Fan Hanjie (; 1894 – January 16, 1976), courtesy name Jie-ying, was a Chinese military general who served during 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 T ...

and

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 main ...

. During the Liaoshen Campaign he served as the deputy commander-in-chief of Manchuria and director of the command center in Jinzhou with the rank of lieutenant general 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 ...

Early life and career

Fan Hanjie was born in Dabu,

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020 ...

. He spent his formative years at Zili College, a college his father was a founding member. In 1911, he was admitted to Guangdong Army Institute, majoring in astronomy; in 1913 after graduating he joined the military service in the Guangdong Section, as an officer of the survey bureau, in Dongjiang and the Chaoshan area. In 1920 he was transferred to the Department of Guangdong and Guangxi provinces, fighting local

pirates Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

and repress smuggling activities, and then he was promoted to the rank of captain on the Jiangping Warship. In 1923 he was again transferred to the Department of the General Staff, and promoted to the rank of

colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge ...

. In May 1924, 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 ...

was founded in Canton, When Fan Hanjie was almost 30 years of age, and he was hesitated to enroll first, due to his mature age, most student cadets were in their early twenties. Because the successful outcome of the first KMT-CPC cooperation, Fan Hanjie had high hopes for the national revolution and he took the entrance exams and was easily admitted, is the only student who held the rank of colonel in the entire academy. After graduation from the academy, Fan Hanjie like other graduates, starting from scratch, in the army platoon, company, battalion duties to participate in the suppression of

Chen Jiongming Chen Jiongming, (; 18 January 187822 September 1933), courtesy name Jingcun (竞存/競存), nickname Ayan (阿烟/阿煙), was a Hailufeng Hokkien revolutionary figure in the early period of the Republic of China. Early life Chen Jiongming wa ...

's revolt against the Nationalist Government during the Second Eastern Campaign. In the summer 1926, the

launched the

Northern Expedition The Northern Expedition was a military campaign launched by the National Revolutionary Army (NRA) of the Kuomintang (KMT), also known as the "Chinese Nationalist Party", against the Beiyang government and other regional warlords in 1926. The ...

, and was Fan's first actual combat experience; he has been selected as commander of the 10th Regiment of the 29th Division, and was one of the first regiment commanders from the Whampoa academy. Fan led the troops to participate in the famous battle at the Ting Kau Bridge. In October the same year he was promoted to first deputy commander of 10th division. November 1927, during the KMT- CCP split, Chen mingshu, commander of the 1st Army, and 10th Division Commander Jiang Guang Nai defected to

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 ...

; Fan Hanjie also would be leaving to go to Nanjing. By Chiang Kai-sheik's orders, he was sent to the Zhejiang province as the garrison commander, as a Whampoa graduate of first class, and in August,

stepped down,

Zhejiang Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by Ji ...

Guard division was abolished and Fan Hanjie was transferred to the NRA General Headquarters of the 8th Route Army . Soon Chiang Kai-shek returned to power, and sent Fan Hanjie to Japan to study the political and military strategies then he went to Germany, and studied in German military training school until the outbreak of the

Manchurian incident The Mukden Incident, or Manchurian Incident, known in Chinese as the 9.18 Incident (九・一八), was a false flag event staged by Japanese military personnel as a pretext for the 1931 Japanese invasion of Manchuria. On September 18, 1931, L ...

on September 18, 1931.

Chinese Civil War

In March 1945, he was formally promoted to 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 th ...

. On May 6 he was elected as a member of the KMT central committee, he became a confidant of Chiang Kai-shek and one of his favorite generals. In July 1948, he followed the Chiang's orders to reorganized two new armies, the 5th army and the 8th army to bolster Nationalist position in Manchuria. In September Fan was appointed as the deputy commander-in-chief of Manchuria and director of the Jinzhou forward command. Because Wei Lihuang refused to concentrate the majority of the nationalist forces in Jinzhou, unable to disobey the orders of his superior officer, Fan fought as hard as he could, but he was outmaneuvered by the communist forces led by

Lin Biao ) , serviceyears = 1925–1971 , branch = People's Liberation Army , rank = Marshal of the People's Republic of China Lieutenant general of the National Revolutionary Army, Republic of China , commands ...

, who used massed artillery to achieve a breakthrough into the city defense, and on October 15, 1948, Jinzhou had fallen and Fan was captured by the communist Manchurian Field Army. He was imprisoned in Jinzhou Jail until his pardon by Chinese Communists years later.

Later life

After his release in 1962, he was elected as a member of the CCP national committee on historical records. He had written a "Jinzhou campaign memoir," documented his war effort. In 1964 he was elected as the fourth member of the Standing Committee of the Political Consultative Conference. On January 16, 1976 he died in Beijing, at age 82.

References

范漢傑將軍生平
Fan Daying, 2007 {{DEFAULTSORT:Fan, Hanjie 1894 births 1976 deaths People of the Northern Expedition Chinese people of World War II National Revolutionary Army generals from Guangdong Whampoa Military Academy alumni Hakka generals People from Dabu Chinese prisoners of war