Bai Chongxi
Bai Chongxi was a Chinese military general in the National Revolutionary Army of the Republic of China and a prominent leader of the Kuomintang. He was of Hui ethnicity and of the Muslim faith.
From the mid-1920s to 1949, Bai and his close ally Li Zongren ruled Guangxi province as regional warlords with their own troops and considerable political autonomy. His relationship with Chiang Kai-shek was at various times antagonistic and cooperative. He and Li Zongren supported the anti-Chiang warlord alliance in the Central Plains War in 1930, then supported Chiang in the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Chinese Civil War. Bai was the first defense minister of the Republic of China from 1946 to 1948. After the Republic of China's loss in 1949, he fled to Taiwan alongside the government, where he died in 1966.
Early life and Warlord era
Bai was born in Guilin, Guangxi and given the courtesy name Jiansheng. He was a descendant of a Persian merchant of the name Baiderluden, whose descendants adopted the Chinese surname Bai. His Muslim name was Omar Bai Chongxi.He was the second of three sons. His family was said to have come from Sichuan. At the age of 14 he attended the Guangxi Military Cadre Training School in Guilin, a modern-style school run by Cai E to modernize Guangxi's military. Bai and classmates Huang Shaohong and Li Zongren would become the three leading figures of Guangxi's military. For a time Bai withdrew from the military school at the request of his family and studied at the civilian Guangxi Schools of Law and Political Science.
With the outbreak of the Xinhai Revolution in 1911, Bai joined a Students Dare to Die corps led by Huang. After entering the Nanjing Enlistment Corps, Bai transferred from the Corps to the Second Military Preparatory School at Wuchang. He graduated from the school in 1914, then underwent pre-cadet training for six months before attending the third class of Baoding Military Academy in June 1915. He became a 1st Guangxi Division probationary officer upon returning to Guangxi.
Bai rose to fame during the warlord era after allying with Huang and Li in support of Kuomintang leader Sun Yat-sen. This alliance, called the New Guangxi Clique, proceeded to move against Guangxi warlord Lu Rongting in 1924. The coalition's efforts brought Guangxi Province under ROC jurisdiction, and Bai and Li represented a new generation of Guangxi leaders.
The Nationalist chief of staff was Bai. The 13th Army had him as the commander. The Nationalist Northern Punitive Expedition was participated in by Bai.
During the Northern Expedition Bai was the Chief of Staff of the National Revolutionary Army and credited with many victories over the northern warlords, often using speed, maneuver and surprise to defeat larger enemy forces. He led the Eastern Route Army that conquered Hangzhou and Shanghai in 1927. As garrison commander of Shanghai, he also took part in the purge of Communist elements of the National Revolutionary Army on April 4, 1927, and of the labor unions in Shanghai. Bai also commanded the forward units that first entered Beijing and was credited with being the senior commander on site to complete the Northern Expedition. For many of his battlefield exploits during the Northern expedition, he was given the laudatory nickname Xiao Zhuge, literally "Zhuge Liang Jr.", of the Three Kingdoms fame.
Bai was the commander of Kuomintang forces in the Shanghai massacre of 1927, where he directed the KMT purge of Communists in the party.
In 1928, during the Northern Expedition, Bai led Kuomintang forces in the defeat and destruction of Fengtian Clique Gen. Zhang Zongchang, capturing 20,000 of his 50,000 troops and almost capturing Zhang himself, who escaped to Manchuria.
File:NRA Generals Northern Expedition.jpg|thumb|left|220px|Chinese generals pay tribute to the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum in Beijing in 1928 after the success of the Northern Expedition. From right to left, are Gen. Cheng Jin, Gen. Zhang Zuobao, Gen. Chen Diaoyuan, Gen. Chiang Kai-shek, Wu Zhihui, Gen. Yan Xishan, Gen. Ma Fuxiang, Gen. Ma Sida and Gen. Bai Chongxi.
Bai personally had around 2,000 Muslims under his control during his stay in Beijing in 1928 after the Northern Expedition was completed; it was reported by Time magazine that they "swaggered riotously" in the aftermath In June 1928 in Beijing, Bai Chongxi announced that the forces of the Kuomintang would seize control of Manchuria and the enemies of the Kuomintang would "scatter like dead leaves before the rising wind".
Bai was out of money and bankrupt in December 1928. He planned to lead 60,000 troops from east China to Xinjiang province and construct a railroad as a barrier against Russian encroachment in Xinjiang. His plan was perceived by some to be against Feng Yuxiang. The Military Council refused to authorize him leaving Beiping to go to Hankou.
At the end of the Northern Expedition, Chiang Kai-shek began to agitate to get rid of the Guangxi forces. At one time in 1929 Bai had to escape to Vietnam to avoid harm. Hubei and Guangxi were subjected to the Hankou subcouncil of Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi. Li and Bai's Hankou and Canton self-ruling governments were terminated by Chiang. Hankou was captured by Chiang during the dispute between the Guangxi faction and Nanjing. From 1930 to 1936, Bai was instrumental in the Reconstruction of Guangxi, which became a "model" province with a progressive administration. Guangxi supplied over 900,000 soldiers to the war effort against Japan.
During the Chinese Civil War Bai fought against the Communists. In the Long March he allowed the Communists to slip through Guangxi.
Governing his province aptly and capably were two of the things Bai was renowned for in China.
Prominent Muslims like Generals Ma Liang, Ma Fuxiang and Bai met in 1931 in Nanjing to discuss intercommunal tolerance between Hui and Han.
Second Sino-Japanese War
The 4th Army Groups chief of staff was Bai Chongxi.An anti-Japanese war was called for by Bai Chongxi, Li Zongren and Chen Jitang in 1936. The menace posed by Japan was seen by Bai Chongxi and Li Zongren.
Formal hostilities broke out on 7 July 1937 between China and Japan with the Marco Polo Bridge Incident outside Beijing. On 4 August 1937 Bai rejoined the Central Government at the invitation of Chiang Kai-shek. During the Second Sino-Japanese War, he was the Deputy Chief of the General Staff responsible for operations and training. He was the key strategist who convinced Chiang to adopt a "Total War" strategy in which China would trade space for time, adopt guerrilla tactics behind enemy lines and disrupt enemy supply lines at every opportunity. When the better armed and trained Japanese troops advanced, the Chinese would adopt a scorched earth campaign in the enemy's path to deny them local supply. Bai was also involved in many key campaigns including the first major victory at the Battle of Tai'erzhuang in Shandong Province in the spring of 1938 when he teamed up with Gen. Li Zongren to defeat a superior enemy. China managed to check and delay the Japanese advance for several months. Subsequently, Bai was appointed Commander of the Field Executive Office of the Military Council in Guilin, with responsibility for the 3rd, 4th, 7th and 9th War Zones. In that capacity he oversaw the successful defense of Changsha, capital of Hunan Province. Between 1939 and 1942, the Japanese attacked Changsha three times and were repelled each time. Bai also directed the Battle of South Guangxi and Battle of Kunlun Pass to retake South Guangxi. The 64th Army and 46th Army were requested to be outfitted by Bai via Gen. Lindsey.
Bai's Guangxi soldiers were praised as a "crack" army during the war against Japan, and he was known to be an able general who could lead the Chinese resistance should Chiang Kai-shek be assassinated. The majority of Chinese presumed that Chiang Kai-shek, as leader of China, tapped Bai to inherit his position. Bai Chongxi led the competent Guangxi Army against the Japanese.
In refusing to obey commands from Chiang if he assumed them to be wrong and flawed, Bai Chongxi was alone among fellow military men.
Jihad was declared obligatory and a religious duty for all Chinese Muslims against Japan after 1937 during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Bai also sheltered the Muslim Yuehua publication in Guilin, which printed quotes from the Quran and Hadith justifying the need for Chiang Kai-shek as leader of China. Also, promoted Chinese nationalism and uniting Hui to the Han during the war against Japan.
During the war, Bai traveled throughout the Muslim northwestern provinces of China controlled by the Ma Clique and met with Ma Clique generals to defeat Japanese propaganda. The Hui Muslim Xidaotang sect pledged allegiance to the Kuomintang after their rise to power and Bai Chongxi acquainted Chiang Kai-shek with the Xidaotang jiaozhu Ma Mingren in 1941 in Chongqing.
Bai Chongxi headed the Chinese Islamic National Salvation Federation. In January 1945, he was awarded the Legion of Merit of the United States.
Chinese Civil War
Following the surrender of Japan in 1945, the Chinese Civil War resumed in full-fledged fighting. In the spring of 1946 the Chinese Communists were active in Manchuria. A crack People's Liberation Army unit of 100,000 strong under the Communist Gen. Lin Biao occupied a key railroad junction at Siping. Kuomintang forces could not dislodge them after several attempts; Chiang Kai-shek then sent Bai to oversee the operation. After some redeployment, Nationalist forces were able to decisively defeat Lin's forces after a two-day pitched battle. This was to be the first major victory for the Kuomintang in the 1946-49 stage of the civil war before the fall of mainland China to the Chinese Communists.In June 1946 Bai was appointed Minister of National Defense. It turned to be a post without power, as Chiang began to bypass Bai on major decisions regarding the Chinese Civil War. Chiang would hold daily briefings in his residence without inviting Bai and began to direct front-line troops personally down to the division level, bypassing the chain of command. The Civil War went poorly for the Kuomintang as Chiang's strategy of holding onto provincial capitals and leaving the countryside to the Communists very quickly caused the downfall of his forces, which had a 4:1 numerical superiority at the beginning of the conflict.
During the Ili Rebellion Bai was considered by the government for the post of Governor of Xinjiang. The position later was given to Masud Sabri, a pro-Kuomintang Uyghur leader.
In April 1948 the first National Assembly in China convened in Nanjing, with thousands of delegates from all over China representing different provinces and ethnic groups. Bai Chongxi, acting as Minister of National Defense, debriefed the Assembly on the military situation, completely ignoring Northern China and Manchuria in his report. Delegates from Manchuria in the assembly responded by yelling out and calling for the death of those responsible for the loss of Manchuria.
In November 1948 Bai, in command of forces in Hankou, met with Generals Fu Zuoyi, Zhang Zhizhong and Chiang Kai-shek in Nanjing about defending Suzhou, the gateway to the Yangzi River valley.
Bai told the Central Political Council of the Kuomintang that negotiating with the Communists would only make them more powerful. Governor of Hunan Cheng Qian, and Bai reached a consensus that they should impede the advance of the Communists by negotiating with them.
In January 1949, with the Communists close to victory, almost everyone in the Nationalist media, political and military command began to demand peace as a slogan and turn against Chiang. Bai Chongxi decided to follow suit with the mainstream current and defied Chiang Kai-shek's orders, refusing to battle Communists near the Huai River and demanding that his soldiers, which were "lent", be sent back to him so he could secure his hold in the province of Guangxi and ignore the central government in Nanjing. Bai was the commander of four armies in Central China in the Hankou region. He demanded that the government negotiate with the Communists like the others. Bai was in charge of the defense of the capital, Nanjing. He sent a telegram requesting that Chiang Kai-shek step down as president, amid a storm of requests by other Kuomintang military and political figures for Chiang to step down and allow a peace deal with the Communists.
When Communist Gen. Lin Biao mounted an attack on Bai Chongxi's forces in Hankou, they retreated quickly, leaving the "rice bowl" of China open for the Communists. Bai retreated to headquarters at Hengyang via a railroad from Hankou to Canton. The railroad then provided access to Guilin where his home was. In August at Hengyang, Bai Chongxi reorganized his troops. In October, as the Canton fell to the Communists, who were almost in complete control of China, Bai Chongxi still commanded 200,000 of his elite troops, making a return to Guangxi for a final stand after covering for Canton.