Fang Zhenwu

Fang Zhenwu or Fang Chen-wu (方振武) (1885 - 1941) was a Chinese military officer in the early twentieth century.

He was born in 1885 in Shou County, Anhui, China. He took part in the Revolution of 1911 and joined the revolutionary army. After the second revolution defeat, he went into exile in Japan and joined the Chinese Revolutionary Alliance there. By 1918, he commanded a battalion in Guangdong and eventually served in the Fengtian clique army under Zhang Zongchang until 1925, when he went over to the Nationalist army of General Feng Yuxiang. He rose to be commander of the 3rd Army, and later of the 4th Army Group, as well as commander of Jinan garrison before receiving the post of chairman of the government of Anhui province in 1929.

Due to his dissatisfaction with Chiang Kai-shek, he was detained and removed from office in October 1929. Following the invasion of Jehol in February 1933, Fang Zhenwu joined the Anti-Japanese National Salvation movement. He organized the movement's forces in China and led them north to confront the Japanese. On May 26, Fang Zhenwu united with Feng Yuxiang at Zhangjiakou and organized the Chahar People's Anti-Japanese Army Alliance, being its commander of the North Route, fighting against Japanese invaders in the east of Chahar province. The army had some success, capturing Dolonor for a time from the Japanese and their puppet forces.

However, the Anti-Japanese Army was eventually beaten back by the Japanese and dispersed by the forces of Chiang Kai-shek, who still wished to reach an agreement with Japan and make war on the Communist Party and its Red Army. Living in Guilin for a time, Fang had to move to Hong Kong in 1939 under threat by the Kuomintang. He left when the Japanese occupied Hong Kong in 1941, but was assassinated by Kuomintang secret agents on his way back to Guangdong with crowds of refugees in December 1941, near Zhongshan, Guangdong, China.

External links

* [http://rulers.org/indexf1.html Rulers: Fang Zhenwu]
* [http://www.generals.dk/general/Fang_Zhenwu/_/China.html Generals of China: Fang Zhenwu]
* 方振武