Xiang Army

Th Xiang Army was a standing army organized by Zeng Guofan from existing regional and village militia forces to contain the Taiping rebellion. The name is taken from the Hunan region where the Army was raised. The Army was financed through local nobles and gentry, as opposed to the centralized Manchu-led Qing Dynasty. Although it was raised specifically to address problems in Hunan, the Army formed the core of the new Qing military establishment, and as such, forever weakened the Manchu influence within the military. This devolution of centralized command is commonly pointed to as a major reason for the eventual downfall of the Qing dynasty and the emergence of regional warlordism in China during the first half of the twentieth century.

Taiping Rebellion

The Taiping rebellion started in December 1850 in Guangxi Province, growing after a series of small victories over the local Qing forces. The revolt rapidly spread northward. In March 1853, between 700,000 and 800,000 Taiping soldiers directed by commander-in-chief Yang Xiuqing took Nanjing, killing 30,000 Imperial soldiers and slaughtering thousands of civilians. The city became the movement's capital and was renamed ''Tianjing'', "Heavenly Capital". By this point the Heavenly Kingdom encompassed much of south and central China, centered on the Yangtze river valley. However, they continued in their attempts to expand northward, and sent two armies to take the upper Yangtze, while another two attempted to take the new Imperial capital, Beijing. The western drive met with some success, but the Beijing attack failed.

Zeng Guofan was tasked with limiting the rebellions' attempts to take control of Hunan. His lieutenants recovered the capital, Changsha, and then Zeng led the recapture of Wuchang and Hanyang, near Hankow, and was rewarded for his success by being appointed vice-president of the Board of War. His Army was so successful that the Qing leaders quickly started using it in place of their own troops, turning it into an Imperial force rather than the local force as it had been raised. In 1860 Zeng was called on to use the Xiang Army to clear Anhui, and was appointed Viceroy of Liangjiang . While Charles George Gordon and his "Ever-Victorious Army" were clearly the rebel heartland, Zeng took the opportunity to launch a campaign to retake Nanjing.

The entire area around the city had been cleared of rebel forces in a series of battles starting in June 1863. The battle for the city itself started on March 14 1864 when Zeng's forces attempted to force the city walls using ladders, but were beaten back. A second attempt used tunnels, but counter-digging and a second wall prevented a breakthrough. On July 3 the Xiang forces had their first victory, taking Dibao Castle. This position allowed them to dig new tunnels and pack them with explosives, intending to destroy the city walls. A counterattack failed, and on July 19 they were set off and a large portion of the wall collapsed. The city fell after a fierce three day battle.

After the city fell, the Xiang Army pillaged and robbed this city, killing 150,000 people and setting it on fire that lasted until July 26 1864. Zeng was promoted to Marquess Yiyong .

Governor-generals

Post Qing Dynasty from 1860 to 1890, over half of governor-generals in China were Xiang Army leaders. They had political power and could control Chinese policies.

Assassination

On 22 August 1870 the Viceroy of Liangjiang, Ma Xinyi was assassinated in Nanjing. His killer may never truly be known, but many historical rumours implicate the Empress Dowager Cixi. Many Chinese and Hong Kong dramas and movies have been produced upon this historical event.

Total soldiers

In 1860, Xiang Army power stood on top, totalling soldiers almost 360,000. The large, main group was led by Zeng Guofan commanding 130,000 troops. The Qing regular army, the Green Standard Army totaled about 2,300,000 . Taiping Rebellion total soldiers amount 1,800,000 .

Headquarters

*Headquarters were located in Qimen County Anhui originally, and after recovering Anqing in September 1861, it advanced and moved to Anqing for rounded attacks on Nanjing.

Salary

A Xiang Army soldier's salary was four ryō of silver every month. A Qing regular soldier's salary was just about 1.5 ryō silver per month.

Main leaders

Zeng Guofan

Zuo Zongtang

Zeng Guoquan

Luo Zenan

Peng Yulin

Hu Linyi

Vice leaders

Li Xubin

Li Xuyi

Bao Chao

Liu Rong

Liu Kunyi

Liu Changyou

Jiang Yili

Li Hongzhang

Disarmament and revolution

When the Huai Army deputy Xiang Army‘s political situation, Li Hongzhang began disarming the Xiang Army. As a result, in 1890, part of the Xiang Army incorporated into a gang and anti-government movement. The Xinhai Revolution exploded in 1911 and established the ROC.

Encirclement Campaign against Hunan-Jiangxi Soviet

The Encirclement Campaign against Hunan-Jiangxi Soviet was a series of battles launched by the Chinese Nationalist Government that was intended to destroy Hunan-Hubei-Sichuan-Guizhou Soviet and its Chinese Red Army in the local region. It was responded by the Communists’ Counter-Encirclement Campaign at Hunan-Jiangxi Soviet , also called by the communists as the Counter-Encirclement Campaign at Hunan-Jiangxi Revolutionary Base , in which the local Chinese Red Army successfully defended their soviet republic in the border region of Hunan-Jiangxi provinces against the attacks from January 29, 1930 to March 24, 1930.

First Stage

In January, 1931, to support other communist forces in their struggles against the Encirclement Campaign against Hunan-Hubei-Jiangxi Soviet, the communist Eastern Hunan Chinese Red Army Independent Division of the Hunan-Jiangxi Soviet struck western Hunan, and also launched massive guerrilla warfare in southeastern Hunan. From January 29, 1931 thru February 9, 1931, communist Eastern Hunan Chinese Red Army Independent Division succeeded in taking regions including Ling County, the town of Zixing and the town of Yongxing , and three nationalist local security regiments guarding these towns and completely destroyed along with a regiment of the nationalist 57th Brigade sent to reinforce these regions.

In early February, 1931, the Chinese Red Army 7th Army was forced to abandon their bases in Guangxi and traveled northward to join other communist, and the communist forces of Hunan-Jiangxi Soviet was tasked to link up with the Chinese Red Army 7th Army so the communist Eastern Hunan Chinese Red Army Independent Division returned to Lotus Flower county. Capitalizing on their victory, the communists expanded their force and the Eastern Hunan Chinese Red Army Independent Division was renamed as the Southeastern Hunan Independent Division, with a new regiment, the 2nd Regiment established, and the division was consisted of a total of three regiments, totaling more than 1,500 troops.

Order of battle

order of battle: :

First Stage:
*Ling County Security Regiment
*Zixing Security Regiment
*Yongxing Security Regiment
*A regiment of the nationalist 57th Brigade
Second Stage:
*5th Route Army commanded by Wang Jingyu
**28th Division commanded by Gong Bingpan
**43rd Division commanded by Guo Huazong
**47th Division commanded by Shangguan Yunxiang
**54th Division commanded by Hao Mengling
**77th Division commanded by Luo Lin
order of battle :

First Stage:
*Eastern Hunan Chinese Red Army Independent Division
**1st Regiment
**2nd Regiment
Second Stage:
*Southeastern Hunan Independent Division
**1st Regiment
**2nd Regiment
**3rd Regiment

Second Stage

In March, 1931, nationalists were already in their mobilization for the planned Second Encirclement Campaign against Jiangxi Soviet. The nationalist 5th Route Army deployed was en route to Jiangxi Soviet, and was tasked to first destroy the Hunan-Jiangxi Soviet on its way when the situation permitted. The nationalist 5th Route Army consequently begun their push toward Ji'an, Jishui , and Eternal Abundance from Pingxiang, Jiangxi and Yichun, Jiangxi. The communist high command of the 1st Front Army of the Chinese Red Army of Jiangxi Soviet ordered the local communist force of the Hunan-Jiangxi Soviet to launch a preemptive strike against the nationalist 5th Route Army in order to delay its deployment against the Jiangxi Soviet.

The communist Southeastern Huan Independent Division guarding the Hunan-Jiangxi Soviet deployed its 1st Regiment and the 2nd Regiment to strike Pingxiang, Jiangxi and Yichun, Jiangxi, and its 3rd Regiment was ordered to southeastern Hunan to join up with the Chinese Red Army 7th Army from Guangxi, which by then had reached the border region of Guangdong and Hunan provinces. The communist preemptive surprise attack had successfully disrupted and halted the nationalist encirclement campaign against the Hunan-Jiangxi, and also slowed the nationalist 5th Route Army in its deployment against the Jiangxi Soviet.

On March 14, 1931, the 3rd Regiment of the communist Southeastern Huan Independent Division successfully linked up with the vanguard of the Chinese Red Army 7th Army in the region of Shiduwei in Bi County and begun their return journey. On March 24, 1931, the communists ambushed and destroyed an entire regiment of the nationalist 19th Division, and this last battle of the encirclement campaign forced the nationalists to stop their offensives completely to withdraw and regroup. Meantime, the communists did the same by returning to Lotus Flower county. The communist Southeastern Hunan Independent Division and the 58th Regiment of the Chinese Red Army 7th Army subsequently moved eastward to the region to the east of Eternal Sun , and joined the 175th Regiment of the Chinese Red Army 20th Army in the local region.

Aftermath

Although the nationalist 5th Route Army was ready later for another round of offensives after resting and regrouping, the nationalist high command had a different idea. After careful analysis, the nationalist high command deducted that its 5th Route Army was better deployed for the Second Encirclement Campaign against Jiangxi Soviet instead of for further encirclement campaign against Hunan-Jiangxi Soviet, because if the main communist base, Jiangxi Soviet was destroyed, the smaller Hunan-Jiangxi Soviet would not last for long either. It was really not worth wasting the valuable troops to be tied down on smaller local communist bases so the nationalist 5th Route Army was ordered away to complete its deployment for its original purpose against their main target, Jiangxi Soviet, and the Hunan-Jiangxi Soviet was left alone for the time being.

Changjiao massacre

The Changjiao massacre was a aimed at civilians by the Japanese China Expeditionary Army in ChangJiao, Hunan. Shunroku Hata was the promoter. For four days, from 1943-05-09 to 1943-05-12, more than 30,000 civilians were killed and thousands of women were raped.

Campaign to Suppress Bandits in Western Hunan

Campaign to Suppress Bandits in Western Hunan was a counter-guerrilla / counterinsurgency campaign the fought against the Kuomintang guerrilla left behind after the nationalist regime withdrew from mainland China. The campaign was fought during the Chinese Civil War in the post-World War II era in western Hunan Province, and resulted in communist victory. This campaign was part of Campaign to Suppress Bandits in Central and Southern China.

Prelude

After most part of Hunan had fallen into communist hands, the surviving nationalist troops joined bandits in the period from June, 1950 – September, 1950 in western Hunan to continue their anticommunist struggles and reorganized into the Anticommunist National Salvation Army totaling more than 23,000 troops, controlling regions with more than a million population.

After communists secured central Hunan, they turned their attention to western Hunan and begun to plan the complete eradication of bandits in the region. A total of more than 40,000 troops were mobilized, mostly from the Hunan Military District of the communist Central and Southern China Military Region. Troops of the communist 47th Army, 136th Division, and other communist detachments in the adjacent provinces including that of Sichuan, Hubei and Guizhou were assigned to two commands, the northern command and the southern command, respectively commanded by the communist Western Hunan Military District commander-in-chief Cao Lihuai and deputy commander-in-chief Liu Xianquan .

Campaign

The campaign was fought in two stages, with the first stage lasted from October 15, 1950 – November 15, 1950. The communists amassed a total of ten regiments to first attack bandits in northern region of western Hunan based in the Dragon Mountains. After ten days of continuous attacks, the local bandits were completely annihilated. A half a month long mop up operation continued finally resulted in annihilation over four thousand bandits. In the south, on October 20, 1950, communists took the town of Suining and Jing County occupied by the bandits and surrounded over six thousands bandits by cutting off their escape route to the north. After fierce battles which ended on November 15, 1950, over fifty-five hundreds bandits were annihilated, and Jiang Xieqin , the local nationalist commander-in-chief of the Third Front Army of the Southern China Anticommunist National Salvation Army was captured alive.

The second stage of the campaign begun in mid-November, 1950. Communists deployed a total of eleven regiments, seven of which were assigned to conduct local mopping up operations. Another four communist regiments attacked and took regions including Nine Dragons Mountain , Phoenix , Mayang, , Huang County, and Passage , and by the end of December, 1950, the local bandits were completely annihilated. The campaign concluded with communist victory and the complete elimination of the problem of bandits that plagued western Hunan for several centuries.

Battle of West Hunan

The Battle of West Hunan , also known as the Chihchiang Campaign was the Japanese invasion of west Hunan and the subsequent Chinese counterattack that occurred between 6 April 1945 and 7 June 1945, during the last months of the Second Sino-Japanese War. Japanese strategic aims for this campaign were to seize Chinese airfields and secure railroads in West Hunan, and to achieve a decisive victory that their depleted land forces needed. Although they were able to make initial headways, Chinese forces were able to turn the tide and forced the Japanese into a rout, recovering a substantial amount of lost ground. This was the last major Japanese offensive, and the last of 22 major battles during the war to involve more than 100,000 troops. Concurrently, the Chinese managed to repel a and launched a successful , turning the course of the war sharply in China's favor even as they prepared to launch a full-scale counterattack across South China.

Background

By April 1945, China had already been with Japan for more than seven years. Both nations were exhausted by years of battles, bombings and blockades. From 1941 to 1943, both sides maintained a "dynamic equilibrium", where field engagements were often, numerous, involved large numbers of troops and produced high casualty counts, but the results of which were mostly indecisive. ''Operation Ichigo'' in 1944 changed the status quo, as Japanese forces were able to break through the inadequate Chinese defenses and occupy most of Honan, Hunan and Kwangsi, connecting Japanese-held areas from north to south in a continuous front. However, the Japanese victory resulted in very little actual benefit for them: the operation drained Japanese manpower and a weakened Japanese army had to defend a longer front with more partisan activity in occupied areas. The opening up of north-south railway connections did little to improve Japanese logistics, for only one train ran from Kwangchou to Wuhan in April 1945, and due to fuel shortages the primary mode of transportation for Japanese troops was on foot.

On the other hand, although the Chinese government in Chungking had lost land access to their remaining forces in Chekiang, Anhwei and Kiangsi with their defeat in ''Ichigo'', Chinese fortunes in the war improved with the retaking of north Burma by and forces and since its reopening on 4 February 1945 the Ledo-Kunming Stilwell Road transported over 50,000 tonnes of petroleum into China every month. By April 1945, enough materiel had become available to the Chinese army to equip 35 divisions with American equipment.

Order of Battle

China
*Commander-in-Chief; Ho Ying-chin 何應欽
:*3rd Front Army; Tang En-po 湯恩伯
::*27th Army Group; Li Yu-tang 李玉堂
:::*26th Corps; Ting Chih-pan 丁治磐
:::*94th Corps; Mu Ting-fang 牟廷芳
:::*New 6th Corps; Liao Yao-hsiang 廖耀湘
:*4th Front Army; Wang Yao-wu 王耀武
::*18th Corps; Hu Lien 胡璉
::*73rd Corps; Han Chun 韓浚光
::*74th Corps; Shih Chung-cheng 施中誠
::*100th Corps; Li Tien-hsia 李天霞
::*assorted independent units ***
:*10th Army Group; Wang Ching-chiu 王敬玖
::*39th Corps; Liu Shang-chih 劉尚志
::*92nd Corps; Hou Ching-ju 侯镜如
Sources

Japan
*20th Corps; Ichiro Anzai 板西一良
:*34th Division; Yoshio Ban
:*47th Division; Nagashi Watanabe 渡辺??
:*68th Division; Mikio Tsutsumi 堤??
:*116th Division; Ginnosuke Uchida 内田銀之助
:*Elements of the 64th Division
:*86th Independent Brigade
Sources

Japanese strategic objectives

For this campaign, the Imperial Japanese had three main objectives. The first of which was to neutralize the Chinese airfield at Chihkiang, and securing it, or simply by pressing forward close enough to the airfield to force the Chinese to destroy the installation. Their second objective was to secure their control of the Hunan-Kwangsi and Kwangchou-Hankow railways. A third objective was to preemptively disrupt the planned Chinese offensive in the region.

Preparations for battle

The Japanese army began preparations for the battle in March 1945, constructing two highways with forced Chinese labor: the Heng-Shao Highway ran from Hengyang in a northwest direction to Shaoyang, a Japanese controlled city in central Hunan a mere 100 km from Chihkiang; and the Tan-Shao Highway from Hsiangtan, southwest to Shaoyang. Supplies and equipment were stockpiled near Shaoyang, to be the headquarters of the Japanese 20th Corps, led by Ichiro Banzai. Under it were the Japanese 34th, 47th, 64th, 68th and 116th Divisions, as well as the 86th Independent Brigade, massing at various locations across Hunan, for a total of 80,000 men by early April.

In response, the Chinese National Military Council dispatched the 4th Front Army and the 10th and 27th Army Groups with Ho Ying-chin as commander-in-chief. At the same time, it airlifted the entire New 6th Corps, an American-equipped corps and veterans of the Burma Expeditionary Force, from Kunming to Chihkiang. Chinese forces totaled 110,000 men in 20 divisions. They were supported by about 400 aircraft from the CAF 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th Air Groups and the USAAF 14th Air Force.

Casualties

After the battle, Japan first announced that they only had 11,000 casualties . They later revised the figures to include an additional 15,000 casualties "due to diseases". Finally, they admitted to a casualty figure of 27,000. On the other hand, the Chinese claimed to have inflicted on the Japanese 36,358 casualties, including 12,498 KIA. The Chinese sustained 20,660 casualties with 7,817 KIA, of which there were 823 officers.

Battle of Changde

The Battle of Changde was a major engagement in the Second Sino-Japanese War. On November 2, 1943 the Imperial Japanese Army invaded and occupied the undefended city of Changde. On November 18, 9,000 troops from the 57th Division of the arrived and retook the city. The IJA then counterattacked, and the 57th held out for 16 days till December 3, when 100 remaining soldiers escaped the Japanese siege and linked up with reinforcements who retook the city on December 9. Reinforcements arrived from both sides and fighting continued until the IJA finally retreated on December 20.

During the battle, Japan and chemical weapons, spreading bubonic plague over a 36-km radius in the city.

Reporter Israel Epstein witnessed and reported on the battle.

Witold Urbanowicz, a Polish pilot fighting in China in 1943 saw the city just after the battle. To the best of his knowledge nearly 300 000 civilians alone died in the battle not including Chinese and Japanese soldiers.

Order of Battle: Battle of Changde

Use of bacteriological weapons

During the Khabarovsk War Crimes Trials, some witnesses such as Major General Kiyashi Kawashima, testified that, as soon as 1941, about 40 members of unit 731 dropped by airplane fleas contaminated with on Changde and that these operations caused outbreaks of plague epidemics.

Sources:

Hsu Long-hsuen and Chang Ming-kai, History of The Sino-Japanese War 2nd Ed. ,1971. Translated by Wen Ha-hsiung , Chung Wu Publishing; 33, 140th Lane, Tung-hwa Street, Taipei, Taiwan Republic of China. Pg. 412-416 Map 38

*Daniel Barenblatt, ''A plague upon Humanity'', HarperCollns, 2004, pp.220-221

Battle of Bamianshan

The Battle of Bamianshan was a battle fought between the and the during the Chinese Civil War in the post-World War II era and resulted in communist victory.

Order of battle:
*Nationalists: Temporarily Organized 1st Army
*Communists: 141st Division of the communist 47th Army

Bamianshan , meaning Eight Sided Mountain literally, is located 10 km to the north of the town of Liye in the border region of Hunan, Sichuan and Hubei. The difficult terrain made it ideal as a hideout for bandits, which had plagued the local region for more than a century. By the end of 1949, the bandits were led by Shi Xingzhou . In late December, 1949 the nationalist Temporarily Organized 1st Army led by its commander Chen Zixian withdrew to the mountains and convinced the local bandits to join them, fighting the communists together. The nationalists planned to use the mountain as a guerilla base to launch operations against their communist enemy.

In mid-January 1950, the 141st Division of the communist 47th Army was tasked to exterminate the nationalist guerrillas and the division began its intensive training in mountain warfare. Two regiments of the 141st Division of the communist 47th Army were deployed in the regions of Neixipeng , Greater Rocky Gate and Lesser Rocky Gate , thus completed the encirclement of the Eight Sided Mountain .

The battle erupted on January 19, 1950, when a detachment of communist troops secretly climbed up the southern cliff of the mountain and dispersed the nationalist guerrillas in a surprise attack. The nationalist defenders were overwhelmed by the rapid and decisive surprise attack and were completely demoralized, abandoned their posts and began to flee. The nationalist commanders were unable to rally their troops for an effective counterattack and the nationalist guerrilla headquarters located in the Swallow Cave fell, with a huge amount of weapons captured by the attacking enemy. After the main engagement, the communists began to eradicate the surviving nationalist guerrillas by fighting in small teams, and by the end of January 1950, the battle concluded with over 3,000 nationalist guerrillas killed or captured. The nationalist plan of long-term guerrilla and insurgency warfare had been crushed.

The communist victory, however, was incomplete: around 1,000 nationalist guerrilla fighters successfully escaped to fight for another day at different locations, including their commander Chen Zixian . Most of the escaped nationalist guerrillas retreated to Sichuan.