List of German-trained divisions of the National Revolutionary Army
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The German trained divisions (
Background
In 1927, after the dissolution of the
The
When Adolf Hitler became the Chancellor of Germany in 1933 and disregarded the Treaty, the anti-communist Nazi Party and the anti-communist KMT were soon engaged in cooperation with Germany training Chinese troops and expanding Chinese infrastructure, while China opened its markets and natural resources to Germany.
In 1934 General Hans von Seeckt, acting as advisor to President Chiang, proposed a "80 Division Plan" for reforming the entire Chinese army into 80 divisions of highly trained, well-equipped troops organised along German lines. The plan was never fully realised, as the vying warlords could not agree upon the reorganised division organization and the disbanding of the others. By July 1937 only 8 infantry divisions had completed reorganisation and training. These were the 3rd, (Commander Qian Dajun), 6th, 9th, 14th, 36th, 87th, 88th, and the Training Division.
Another 12 divisions equipped with Chinese arms on the reorganized model with German advisors had some training by the time the Second Sino-Japanese War started in July 1937. These Divisions were the 2nd, 4th, 10th, 11th, 25th, 27th, 57th, 67th, 80th, 83rd, 89th Infantry Divisions.
Structure of proposed division
Reorganized Division organization: Was to be composed of approximately 14,000 personnel organized in to:
- Division headquarters troops:
- 1 Artillery battalion:
- 3 Artillery companies (12 x 75 millimeter mountain artillery guns in batteries of 4)
- 1 Anti Tank artillery company (4 x 37mm AT gun)
- 1 Anti-aircraft gun company (4 x 20mm anti-aircraft guns)
- 1 Military Engineer Battalion
- 1 Signal battalion
- 2 Wire communications companies
- 1 Wireless correspondence platoon
- 1 Heavy Transport Battalion
- 1 Special duty Battalion (Special Operations Battalion)
- 1 medical team (usually is a Division hospital)
- 1 Artillery battalion:
- 2 Infantry Brigades of:
- each with 2 infantry regiments, Each Regiment consisted of:
- Regimental headquarters troops:
- 1 Mortar company (6 x 81 millimeter mortars)
- 1 Small artillery company (6 x 20 millimeter autocannon)
- 1 Communications company
- 1 Regimental recon company
- 3 infantry battalions each of:
- Infantry battalion headquarters troops
- 3 Infantry companies of:
- 3 rifle platoons of
- 3 squads (each of 1 light machine gun, 10 rifles)
- 3 rifle platoons of
- 1 heavy Machinegun company (6 heavy machine guns, 2 x 82 millimeter mortars)
- Regimental headquarters troops:
- each with 2 infantry regiments, Each Regiment consisted of:
Each Division was to have two Home Regiments to provide trained Infantry replacements.
See also
- Whampoa Military Academy
- History of the Republic of China
- January 28 Incident
References
- "History of the Frontal (i.e. KMT) War Zone in the Sino-Japanese War", published by Nanjing University Press.
External links
- (in English) German Military Mission to China 1927-1938
- (in Chinese) Warriors of Steel: German trained divisions in the Nationalist Army
- (in Chinese) Secret Sword - Chiang Kai-Shek German trained Division