is located on Wuzhi Mountain () at an elevation of in Xizhi, New Taipei City and borders Taipei City's Neihu ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ding, Delong 1904 births 1996 deaths National Revolutionary Army generals from Hunan People from Zhuzhou