Guo Tianmin (; 1905 – 26 May 1970) was a general in the

People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the principal military force of the People's Republic of China and the armed wing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The PLA consists of five service branches: the Ground Force, Navy, Air Force, ...

of the People's Republic of China from

Hubei Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, and is part of the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The prov ...

. He was a descendant of the

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...

general

Guo Ziyi Guo Ziyi (Kuo Tzu-i; Traditional Chinese: 郭子儀, Simplified Chinese: 郭子仪, Hanyu Pinyin: Guō Zǐyí, Wade-Giles: Kuo1 Tzu3-i2) (697 – July 9, 781), posthumously Prince Zhōngwǔ of Fényáng (), was a Chinese military general and pol ...

Early life

Guo had his primary education in the provincial agricultural school, and later enrolled into the Wuchang Zhonghua University's Affiliated Middle School. He returned to his hometown in Guangzhou in 1925, joining several local rebellions. In the following year, he enrolled into 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 joined the

Communist Party of China 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 ...

in March 1927 and participated in the

Guangzhou Uprising Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kong ...

in December. After the rebellion failed, he retreated to

Haifeng Haifeng County ( postal: Hoifung; ) is a county under the administration of Shanwei, in the southeast of Guangdong Province, China. History Hakka peasants from nearby villages of Chengxiang county (modern-day Meixian) immigrated to Haifeng, for ...

, successively becoming the platoon leader and deputy commander in the 2nd and 4th Divisions of the workers and peasants revolutionary army. In 1929, Guo traveled to

Jiangxi Jiangxi (; ; formerly romanized as Kiangsi or Chianghsi) is a landlocked province in the east of the People's Republic of China. Its major cities include Nanchang and Jiujiang. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze river in the north int ...

to join the Red 4th Army and was appointed various positions such as division chief of staff and division commander. He was also made the chief of staff of the Jiangxi military region. However, he was expelled from his positions after supporting Mao Zedong and thereafter went to the

Moscow Sun Yat-sen University Moscow Sun Yat-sen University, officially the Sun Yat-sen Communist University of the Toilers of China, was a Comintern school, which operated from 1925–1930 in the city of Moscow, Russia, then the Soviet Union. It was a training camp for ...

to further his studies. He returned in October 1933 to resist the Nationalist forces during the

Encirclement Campaigns Encirclement campaigns (), officially called in Chinese Communist historiography as the Agrarian Revolutionary War were the campaigns launched by forces of the Chinese Nationalist Government against forces of the Chinese Communist Party during the ...

. In October 1934, he took part in the

Long March The Long March (, lit. ''Long Expedition'') was a military retreat undertaken by the Chinese Red Army, Red Army of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the forerunner of the People's Liberation Army, to evade the pursuit of the National Revolut ...

. During the crossing of the

Chishui River Chishui River (; historically, Huainanzi"Lecture on Terrains"quote: "何謂六水？曰河水、赤水、遼水、黑水、江水、淮水。") is a major tributary of the upper Yangtze. Its name literally means "red water river"/"red river" beca ...

, he helped Luo Binghui command of the 9th Red Army Corps in operations. In July 1936, he was appointed as the commander in the Red Fourth Army and West Road Army headquarters. In 1937 February, he became the chief of staff of the Red Thirtieth Army, ordered to advance towards Dihua,

Xinjiang Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...

Second Sino-Japanese War

In December 1937, he went to

Yan'an Yan'an (; ), alternatively spelled as Yenan is a prefecture-level city in the Shaanbei region of Shaanxi province, China, bordering Shanxi to the east and Gansu to the west. It administers several counties, including Zhidan (formerly Bao'an ...

and was appointed the secretary of war in the CPC Central Military Commission. In 1938 August, Guo was the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei military region's chief of staff. Subsequently in December he was made the 2nd army division commander tasked to carry out the

guerrilla war Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, raids, petty warfare, hit-and-run tactic ...

. He participated in major campaigns such as the 1940 Battle of Niangziguan during the Hundred Regiment Offensive. His command post of the Hebei military region was shifted to

Zhangjiakou Zhangjiakou (; ; ) also known as Kalgan and by several other names, is a prefecture-level city in northwestern Hebei province in Northern China, bordering Beijing to the southeast, Inner Mongolia to the north and west, and Shanxi to the southw ...

after its occupation in August 1945.

References

{{First PLA Shang Jiang 1905 births 1970 deaths Chinese revolutionaries People of the Chinese Civil War Whampoa Military Academy alumni People from Huanggang People's Liberation Army generals from Hubei