Tang Enbo

Tang En-bo 湯恩伯
General Tang Enbo
Nickname(s)	The Iron Man
Born	October 1898 Wuyi, Zhejiang, China
Died	June 29, 1954(1954-06-29) (aged 55) Tokyo, Japan
Place of burial	Wuzhi Mountain Military Cemetery
Allegiance	Republic of China
Service/branch	Republic of China Army
Years of service	1926-1954
Rank	General
Unit	89th division
Commands held	13th corps,20th Army, 3rd war zone
Battles/wars	Battle of Taierzhuang, Battle of Henan-Hunan-Guangxi, Menglianggu Campaign
Awards	Order of Blue Sky and White Sun
Other work	Politician

Tang Enbo (simplified Chinese: 汤恩伯; traditional Chinese: 湯恩伯; pinyin: Tāng Énbó; Wade–Giles: T'ang En-po, [1])(1898–1954) was a Nationalist general in the Republic of China. Along with Hu Zongnan and Xue Yue, Tang was one of the Kuomintang generals most feared and respected by the Japanese during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

Born in 1898 in Wuyi, Zhejiang, Tang Enbo was a graduate of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy, and therefore was familiar with the tactics of his Japanese enemy during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Tang's early resistance to the Japanese invasion was most ineffective, but this had nothing to do with his personal capabilities, but more to do with the political situation in China— Tang's superior Chiang Kai-shek was reluctant to devote his best troops to fight the Japanese invaders, wishing instead to use them to exterminate the Communists. Limited in troops and materiel, any commander would have had great difficulties in fighting such a superior enemy, and Tang Enbo was no exception. Furthermore, the battle plans though successful on paper rarely materialized on the battlefield during this stage because local Chinese warlords were only interested in maintaining their forces and largely ignored Chiang Kai-shek's orders. Although Tang did contribute to the victory at Battle of Taierzhuang, he was unable to stop the Japanese assaults during the 1944 Battle of Henan-Hunan-Guangxi, losing 37 cities and towns within 36 days.