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Identified WW2 Kuomintang general officer Tunic


cnk1
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Good morning,

 

Recently back from a trip to LA, I have the pleasure to share with this pretty unique and hard to find tunic that belong to a Kuomingtan general officer named Wang Jingyuan. Really interesting piece of history.

 

 

WANG JINGYUAN (1910-1989)

 

Wang Jingyuan was born in November 1910, in Guiyang, Guizhou Province.

First a soldier for the Guizhou warlords, he joined the army and graduated from the Central Military Academy in 1926. Upon leaving, he was appointed battalion commander in the 25th Kuomintang army.

 

Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945)

In April 1938, he served at the head of the 613th regiment of the 103rd division of the 86th army and took part in the battle of Wuhan against the Japanese army.

In 1942, he served as deputy commander of the 82nd Division of the 8th Army and took part in the counterattack in western Yunnan.

In 1944, when he was deputy commander of the 82nd division. He participated in the Battle of Mount Song against Japanese troops blocking access to the road to Burma. The battle will be largely won by the ingenuity of Wang Jingyuan, the latter taking the lead of a battalion of engineers to dig galleries under the mountain and filling them with 10 tons of TNT. The story holds that he would have had the idea to set up this tactic after having crossed pangolins digging tunnels on the battlefield, it would then have taken the name of tactic of "Black Tiger digging the heart". Whatever the origin of this tactic, it will prove to be particularly effective... burying in a few minutes between 1700 and 3000 Japanese soldiers.

In January 1945, he was promoted to commander of the 85th Division of the 14th Army.

 

Civil War (1945-1949)

In 1947, he was promoted to Major General of the Department of National Defense.

In April 1949, he served as deputy commander of the 49th Army, then in October became its commander.

In December, after a significant number of defeats accumulated by the Kuomintang against the people's army as well as the flight of several generals and officials of the KMT, he led the 49th army to revolt peacefully in Shuicheng.

 

After the war (1949-1989).

After the civil war ended in 1949, Wang Jingyuan remained in China. Rather than leaving for Taiwan, he returned to his native province. Somewhat surprisingly he was never "bored" by the communist government of the time even though he fought for the KMT! W. Jingyuang even became a member of the party and exercised functions within the People's Republic of China. First appointed chief adviser of the Southwest Military Region of the People's Liberation Army. He was transferred in 1952 to Guiyang to serve as an adviser to the provincial people's government.

 

Wang Jingyuan died peacefully in Guiyang in June 1989

 

So this tunic itself is a model 35 tailored for an officer, the inside lining is surely made of silk and cotton. The name write inside the inner pocket is traditionnal chinese. I believe this jacket was used for combat without collar ranks and metal buttons. 

 

Unfortunately there was nothing else to come with.

 

Hope you will enjoy !

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