Northeastern Army
The Northeastern Army, also known as the Fengtian Army, was a Chinese army that existed from 1911 to 1937. General Zhang Zuolin developed it as an independent fighting force during the Warlord Era. He used the army to control Northeastern China and intervene in national politics. During the mid-1920s the Northeastern Army was the dominant military force in China, but in 1928 it was defeated by the Kuomintang's National Revolutionary Army during the Northern Expedition. At the end of that campaign, Zhang Zuolin was assassinated and succeeded by his son Zhang Xueliang. When Xueliang subsequently pledged loyalty to the Kuomintang, the Northeastern Army became part of the NRA and was officially rechristened the "Northeastern Border Defense Force".
Despite being formally part of the NRA, the Northeastern Army remained de facto Zhang Xueliang's personal army. Zhang used the army to exercise considerable political influence during the tumultuous early years of the Nanjing Decade. The Japanese invaded Manchuria in 1931 and forced the Northeastern Army to retreat into northern China. After the army was unable to prevent further Japanese annexations of Chinese territory, Zhang was temporarily removed from command. In 1935, the army was reassigned to the Gansu-Ningxia border area in an attempt to encircle the Chinese Communist Party 's base there. Both Zhang and his soldiers resented fighting fellow Chinese while Manchuria was under occupation. They negotiated a covert ceasefire with the CCP and hoped to convince Chiang Kai-shek to endorse a united front against Japan. After Chiang refused, the Northeastern Army kidnapped him and forced him to negotiate with the Communists. Although Chiang eventually agreed to end the civil war and work with the Communists against Japan, Zhang was placed under house arrest and the Northeastern Army was divided and reassigned to other commands.
Terminology
Because of the semi-official nature of armies during the Warlord Era, the Northeastern Army was known by a variety of names at different points its history. Zhang Zuolin's first significant military unit, the 27th Division, was based in Fengtian Province and therefore called the "Fengtian Army". As he gained command of more divisions based in other Northeastern provinces, "Fengtian Army" continued to be used to refer just to those forces stationed in Fengtian, but also became a synecdoche for all of Zhang's troops. Even observers at the time noticed that this was imprecise:As General He Zhuguo pointed out, the “Fengtian Army” should be named the “Northeast Army” because it was centrally controlled by Zhang Zuolin and his staff; it was called the Fengtian Army only because the people were accustomed to call it the Fengtian Army.
Nonetheless, many modern scholars use "Fengtian Army" and "Northeast/Northeastern Army" interchangeably for the period before 1928. After 1928, the army was incorporated into the National Revolutionary Army and rechristened the "Northeastern Border Defense Force". From that point on, English sources almost exclusively use some variant of "Northeastern Army".
History
Background
The Northeastern Army had its roots in bandit forces organized by Zhang Zuolin in Manchuria around the turn of the twentieth century. At that time, the poverty of Manchuria encouraged many young men to resort to banditry in order to feed themselves and their families. The declining Qing Dynasty lacked the resources to keep the peace and its sovereignty was challenged by Russian and Japanese imperialism. Qing soldiers had a reputation for petty tyranny and were often no more popular than bandits. Local authorities would even attempt to co-opt successful bandits: in 1903, Zhang and his few hundred followers were made the official garrison of Xinmin. Nonetheless, they remained more loyal to their commander than to the state, and when the Russo-Japanese War temporarily destroyed any semblance of local Qing authority, they fought as mercenaries for both sides.Foundations of the Fengtian Army
In late October 1911, the Qing Dynasty brought Yuan Shikai out of retirement to command the New Army against the developing Xinhai Revolution. Yuan withdrew the New Army divisions from Manchuria, leaving Zhang Zuolin's border patrol battalion as one of the few military forces in the region. The reformist assembly was threatening to declare independence from the Qing, so Viceroy Zhao Erxun requested that Zhang march into Shenyang to help suppress the assembly. This Zhang did, and he then carried out a bloody purge of nationalists supportive of Sun Yat-sen's rival government in Guangdong. As thanks for his efforts, Yuan reorganized and expanded the border patrol battalions into the 27th division of the Beiyang Army, with Zhang as its commander. In June, Zhang was promoted to Lieutenant General. He was also named the Vice Minister of Military Affairs, but because his nominal superior had no local power base, Zhang was de facto head of all troops in Fengtian. Zhang supported Yuan against the failed Manchu Restoration, and as a reward was able to add the 28th and 29th divisions to his army. By this point, Zhang's small battalion had grown into a force of between 50,000 and 70,000 men. Local elites supportive of Zhang had gradually coalesced into what became known as the "Fengtian Clique". After Zhang became governor in 1915, the Fengtian Clique soon exerted control over the entirety of Manchuria.Early Warlord Era
Yuan Shikai's death left a power vacuum in Beijing. Zhang Zuolin and the Fengtian clique sided with Premier Duan Qirui in the first factional struggles for control of the Beiyang Government. As way of thanks, Duan let Zhang seize 17 million yen worth of Japanese military supplies intended for a different army. In 1918, Zhang sent a contingent of the Fengtian Army to help the Beiyang Government put down Sun Yat-sen's Constitutional Protection Movement in southern China. They saw some initial success in spring 1918, but by the summer fighting had reached a stalemate. The rest of the Fengtian Army was more successful: it secured control of the Manchurian railways for the Allies, which they needed to support their intervention in the Russian Civil War. For this, Zhang was promoted to full General in 1919.By 1920, however, Zhang had grown wary of Duan Qirui's growing power. He therefore sided with Duan's rival Cao Kun in the Zhili-Anhui War of that year. Although the Fengtian Army did not engage in any fighting until after the outcome of the war was already clear, it emerged in a very strong postwar position. It captured high-quality equipment, added a new division and four new brigades, and left a 30,000-man garrison south of the Great Wall in a position where it could exert influence on the government in Beijing.
Nonetheless, by 1922 Zhang was once again afraid that the balance of power had begun to tip in the favor of Cao Kun's Zhili clique that now governed Beijing. He launched a war against his former ally to try and shore up his strategic position. In April, the Fengtian Army marched through the Shanhai Pass with the intention of occupying Hebei. Zhang Jinghui was in overall command with Zuo Fen in charge of the right flank. Sources disagree drastically on the army's size at this time—McCormack places it at 70–80,000, while Tong puts it as high as 120,000. The opposing force under General Wu Peifu was roughly equivalent in size or slightly smaller. Sources disagree about which force was better equipped. The armies clashed for control of Hebei's strategic railway lines. The Fengtian Army was defeated when its right flank was turned, either because of bad generalship or possibly because the Fengtian commanders had a secret deal with the Zhili Clique. The Fengtian Army had made heavy use of its artillery and some use of machine guns, but poor training and a lack of experience with modern weapons meant they had little practical effect. The routed army was forced to retreat back to Manchuria. The 1st and 16th divisions were nearly completely destroyed, only one brigade of the 28th survived the retreat. Several of the mixed brigades were scattered as well. Many of Zhang's officers who had been with him since his bandit days were discredited by the defeat.
Military reforms and the Second Zhili-Fengtian War
One of the most important periods in the history of the Fengtian Army was the two years between the First and Second Zhili-Fengtian Wars. Zhang Zuolin and his advisors came away from their defeat with the lesson that the army would need massive reorganization and re-equipment in order to fight the Zhili. Many of his old associates were purged from command for incompetence or suspected disloyalty. Zhang poured millions into purchasing foreign arms and developing domestic manufacture at the Mukden Arsenal. Funding also went towards a small navy and air force. The effectiveness of these reforms was mixed. Overall, the Fengtian Army was significantly better-equipped and led in 1924 than in 1922. However, corrupt and despotic officers such as Zhang Zongchang remained in high positions and tensions had been created between the new officers from staff colleges and the old officers from Zhang Zuolin's bandit days.The decisive confrontation with Wu Peifu came in late 1924. Zhang had managed to secure a triangular alliance with the Anhui Clique based in Zhejiang and the Kuomintang based in Guangdong. The Fengtian Army was organized into six route armies totaling 170,000 to 250,000 men, under Zhang's overall command. The Second Army and the Sixth Army went north to Chaoyang to head off any potential flanking maneuvers, and they were able to surprise the unprepared Zhili garrison. Their superior rifles and grenades helped them secure control of the strategically important passes in Rehe by the time Feng Yuxiang's Third Zhili Army arrived. Further south the Fengtian Army had less luck at first. The First Army and the Third Army failed to take Shanhai Pass before it was occupied by the enemy. Direct assaults on the gate led by Guo Songling failed. However, Fengtian forces freed up by the victory at Chaoyang came south and flanked the Zhili position. Further breakthroughs at Jiumenkou led by Jiang Dengxuan and his deputy commander Han Linchun forced Zhili to retreat from Shanhai Pass and only Wu Peifu's personal presence finally stabilized the battle lines. Feng Yuxiang marched his forces back to Beijing and on 20 October seized control of the capital with the Beijing Coup. Although not necessarily fatal on its own, it became so after Yan Xishan stopped Zhili reinforcements from taking the railroad lines north through his territory. The Japanese intervened to stop Wu from embarking the reinforcements around the severed line and the Marshal's position quickly collapsed.
The unstable political situation kept the Fengtian Army in intermittent action over the next year. A conference held from 11 to 16 November in Tianjin between Zhang, Feng, Duan Qirui, and Lu Yongxiang confirmed Fengtian control of the northeast and set up a new national government under Duan. Brigade commander Kan Zhaoxi was promoted and put in charge of Rehe and Li Jinglin was assigned to Zhili Province. However, the provinces of central and southern China were outside of Zhang and Feng's direct military control and did not fully submit to their authority, although they were hesitant to openly defy it. From December 1924 to late January 1925, Zhang Zongchang had to lead a detachment including the White Russians of the Fengtian foreign legion to put down the rebellious Qi Xieyuan in Jiangsu and Shanghai. The Fengtian Army was victorious, "but their struggles had not clarified the military situation; rather, they had rendered it more complex." It took five more months for the army to complete the Fengtian expansion. In April, Zhang Zongchang took over Shandong and in August Yang Yuting received Jiangsu and Anhui went to Jiang Dengxuan. Although this represented a major extension of Fengtian control, it also marked the beginning of its division into separate forces: Zhang's Shandong Army and Li's Zhili Army were too far from Shenyang to receive direct supervision, and gradually became independent forces.