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

Nationalist government The Nationalist government, officially the National Government of the Republic of China, refers to the government of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China from 1 July 1925 to 20 May 1948, led by the nationalist Kuomintang (KMT ...

throughout the

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led Nationalist government, government of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the forces of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Armed conflict continued intermitt ...

and

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War was fought between the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the Empire of Japan between 1937 and 1945, following a period of war localized to Manchuria that started in 1931. It is considered part ...

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

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT) is a major political party in the Republic of China (Taiwan). It was the one party state, sole ruling party of the country Republic of China (1912-1949), during its rule from 1927 to 1949 in Mainland China until Retreat ...

(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) against the Beiyang government and other regional warlords in 1926. The purpose of the campaign was to reunify China prop ...

, a two-year campaign to unify China.

Chinese Civil War

After the fourth and fifth encirclement campaigns forced the main Communist forces to withdraw from the

Eyuwan Soviet The Eyuwan Soviet. The name comes from the Chinese abbreviations of Hubei (), Henan (), and Anhui (). It's also known as the Hubei–Henan–Anhui Soviet or the Eyuwan Revolutionary Base Area ( zh, labels=no, c=鄂豫皖革命根据地第, p=Èy� ...

area, the Nationalists began a series of extermination campaigns against the remaining Communist guerrillas. The Communists had strong peasant support in this region and were able to hold out against repeated attempts to wipe them out. In 1934, Chiang Kai-shek gave Wei Lihuang several hundred thousand troops to accomplish this task. Wei made use of concentration camps to deprive the Communists of peasant support. Despite occasional victories, the Communists were in the main defeated by this strategy. Most of the remaining guerrillas abandoned open warfare and began to operate undercover amongst the peasants. Until the

Second United Front The Second United Front ( zh, t=第二次國共合作 , s=第二次国共合作 , first=t , l=Second Nationalist-Communist Cooperation, p=dì èr cì guógòng hézuò ) was the alliance between the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) and the Chinese Co ...

began in 1937, the Communists in Eyuwan remained underground. His success 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), courtesy name Tsi-siou (), 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 C ...

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 divide ...

. Y-Force consisted of over 100,000 Nationalist soldiers, and participated in major ground operations in support of American General

Joseph W. Stilwell Joseph Warren "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell (19 March 1883 – 12 October 1946) was a United States Army general who served in the China Burma India theater during World War II. Stilwell was appointed as Chief of Staff for Chiang Kai-shek, the Kuominta ...

's offensive in northern

Burma Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and ha ...

. 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 an inland Provinces of China, province in Southwestern China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 47.2 million (as of 2020). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the Chinese provinces ...

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 Lashio, Burma, in the south and Kunming, China, the capital of Yunnan province in the north. It was built in 1937–1938 while Burm ...

supply network to China through Ledo, Burma, now named the

Ledo Road The Ledo Road () was an overland connection between British India and China, built during World War II to enable the Western Allies to deliver supplies to China and aid the war effort against Japan. After the Japanese cut off the Burma Ro ...

. In concert with existing airlift operations over

The Hump The Hump was the name given by Allies of World War II, Allied pilots in the Second World War to the eastern end of the Himalayan Mountains over which they flew military transport aircraft from British Raj, India to Republic of China (1912- ...

, 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 () is a geographical region of China, consisting officially of three provinces Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang. The heartland of the region is the Northeast China Plain, the largest plain in China with an area of over . The regi ...

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

Liaoning ) , image_skyline = , image_alt = , image_caption = Clockwise: Mukden Palace in Shenyang, Xinghai Square in Dalian, Dalian coast, Yalu River at Dandong , image_map = Liaoning in China (+all claims hatched).svg , ...

, he was supposedly planning for an offensive to recapture the Nationalist provincial capital before he was ordered to withdraw by Chiang Kai-shek. Shortly before the communist capture of

Mukden Shenyang,; ; Mandarin pronunciation: ; formerly known as Fengtian formerly known by its Manchu name Mukden, is a sub-provincial city in China and the provincial capital of Liaoning province. It is the province's most populous city with a p ...

(

Shenyang Shenyang,; ; Mandarin pronunciation: ; formerly known as Fengtian formerly known by its Manchu language, Manchu name Mukden, is a sub-provincial city in China and the list of capitals in China#Province capitals, provincial capital of Liaonin ...

), Wei would return to southern

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

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 the ...

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. Out of that total, 246,000 were captured, and many if not most were quickly incorporated into the

PLA Pla may refer to: People * Cecilio Plá (1860–1934), Spanish painter * Conrad Pla (born 1966), Canadian kickboxer and actor * Jim Pla (born 1992), French racing driver * Joan Baptista Pla (ca. 1720–1773), Spanish composer and oboist * Josefina ...

. Chiang subsequently ordered Wei's house arrest. Wei made his way to

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

in 1949, and moved to Beijing in 1955, where he would participate in various organizations of the People's Republic. He would live in the PRC until his death in 1960.

References

Bibliography

*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 ...

'', New York, 1992 * http://www.generals.dk/general/Qiu_Qing-quan/_/China.html *Ministry of National Defense R.O.
US Naval War College
*
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 Chinese Expeditionary Force generals