After the outbreak of the All-out War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in 1937, Bai Chongxi, the leader of the Gui clan who was appointed commander of the Fifth Theater, jointly issued a "Letter to All Comrades of the Guangxi Party, Government, and Army and Compatriots of the Whole Province" with Bai Chongxi, the number two figure of the Gui clan who was appointed deputy chief of the general staff, before taking up his post in the north, pointing out: "The survival of the nation is determined by this war of self-defense, and the final victory of the war is determined by the long-term battle in the future, and the long-term battle depends deeply on the continuous excitement, continuous sacrifice, continuous construction, and continuous contributions in the rear. ”
To this end, after the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Li, Bai, and others quickly formed 3 armies and a large number of supplementary regiments, went to the anti-Japanese front, and successively participated in the Battle of Songhu, the Battle of Xuzhou, and the Battle of Wuhan, making great contributions and making major sacrifices. At the same time, Li Zongren and others also handed over to the central government the most important foundations of the Guangxi people who had cut back on food and clothing and the Guangxi clan had painstakingly managed for many years -- military academies, air force, and arsenals -- and threw them into the battlefield of the War of Resistance.
Whampoa Military Academy Nanning Branch
After the new Gui clan gained military and political power in Guangxi, it was founded in Nanning in the spring of 1926. Before the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Nanning Military Academy openly recruited eight students, selected and trained a large number of middle- and lower-ranking officers of the Gui Army, and trained some military personnel selected and sent from the southwest. The military academy has trained and transported a large number of professionally trained military personnel for the Gui army, which has played an important role in enhancing the combat effectiveness of the Gui army. After the military academy was handed over to the Nanjing government, it was renamed the 6th branch of the Central Military Academy, moved to Guilin to continue to run, and successively trained more than 10,000 cadets, most of whom were enriched to the troops and participated in the front-line War of Resistance.
Air Force and Aviation School
Guangxi has never been a rich province, so it is very difficult to form an air force. However, before the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan, the Gui clan still handed over all 60 aircraft, more than 80 pilots, and more than 60 mechanics to be organized into four squadrons to receive unified command from the central authorities and fight against Japan. In August 1937, after the Kuomintang Central Jianqiao Aviation School moved to Liuzhou Airport; Guangxi Aviation School was merged into the Central Aviation School, and the aviation machinery factory under the aviation school was renamed the 9th Aircraft Repair Factory.
Five major military airfields
Before the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Guizhou Department built a total of 5 airports, including Guilin Ertang Airport, Liuzhou Maohe Airport, Wuzhou Gaowang Airport, Nanning Airport, Guilin Yangtang Airport, as well as various ancillary facilities, such as airport barracks, aircraft rooms, maintenance workshops, etc., all under the jurisdiction of the Central Aviation Commission, and became an important airport for the Chinese Air Force to take off and operate during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. In the later period of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the American Volunteer Aid China Air Force, that is, the Flying Tigers, used these airports as a base for a long time.
More than a dozen arsenals
Before Li Zongren seized the military and political power in Guangxi, he began to set up arsenals in the Guiping area of Guangxi to meet the needs of combat. After occupying the whole territory of Guangxi, more than 10 light machine gun factories, heavy machine gun factories, rifle factories, mortar factories, mortar factories, grenade factories, 79 caliber bullet factories, sulfuric acid nitric acid factories, smokeless gunpowder factories, and quilt factories were established successively. Among them, the Liuzhou Ammunition Factory alone produces 500 mortar shells and 40,000 Type 79 rifle shells per day. After the beginning of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, these families were all handed over and incorporated into the Military Engineering Bureau of the Joint Logistics Department of the Central Government.