| Wei Lihuang 衛立煌 |
|
|---|---|
General Wei Lihuang and Lieutenant General Sun Liren |
|
| Nickname | "Hundred Victories Wei" |
| Born | 1897 Hefei, Anhui Province, Qing Dynasty |
| Died | 1960 Beijing, People's Republic of China |
| Allegiance | Republic of China |
| Years of service | 1924-1948 |
| Rank | General |
| Unit | 14th corps |
| Commands held | Y-Force |
| Battles/wars | Battle of Yunnan-Burma Road, Liaoshen Campaign |
| Awards | Order of Blue Sky and White Sun |
| Other work | politician |
Wei Lihuang (simplified Chinese: 卫立煌; traditional Chinese: 衛立煌; pinyin: Wèi Lìhuáng) (16 February 1897-17 January 1960) was a Chinese general who served the Nationalist government throughout the Chinese Civil War and Second Sino-Japanese War as one of China's most successful military commanders.
First joining the Kuomintang (KMT) faction during the early 1920s, Wei Li-huang would rise to become general after the Northern Expedition, a two year campaign to unify China. His later success under Chiang Kai-shek during the Bandit (Communist) Suppression Campaigns from 1930 to 1934 would earn him the nickname "Hundred Victories Wei".
During the Second Sino-Japanese War, General Wei would command the First War Area. With the entry of Great Britain and later the United States in the war against Japan, Wei was transferred to southern China as commander of the Nationalist Chinese XI Group Army. He later replaced General Chen Cheng as commander of the Chinese Expeditionary Forces, known as Y-Force. Y-Force consisted of over 100,000 Nationalist soldiers, and participated in major ground operations in support of American General Joseph W. Stilwell's offensive in northern Burma. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Wei was able to work effectively with American commanders.
Beginning his offensive into southern Yunnan on May 11, 1944 General Wei's troops captured Tengchung on September 15 after two months of heavy fighting. Proceeding southward despite heavy resistance, his forces eventually linked up with Chinese divisions in Wanting, Burma on January 27, 1945. The success of this offensive allowed the Allies to reopen the former Burma Road supply network to China through Ledo, Burma, now named the Ledo Road. In concert with existing airlift operations over the Hump, the Ledo Road enabled overland transport of military supplies from India to Nationalist bases in China.
Recalled to northern China to again replace General Chen Cheng following the war, Wei Li-huang was placed in command of KMT forces in Manchuria in October 1947. After being cutoff from land communication with the KMT with the communist capture of Chinchow (Jinzhou 锦州, Liaoning), Wei Li-huang was supposedly planning for an offensive to recapture the Nationalist provincial capital before he was ordered to withdraw by Chiang Kai-shek. Shortly before the communist capture of Mukden (Shenyang), Wei Li-huang would return to southern China following his replacement by his field commander Du Yuming in October 1948.
In spite of Wei's earlier success, his tenure in Manchuria was remarkably unsuccessful. He defied orders for more than a year to withdraw, and lost 300,000 troops. Taylor (2009) writes that "Of those, "246,000 were captured, and many if not most were quickly incorporated into the PLA" (p. 389).
Chiang ordered Wei's house arrest. Wei made his way to Hong Kong in 1949, and moved to Beijing in 1955, where he would "participate in various organizations of the People's Republic" (Taylor, 2009, p. 389). Wei would live in the PRC until his death in 1960.