When it comes to military academies in China's modern history, the first thing that many people think of is Huangpu. Indeed, the first six phases of the Whampoa Military Academy coincided with the period of cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, and most of the cadets were full of revolutionary enthusiasm, and many famous generals also emerged from it.
In particular, the first and fourth periods not only produced Xu Xiangqian and Lin Biao, the founding marshals of New China, but also Chen Geng, Zuo Quan, Hu Zongnan, Du Yuming, Chen Mingren, Zhang Lingfu, Xie Jinyuan, Hu Lian, and other influential figures.
However, China does have a military academy with students, but also rich in famous generals, whether it is quality or quantity, in comparison, it is not at all inferior to the first and fourth phases of Huangpu, that is, the sixth phase of the Baoding Military Academy.
If you compare the baoding military academy and the overall alumni of the Whampoa Military Academy, the Baoding Military Academy is also not vain, in fact, it is not the Huangpu students who influenced the National Government during the Republic of China period, but Baoding students.
Local figures of real power, such as Bai Chongxi, Xiong Shihui, Fu Zuoyi, Yu Jundu, He Jian, and Tang Shengzhi, all came from the Baoding Military Academy, and there were even more in the Kuomintang Central Army; Chiang Kai-shek himself was a well-known alumnus of the Baoding Military Academy; and the six people under his command, Chen Cheng, Zhang Zhizhong, Liu Zhi, Gu Zhutong, Chen Jizhi, and Qian Dajun, who were among the "Eight Great Kongs," also came out of the Baoding Military Academy.
Let's look at two sets of intuitive data: First, from the establishment of the Whampoa Military Academy in 1924 to the relocation to Nanjing in 1928, there were 178 Baoding students who served as instructors for Whampoa.
Second, during the later period of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the whole country was divided into 12 theaters, and there were 29 Baoding students who served as the chief and deputy commanders of the theaters, and only 3 Huangpu students were Hu Zongnan, Li Yannian, and Fan Hanjie.
Therefore, it can also be said that the Whampoa Military Academy can be regarded as a "student" of the Baoding Military Academy.
It is only because of the relatively distant age and Chiang Kai-shek's vigorous propaganda of Huangpu in order to consolidate his position that many people are not familiar with the Baoding Military Academy. The point to be made here is: In fact, Baoding Military Academy was founded in 1912, and it is the first regular army military school in China's modern history!
In terms of school system, there is also a certain difference between the two, Baoding Military Academy is many more formal than Huangpu, Huangpu I was opened in May 1924, graduation time is November of that year, a total of 6 months of study. The situation was similar in Whampoa Phase IV, which began in March 1926 and graduated in October of that year, a total of 7 months.
The study time is so short, basically it is a crash course, and then look at the Baoding Military Academy, which is the standard two-year system, and the sixth period of Baoding is the beginning of the spring of 1917 and the graduation of the spring of 1919. Such things as military theory need to be precipitated, and the quality of teaching in a two-year period is certainly better than the rapid completion of several months.
So what famous generals have appeared in the sixth phase of Baoding Military Academy?
First of all, General Ye Ting, who was admitted to the sixth term of the Baoding Military Academy at the age of 21, later became an important general of our party, and served as the commander-in-chief of the former enemy of the Nanchang Uprising, the commander of the 11th Army, and the commander-in-chief of the Guangzhou Uprising.
The significance of these two uprisings is extraordinary, and the Nanchang uprising opened the prelude to the armed resistance of our Party against the Kuomintang reactionaries, from which the present Founding Day of the Army is derived.
The Guangzhou Uprising was the first time that the name "Red Army" was officially used, the earlier Nanchang Uprising followed the name of the "Second Front Of the National Revolutionary Army", and the Autumn Harvest Uprising was called the "Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army".
When the Guangzhou uprising arrived, the General Headquarters raised the banner of the "Workers' and Peasants' Red Army" and collectively referred the troops participating in the uprising to the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, and the commander-in-chief of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army was Ye Ting. Therefore, Chairman Mao once said to Ye Ting: You are the first commander-in-chief of the Communist Party, and the history of the people's army should be written from you.
It's just that Ye Ting's later fate was more tortuous, otherwise the founding marshal of New China would definitely have his place.
In addition to Ye Ting, Xue Yue and Zhang Fakui were also born in baoding. These three people are also quite lucky, they are all Cantonese, all born in 1896, they were admitted to the sixth term of the Baoding Military Academy, and later they also served together under Sun Yat-sen, serving as the commanders of the first, second and third battalions of the Presidential Guard Regiment.
However, their later choices were not the same, General Ye Ting chose the Chinese Communist Party; Xue Yue sometimes followed the Cantonese clan, sometimes joined the Gui clan, and sometimes followed the old Chiang Kai; Zhang Fakui threw himself into Wang Jingwei (not with Wang to japan).
In the Republic of China, Xue Yue and Zhang Fakui's fame was by no means smaller than Ye Ting's, Xue Yue created his own Heavenly Furnace Tactics during the War of Resistance, fought several battles in Changsha, and repeatedly inflicted heavy losses on the Japanese army, becoming a well-known anti-Japanese general.
Zhang Fakui's starting point is even higher, he became a military commander at the age of 31, and he was the commander of the Fourth Army during the Northern Expedition, which says that during the Nanchang Uprising, the rebel army used the "Second Front Of the National Revolutionary Army", and the commander-in-chief of the Second Front Army was Zhang Fakui. Several of the ten marshals of New China had served under him, and when he was the commander-in-chief of the Front, Lin Biao was only a company commander!
It was only because he followed Wang that his troops were almost wiped out, so he had no real power later. But even so, during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, he also served as the commander of the Fourth Theater, the commander of the Second Front, and in 1949, he also became the commander-in-chief of the Kuomintang Army, and his status was quite high.
Of course, some people have also verified that Xue Yue and Zhang Fakui have not actually entered the Baoding Military Academy, but I think this kind of thing is still a bit credible for the parties concerned.
In the book "General Xue Yue and the National Revolution" reviewed and approved by Xue Yue himself, it is clearly recorded that Xue Yue and Zhang Fakui attended the sixth phase of the Baoding Military Academy together. The Oral Autobiography of Zhang Fakui, written by Zhang Fakui and written by columbia university scholars, also has records of studying at the Baoding Military Academy.
So I still choose to believe the statements of Xue and Zhang.
In addition to them, there is also a big celebrity Deng Yanda who is also a sixth-term student in Baoding. In addition to the reactionary rightists headed by Chiang Kai-shek, there are also a group of enthusiastic revolutionary leftists in the Kuomintang, and Deng Yanda is the leading figure of the left. He supported the Communist Party and wanted to compete with the Communist Party, but the competition was benign.
Deng Yanda advocated equal division of land and equal education, so many farmers especially admired him. Wherever he went, the peasants followed him, and he even proposed many distribution policies that the CCP did not dare to think about. Even Chairman Mao praised him for his firm stand and progressive policies.
However, the progressive Deng Yanda was not tolerated by Chiang Kai-shek, and was eventually secretly killed by Chiang Kai-shek on November 29, 1931.
In addition, many important generals of the Guangdong clan were also born in the sixth term of Baoding, such as Yu Hanmou, Li Hanling, Cai Tingkai, Wu Qiwei, Deng Longguang, Huang Qixiang, and so on, all of whom held real power during the Republic of China period, and many of them served as theater commanders, group army commanders, and deputy commanders of the Chinese Expeditionary Force.
There are also two Baoding Sixth Term students who are also worth mentioning: Gu Zhutong and Shangguan Yunxiang, although these two are classmates with Ye Ting, they are the main plotters and executors in the infamous "Anhui Southern Incident".
Before the incident, Ye Ting had actually smelled the breath of danger, and it was Gu Zhutong and Shangguan Yunxiang who sent a telegram to Ye Ting, and the two guaranteed in the name of their classmates to absolutely ensure the safety of the New Fourth Army.
As a result, they ambushed nearly ten times as many troops early, causing heavy casualties in the New Fourth Army, and Ye Ting himself was unfortunately captured.
The most hateful thing is that these two people ended up with a good death.
There were more Baoding Sixth-term students at the level of other military commanders and division commanders, such as Lin Tinghua, Ouyang Ju, Zhou Hunyuan, Zhou Yuying, Hao Mengling, Zhao Bosheng, Hu Zuyu, Chen Zongjin, Chen Gongxia, Ye Ting, Ye Zhao, Lü Chao, Yang Jie, Yang Hongguang, Xu Zhiqian, Guo Chen, Lü Jingcun, Tan Jie, Qin Lianfang, Han Hanying, Han Deqin, Peng Weiren, Peng Yubin, and so on.
In short, from a comprehensive point of view, the famous generals of the sixth phase of Baoding Military Academy are not inferior to the first and fourth phases of Huangpu!