'Aussie Rick'’s Comments (group member since Jun 12, 2009)

'Aussie Rick'’s comments from the THE WORLD WAR TWO GROUP group.

"Chiang Kai-Shek: China's Generalissimo and the Nation He Lost" - Some of the other warlords of this period:

"These men were, in the words of the historian Lucian Pye, 'instinctively suspicious, quick to suspect that their interests might be threatened ... hard-headed, devoted to the short run and impervious to idealistic abstractions'. They were ruthlessly authoritarian. The Model Governor might proclaim his attachment to modernisation, but Shanxi was a police state. Wu Peifu might aspire to Washingtonian status, but is troops massacred striking railway workers, beheading their leader on a station platform. When Zhang Zuolin's soldiers raided the Russian embassy in Peking, a score of Chinese Communists sheltering inside were dragged out, tortured and strangled or shot. For all their hymns and homilies, the Christian General's men waged a campaign against Muslim rebels which cost an estimated 100,000 lives, with terrible cruelty on both sides. It was a brutal era in which human life counted for little; a British diplomat recorded seeing the fate of prisoners after a battle in Sichuan - two were cut up in the street and their hearts and livers hung in a cookshop; two others were wrapped in wadding and burned alive in front of a huge crowd; the others had slits made in their bodies into which candles were inserted and burned before they were hacked to death."

The Chinese Warlord Era:
https://realtimehistory.net/blogs/new...

"Chiang Kai-Shek: China's Generalissimo and the Nation He Lost" - One of the warlords Chiang had to contend with during this period:

"The 'Dogmeat General' of Shandong, Zhang Zongchang, was described as having 'the physique of an elephant, the brain of a pig and the temperament of a tiger', The contemporary write Lin Yutang called the hard-drinking former coolie 'the most colourful, legendary, mediaeval and unashamed ruler of modern China'. The last Manchu emperor, Pu Yi, recalled him as 'a universally detested monster', his bloated face 'tinged with the livid hue induced by opium smoking'. His soldiers were known for 'opening melons' - splitting skulls of opponents with their swords - and then hanging severed heads from telegraph poles."

Tale of two Warlords:
https://www.asianstudies.org/wp-conte...

"Chiang Kai-Shek: China's Generalissimo and the Nation He Lost" - A bit of background on the war to free China of the warlords:

"The men Chiang Kai-Shek faced in the struggle for China had set their stamp on the nation in the years after the death of the would-be emperor, Yuan Shikai, in 1916. As central authority fragmented in the absence of anybody able to enforce his rule on a continuing basis, the warlord era saw anarchy on an immense scale as major militarists fought for dominance over great regions - at the height of his power, the Manchurian chieftain Zhang Zuolin governed a domain as big as Western Europe. Petty commanders, meanwhile, jockeyed for local authority; China's largest province of Sichuan was estimated to have seen 500 conflicts between fifty generals in twenty years."

China's Warlord Era:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warlord...

Very interesting post Tom.

Indeed Mike!

"Chiang Kai-Shek: China's Generalissimo and the Nation He Lost" - Chiang Kai-Shek has started his first battlefield campaign with the assistance of his chief Russian military adviser, Vasilli Konstantinovich Blyukher:

"Born into a poor peasant family of German origin in the Volga region, he had fought in the Red Army in the Urals, Crimea and the Far East where he rose to become commander in chief: Chiang first met him there on his way back from his mission to Moscow. The Russian general was the first recipient of the Order of the Red Banner, which he was awarded four times."

Chiang's military expedition:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norther...

Two excellent posts Mike, I enjoyed them both. Patton could definitely be an arse sometimes eh!

A book that will be sure to interest some group members, thanks for the information Jerome.

"Chiang Kai-Shek: China's Generalissimo and the Nation He Lost" - An interesting episode in Chiang Kai-Shek's military education:

"Showing the perseverance inherited from his mother, Chiang applied for a Chinese army school as a stepping stone towards getting to Japan. He secured one of fourteen places allocated to his province. The college had Japanese instructors, some of whom did not hide their contempt for the Chinese. One produced a lump of clay during a lecture on hygiene, and said it could contain as many as 400 million microbes, 'like China with 400 million people'. Enraged, Chiang walked up to the desk, picked up the clay and threw it down so that it split into pieces. The instructor complained to the director, but the young man escaped with a reprimand."

Chiang Kai-Shek: China's Generalissimo and the Nation He Lost by Jonathan Fenby

Mike wrote: "Ernie Pyle thought a lot of Terry Allen. Allen did not separate himself from the hardships endured by his soldiers:

To anyone who would listen, Allen boasted of his soldiers. “These boys of mine..."

He certainly sounds like a soldier's soldier!

Tom wrote: "https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

I’ll be reading The First and the Last by Adolf Galland"

Nice choice Tom, a classic read!

Phrodrick wrote: "Not a lot of navy here. I am about 2/3 into . Very much a study in leadership rather than a bio"

I hope it ends up being a good book as I have an unread copy in my library!

Great stories Mike! Terry Allen sounds like a damn fine commander.

Mike wrote: "Albanian Assignment: The Memoir of an SOE Agent in World War Two This a good book about SOE activities in Albania during WW2. The writing is chronological and average quality for a ..."

Sounds like an interesting book, Mike. Thanks for providing those details!

More good books for the theme month!

BA, I hope you enjoy the book on Bradley as much as I did.

Some excellent books being mentioned for this theme read!

I hope it gets better 4ZZZ as he is a man who deserves a great storyteller!

I've selected this book for the October theme read; "Chiang Kai-Shek: China's Generalissimo and the Nation He Lost" by Jonathan Fenby, which has been sitting in my library for the past 20 years waiting to be read!

Chiang Kai-Shek: China's Generalissimo and the Nation He Lost by Jonathan Fenby

Hi folks, the October theme read page is up and ready - the theme is a biography of a WW2 personality:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

The October theme read is any book or books of your choice that is a biography of WW2 personality,