Ding Delong (; 24 May 1904 – 24 February 1996) was a Chinese

National Revolutionary Army The National Revolutionary Army (NRA; ), sometimes shortened to Revolutionary Army () before 1928, and as National Army () after 1928, was the military arm of the Kuomintang (KMT, or the Chinese Nationalist Party) from 1925 until 1947 in China ...

general from

Hunan Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to ...

Biography

Ding Delong was born in 1904 in

You County You County () is a county in Hunan Province, China; it is under the administration of Zhuzhou City. Located on the south eastern margin of the province, the county is bordered to the north by Xiangdong District, Pingxiang City of Jiangxi, Lili ...

Hunan Province Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi t ...

, China. At the age of 20, he enrolled in a military academy, later in the same year, in November 1924, the school became one of the institutions that merged to become the

Whampoa Military Academy The Republic of China Military Academy () is the service academy for the army of the Republic of China, located in Fengshan District, Kaohsiung. Previously known as the the military academy produced commanders who fought in many of China ...

. He was named the commanding officer of the 6th Regiment of the 1st Division of the Nationalist Chinese 1st Army. In 1931, he was named the commanding officer of the Independent Brigade in the 1st Division. In 1936, he was named the commanding officer of the 78th Division after the 1st Division was expanded to become the 1st Corps, in which role he participated in battles against local warlords and in actions against

Chinese communists The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Civil ...

. Ding remained with the 1st Corps as the war began in 1937, seeing action in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

, Henan Province, and

Wuhan Wuhan (, ; ; ) is the capital of Hubei, Hubei Province in the China, People's Republic of China. It is the largest city in Hubei and the most populous city in Central China, with a population of over eleven million, the List of cities in China ...

. In 1940, he graduated from the war college at the head of his class, and was personally named him the commanding officer of the 1st Corps by

Chiang Kai-shek Chiang Kai-shek (31 October 1887 – 5 April 1975), also known as Chiang Chung-cheng and Jiang Jieshi, was a Chinese Nationalist politician, revolutionary, and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China (ROC) from 1928 ...

. In 1942, he was given command of the 57th Corps, and later in the year given the concurrent duty as the deputy commanding officer of the 38th Army. In 1944, he became the commanding officer of the 37th Army. In March 1945, he was promoted to the rank of

lieutenant general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

, in which rank he served as a senior military adviser to the government and oversaw units in training in

Xi'an Xi'an ( , ; ; Chinese: ), frequently spelled as Xian and also known by #Name, other names, is the list of capitals in China, capital of Shaanxi, Shaanxi Province. A Sub-provincial division#Sub-provincial municipalities, sub-provincial city o ...

, China. In 1949, when the Nationalists lost the civil war to the Chinese communists, he fled to Taiwan with the Nationalist government. After retirement from the military, he became a member of the National Assembly representing Hunan Province and was a committee member for the liberation of China. He died of illness in

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the n ...

, Taiwan on 24 February 1996 and was buried in the

Wuzhi Mountain Military Cemetery The Wuzhi Mountain Military Cemetery (, sometimes romanized as ''Wuchih'') is Taiwan's most prominent military cemetery. The cemetery is located on Wuzhi Mountain () at an elevation of in Xizhi, New Taipei City and borders Taipei City's Neihu Di ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ding, Delong 1904 births 1996 deaths National Revolutionary Army generals from Hunan People from Zhuzhou