During World War II, many international friends provided free aid to China, and some even left their lives on Chinese soil, some of whom provided medical assistance, such as Bethune and Harrison, and others provided military guidance, military advisers like Li De. Today we are going to talk about a German general who made outstanding contributions to China during the War of Resistance Against Japan, and he was Alexander von Falkenhausen.
Born on 29 October 1878, General Falkenhausen served as head of the military control government of Belgium occupied by Germany during World War II from 1940 to 1944. Falkenhausen, the last head of the German advisory group, succeeded Hans von Kört, helping China to develop its arms industry and establish a defense system south of the Yangtze River while in China.
Falkenhausen's origins in China also begin with the death of the old Chiang's German adviser Seckert due to illness, and on his deathbed, Seckert recommended Falkenhausen to the old Chiang. Old Chiang thought that the person who Waseckett entrusted on his deathbed must be a useful person, so he invited Falkenhausen to China.
Falkenhausen was not only a strategist, but also a doer, and seeing that Chiang Kai-shek's army was backward in training and weapons, he personally brought 80,000 troops to train, and equipped them with the latest German weapons and equipment, including the 87th and 88th divisions that made a big splash in the Battle of Songhu. In addition, when introducing German arms, General Falkenhausen was also strictly controlled, and German arms dealers rarely made money from General Falkenhausen. When German weapons were introduced, General Falkenhausen was always able to sell them to China at twice as low prices, and many of the arms allowed China to repay them more than a decade later.
As World War II entered a white-hot phase, the relations between Japan and Germany, which were also Axis powers, became closer, and Hitler repeatedly asked Falkenhausen to leave China, but he refused for various reasons. Later, Hitler threatened to withdraw Falkenhausen's citizenship and demanded that he evacuate China. However, Falkenhausen expressed even more firmly that the Chinese people need me, and would rather die in the Battlefield of China and give up their German citizenship than leave the anti-Japanese front!
Old Chiang also considered the difficulties of General Falkenhausen and did not want To destroy General Falkenhausen's family, so in 1938, he let General Falkenhausen return to China. Just before leaving, Falkenhausen was still helping China with its advice. On his return, Falkenhausen was imprisoned by Hitler for twelve years, but was finally released after a symbolic three-week prison sentence.