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63) Lieutenant General Wu Shi, Deputy Chief of Staff of Ministry of Defense, Republic of China, and undercover spy for communists since 1947. Was arrested, sentenced to death by Military Court, and executed by Republic of China Military Police in Taipei, at 1630 on 10 June 1950.
64) General Liu Zhi, another classic example of Nationalist commander who peaked early-mid career, then became progressively and ultimately completely useless, by the time he became defending commander of Xuzhou Bandit Suppression HQ, in lead-up to Huaihai Campaign of 1948-49.
65) Xie Wendong, major bandit boss in Manchuria. In 1946, as Chinese communist insurgents fought Nationalist Army in Manchuria, they staged their own parallel anti-insurgency campaign against bandits, who were ubiquitous in Manchuria and numbered in excess of 100,000+ at peak.
66 & 67) Lieutenant Generals He Jifeng and Zhang Kexia, Republic of China Army, whose shocking defection with 59th and 77th Armies to communists in 1st phase of Huaihai Campaign, ensured encirclement and destruction of General Huang Baitao's 7th Corps. https://twitter.com/simonbchen/status/1307155867838496768?s=20
68) Major General David Goodwin Barr, United States Army, Chief of US Army Advisory Group (AAG) to Republic of China, whose opinion was greatly valued by ROC generals. Unfortunately, even he was not immune to being duped by Lieutenant General Guo Rugui. https://twitter.com/simonbchen/status/1311063388710076416?s=20
69) General Gu Zhutong, Chief of General Staff, Ministry of Defense, Republic of China, at time of Huaihai Campaign of 1948-49. In practice, his nominally important leadership position reduced him to a messenger for supreme micromanager, Chiang Kai-shek. https://twitter.com/simonbchen/status/1325124913510797325?s=20
70) General Feng Zhian, commander of 3rd Security District in Huaihai Campaign, and boss to the defecting generals. While he did not oppose their defection, he himself opted out, feeling duty-bound and sensing the darkness of communism. Moved to Taiwan. https://twitter.com/simonbchen/status/1328186194396475392?s=20
71) Major General Wang Jifang, Republic of China Army, who originally had defected from communist Northeastern Army as its Chief of Operations after rout at Siping in 1946. Arrested in Chungking in 1949, flown to Wuhan in Northeastern Army custody for public trial, and executed.
72) Li Kenong, communist intelligence operations chief in Civil War, whose work in thoroughly penetrating defense and government apparatus of Republic of China was deemed so critical, that he was only non-military figure made General when communist army introduced ranks in 1955.
73) General Chen Mingren, who as Nationalist garrison commander in Siping, mounted a successful and bitter Stalingrad-esque defense of that city in 1947. In 1949, reassigned to Changsha, he defected to communist army in a major blow to Nationalist defense of south-central China.
74) Major General Liao Yunzhou, commander of 110th Division, 85th Army, 12th Mechanized Corps, Republic of China Army, but also a communist Underground Party operative. He defected to communists with his Division, under guise of breakout from encirclement, in Huaihai Campaign.
75) General Cheng Qian, one of handful of elite commanders within Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist Army who received his military education at the Imperial Japanese Army Academy, and partner to General Chen Mingren in the Changsha defection on 4 August 1949. https://twitter.com/simonbchen/status/1331780554040041472?s=20
76) Lieutenant General Hou Jingru, Republic of China Army, key commander of 2nd phase of Battle of Tashan in Liaoshen Campaign in 1948. Subsequently re-assigned to Tientsin, Yangtze River, and then Fujian Province, he defected to communists in August 1949.
https://twitter.com/simonbchen/status/1302597307578290176?s=20
https://twitter.com/simonbchen/status/1302597307578290176?s=20
77) Chiang Wei-kuo, Chiang Kai-shek's 2nd (and adopted) son, who received his military education in Germany and US. In the Huaihai Campaign, as commander of 2nd Independent Tank Regiment, he led an abortive attempt at rescuing General Huang Wei's encircled 12th Mechanized Corps.
78) Mao Zedong. His brutal record as political dictator is well-known. As communist army commander-in-chief, his unusually expansive strategic vision, alarming tolerance for gamble and risk, and unorthodox principles of operation, were critical for military victory in Civil War.
79) Madame Chiang (Soong Mei-ling), Chiang Kai-shek's wife. US-educated and fluent in English, she played an extremely critical role in development of Chinese Nationalist Air Force in 1930s and 1940s, and contributed greatly to its liaison with US advisors and aviation industry.
80) Dong Cunrui, infantry platoon leader in communist Northeastern Field Army, lionized in propaganda as martyr for holding demolition charge against Nationalist machine-gun bunker, blowing himself up in process. Independent verification of this alleged episode is not available.
81) Liu Hulan, teenage communist activist lionized as martyr in communist propaganda, who was supposedly guillotined at age 14 by General Yan Xishan's troops for complicity in murder of an anti-communist village leader. Independent verification of this story is not available.
82) Zhu Feng, communist intelligence operative dispatched to Taiwan, and accomplice of Lieutenant General Wu Shi. Was arrested, sentenced to death by Military Court, and executed by Republic of China Military Police in Taipei, at 1630 on 10 June 1950. https://twitter.com/simonbchen/status/1325923818200707072?s=20
83 and 84) Major Robert B. Rigg and Captain John W. Collins III, United States Army, who were captured by communist Northeastern Field Army while serving as military attache to Republic of China Army in Manchuria in 1947. They were released following rude and harsh interrogation.
85) Lieutenant Commander John Kerans, Royal Navy, who was awarded a DSO for his critical role as British naval attache in mediating the HMS Amethyst Incident, in which the ship was shelled by artillery of communist Eastern Chinese Field Army during its Yangtze Crossing Campaign.
86) Lieutenant General Chen Changjie, Republic of China Army, protégé of Fu Zuoyi, vanquished defense commander of Battle of Tientsin in 1949. Subjected to relentless, brutal persecution in Cultural Revolution, he and his wife committed suicide in 1968. https://twitter.com/simonbchen/status/1300085316099796992?s=20
87) Marshal Rodion Malinovsky, commander of Transbaikal Front in Soviet invasion of Manchuria in August 1945, who was later involved in Soviet aid to Chinese communists in Manchuria in Civil War. In 1964, he caused political earthquakes by joking about military coup against Mao.
88) Lieutenant General Dai Li, Nationalist intelligence chief as head of Bureau of Investigation and Statistics, until he perished in a plane crash in 1946. Like his boss, Chiang Kai-shek, he has been a deeply misunderstood and misleadingly portrayed figure in Civil War history.
