Fang Xianjue
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Fang Xianjue 方先觉 |
|
|---|---|
| 1903 - 1983 | |
 General Fang Xianjue |
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| Place of birth | Xiao County, Jiangsu |
| Place of death | Taipei, Taiwan |
| Allegiance |  Republic of China |
| Years of service | 1926 - 1968 |
| Rank | General |
| Commands held | 10th Army, National Revolutionary Army |
| Battles/wars | Battle of Changde Battle of Changsha Battle of Taierzhuang |
| Awards | Order of Blue Sky and White Sun |
Fang Xianjue was born in a small Jiangsu village gentry family in 1903. After studying with the village tutor, he went to Xuzhou Provincial High School, and later studied at the Nanjing 1st Industrial School, then later went to National Central University. After completing his formal education, he decided to attend Whampoa Military Academy and graduated class of 1926.
He started as a platoon leader and was promoted to general during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Later became deputy commander of Army group in charge of defending the Pescadores Islands. General Fang personally participated in the Battle of Taierzhuangthe, the Battle of Changde, and the Battle of Changsha. Retired from military in 1968, he became a Buddhist monk and later died in 1983.
[edit] Defense of Hengyang
Fang Xianjue commanded the NRA 10th Army in the Defense of Hengyang, where he was besieged for 47 days after fighting off numerous assaults by the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA). After running out of ammunition and supplies, with no hope of getting reinforcement, he surrendered to the Japanese on the condition that all POW would not be harmed and all wounded Chinese soldiers would get medical treatment. The Japanese commander unconditionally accepted his terms out of respect for his fierce defense of Hengyang, where the IJA suffered almost 20,000 causualties in its attempt to take the city (this number is almost 1/2 of total Japanese casualty suffered from the entire Operation Ichi-Go).
He later escaped from captivity and received a hero's welcome from Chiang Kai-shek in Chungking, where he received the Order of Blue Sky and White Sun. The veterans of the IJA 11th Army, who were in charge of attacking Hengyang, organized a trip to Taipei to pay respect to Fang Xianjue in 1983 after his death.
