Zhang Fakui

Zhang Fakui
张发奎
Zhang Fakui on the cover of the Liangyou pictorial, June 1938
3rd Commander-in-Chief of the Republic of China Army
In office 9 February 1949 – 26 June 1949
President	Li Zongren
Preceded by	Yu Hanmou
Succeeded by	Gu Zhutong
Personal details
Born	1896 Shixing County, Guangdong
Died	December 1980 (Age 84) Hong Kong
Awards	Order of Blue Sky and White Sun, Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Military service
Nickname(s)	Hero of the Iron Army
Allegiance	Republic of China
Years of service	1912–1949
Rank	General
Unit	4th corps
Commands	4th corps, Commander in Chief 8th Army Group, Commander in Chief 4th War Area
Battles/wars	Northern Expedition, Nanchang Uprising, Guangzhou Uprising, Central Plains War, Anti-Communist Encirclement Campaigns, Second Sino-Japanese War, Chinese Civil War

Zhang Fakui CBE (1896–1980) was a Chinese Nationalist general who fought against northern warlords, the Imperial Japanese Army, and Chinese Communist forces in his military career. He served as commander-in-chief the 8th Army Group and commander-in-chief of NRA ground force before retiring in Hong Kong in 1949.

Zhang Fakui was born in 1896 in Shixing County, Guangdong province. He entered a private learning facility at a young age and went to Guangzhou to become an apprentice before joining the local militia. He entered elementary military academy in Guangdong in 1912 and then went to Wuhan's military high school. He served as Dr. Sun Yat-Sen's personal bodyguard and was appointed as a battalion commander of the newly created 4th corps of the National Revolutionary Army. In 1923 he joined the campaign to dislodge warlord Chen Jiongming from power, he was promoted to regiment, brigade and division commander. During the Northern Expedition, He led the 4th corps defeated Wu Peifu's warlord armies in Central China. The 4th corps became known as the Iron Army, Zhang was lauded by the public as the "Hero of the Iron Army". When Chiang Kai-shek unleashed his forces against the communists in the Shanghai Massacre on April 12, 1927, Zhang stayed with Wang Jingwei's Wuhan government. He was awarded to command both 4th and 11th corps. In the same month both KMT governments launched separate campaigns against the northern warlords, Zhang again scored a major victory against Marshal Zhang Zuolin's Fengtian clique in Henan province. He was then promoted as commander-in-chief of the 4th area army and prepared to attack Nanjing. When Wang Jingwei and Chiang Kai-shek reconciled in July 1927 many communist officers under his command mutinied, resulting in the Nanchang Uprising. Zhang's army defeated the communists and chased the mutineers across into Fujian and then returned to his home province. While in Guangdong, he drove out the New Guangxi clique and again supported Wang Jingwei over Chiang Kai-shek. The remaining communists in his army used the confusion to launch the Guangzhou Uprising, while Zhang immediately quelled with three divisions. However he was blamed for the fiasco and resigned his command. Before the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War, he participated in a series of local conflicts into order to stop the growing influence of Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist Government into his province and was an active member during the Central Plains War against the Nanjing Government. In 1936, he and Chiang reconciled and he was appointed as commander-in-chief of Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Anhui, and Fujian border regions, to eradicate communist activities in those places.