Fang Xianjue () was a

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...

general who fought in the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...

. He was born in a small

Jiangsu Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, Postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an Eastern China, eastern coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China. It is o ...

(now in

Suzhou, Anhui Suzhou () formerly romanized as Suchow is a prefecture-level city in northern Anhui province. It borders the prefectural cities of Huaibei and Bengbu to the southwest and south respectively, the provinces of Jiangsu to the east, Shandong to the n ...

) village gentry family in 1903. After studying with the village tutor, he went to

Xuzhou Xuzhou (徐州), also known as Pengcheng (彭城) in ancient times, is a major city in northwestern Jiangsu province, China. The city, with a recorded population of 9,083,790 at the 2020 census (3,135,660 of which lived in the built-up area ma ...

Provincial High School, and later studied at the

Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...

1st Industrial School, then later went to National Central University (later renamed

Nanjing University Nanjing University (NJU; ) is a national public research university in Nanjing, Jiangsu. It is a member of C9 League and a Class A Double First Class University designated by the Chinese central government. NJU has two main campuses: the Xianl ...

mainland China "Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater China. ...

and reinstated in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

). After completing his formal education, he decided to attend

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's ...

and graduated class of 1926. He started as a platoon leader in the

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 ...

(NRA), and got promoted to the rank of army general during the

. After

KMT The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Taiw ...

lost the

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on m ...

, he relocated with the Nationalists to

and later became the deputy commander of the NRA army group in charge of defending the Pescadores Islands. General Fang personally participated in the

Battle of Taierzhuang The Battle of Taierzhuang () was a battle of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1938, which was fought between the armies of the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The battle was that war's first major Chinese victory. It humiliated the Jap ...

, the Battle of Changde, and the Battle of Changsha. He retired from the military in 1968 and died in 1983.

Defense of Hengyang

Fang Xianjue commanded the NRA 10th Army in the Defense of Hengyang, where he was besieged for 48 days after fighting off numerous assaults by the

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...

(IJA). On the night of August 8, 1944 he telegraphed Chongqing about the long resistance and his will to fight to the death for the sake of the country. After running out of ammunition and supplies, with no hope of getting reinforcement and a botched suicide attempt, he surrendered to the Japanese on the condition that all

POWs A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war ...

would not be harmed and all wounded Chinese soldiers would get medical treatment. Initially, he tried to shoot himself, but the gun was wrestled out of his hands by his subordinates. The Japanese commander unconditionally accepted his terms out of respect for his fierce defense of Hengyang, where the IJA suffered almost 30,000 casualties in its attempt to take the city (this number is almost 1/2 of total Japanese casualty suffered from the entire Operation Ichi-Go). On the other hand, the Chinese suffered 7,400 casualties. He later escaped from captivity and received a hero's welcome from

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 Chungking, where he received the Order of Blue Sky and White Sun. The surviving Japanese veterans of the 11th Army, who personally participated in the battle of Hengyang, organized a group trip to Taipei to pay respect to Fang Xianjue in 1983 after his death.

External links

人物追析:试析衡阳保卫战中方先觉投降日军事件
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fang, Xianjue 1903 births 1983 deaths Nanjing University alumni National Central University alumni National Revolutionary Army generals from Anhui People from Suzhou, Anhui Whampoa Military Academy alumni Recipients of the Order of Blue Sky and White Sun