Zhang Fakui

Zhang Fakui (Chang Fu-kuei in Wades-Giles) (1896-1980), was a Chinese Nationalist General.

During the Second Sino-Japanese War, commanded the 8th Army Group in the Battle of Shanghai in 1937, 2nd Army Corps in the Battle of Wuhan in 1938. Commanded 4th War area from 1939 to 1944, defending Guangdong and Guanxi against the Japanese in South China. Commander in Chief of the Guilin War Zone during the Japanese Operation Ichigo. As Commander in Chief 2nd Front Army he accepted the surrender of the Japanese Twenty-Third Army in Canton at the end of the War.

There was a unique feature for the telephone conversations with Chiang Kai-Shek, due to the fact that Zhang was a Cantonese, and the two had difficulties in understanding each other: instead of simply hanging up the phone after giving out orders like he did to everyone else, during the conversation with Zhang, Chiang always asked Zhang if he understood what he had just said, and Chiang always waited until after Zhang gave an affirmative answer.

During the struggle against the Japanese, Zhang was among the first Army Corps commanders to ask the Chinese military to change its code because he discovered that Japanese could easily decode the Chinese code at the early stage of the war.

Military Career

• 1926 General Officer Commanding IV Corps
• 1926 - 1927 General Officer Commanding 12th Division
• 1927 Retired
• 1936 - 1937 Commander in Chief Zhejiang-Fujian-Anhui-Jiangsi Border Area
• 1937 - 1938 Commander in Chief 8th Army Group
• 1937 Commander in Chief Right Wing 3rd War Area
• 1938 Commander in Chief 2nd Army Corps, Battle of Wuhan
• 1939 - 1944 Commander in Chief 4th War Area
• 1944 Commander in Chief Guilin War Zone
• 1944 - 1945 Commander in Chief 2nd Front Army

Sources

• http://www.generals.dk/general/Chang_Fa-Kuei/_/China.html
• Hsu Long-hsuen and Chang Ming-kai, History of The Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945) 2nd Ed., 1971. Translated by Wen Ha-hsiung, Chung Wu Publishing; 33, 140th Lane, Tung-hwa Street, Taipei, Taiwan Republic of China.