Since the founding of the Kuomintang, there have been very complicated internal factional struggles, and around 1948, a large number of leftist progressive figures of the Kuomintang announced their independence from chiang Kai-shek's regime and established a democratic party cooperating with the CCP, the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang, referred to as the Kuomintang Revolutionary Committee. The Kuomintang Revolution extensively absorbed democratic progressives in the Kuomintang, and the patriotic anti-Japanese general Zheng Dongguo was one of them.
Born in 1903 in Hunan to an ordinary peasant family, Zheng Dongguo entered a private school at the age of 7 and a primary school attached to Shimen Middle School at the age of 14 to receive a new-style Western science education. After that, his family's situation declined, and he had to rely on his brother's help to complete his education. In 1919, the "May Fourth Movement" broke out, and the revolutionary storm also affected the young Zheng Dongguo. At this time, he established the lofty ideal of serving the country from the military.
In 1924, Zheng Dongguo was admitted to the first phase of the Whampoa Military Academy and joined the Kuomintang collectively. During his time at the Whampoa Military Academy, he studied hard and participated in the battle to quell the rebellion of the Guangzhou Merchants.
After graduation, he participated in the Guangzhou Revolutionary Government's crusade against the warlord Chen Jiongming. In 1926, Zheng Dongguo participated in the Northern Expedition with the National Revolutionary Army as a battalion commander, mainly against Sun Chuanfang, in the Northern Expedition War, he led all the officers and men of the battalion to fight heroically at the same time, but also paid attention to the method, flexible command, and achieved great results, so he was also quickly promoted to regimental commander, and he was only 24 years old at the time.
In the System of the National Revolutionary Army at this time, Zheng was undoubtedly a rising star, and he made many achievements in the series of wars established around the Nationalist Government in Nanjing. In 1931, Zheng Dongguo was promoted to brigade commander of the 4th Brigade of the 2nd Division and was sent to fight the Red Army in the Eyu-Anhui Soviet Region. But shortly after his arrival, the Red Army made a strategic shift, and in fact Zheng Dongguo did not have much confrontation with the Red Army.
In 1933, when the Great Wall War of Resistance broke out, and the units of the Northeast Army along the Great Wall were gradually defeated and retreated, Chiang Kai-shek ordered the 2nd, 25th, and 83rd Divisions of the Central Army to form the 17th Army and go to fight against Japan along the Great Wall.
Zheng Dongguo led the 4th Brigade of the 2nd Division, on the front line of the South Tianmen Gate, with weak weapons and firepower, to resist the Japanese army attacking by land and air for eight days, in the face of the situation that the position was breached, he took off his military coat, wore only a shirt, personally participated in the charge, and once led his troops to recover the position, but the entire Great Wall War of Resistance was finally defeated due to the strong firepower of the Japanese army and the heavy casualties of the Chinese army, the Nationalist government was forced to sign the "Tanggu Agreement", the Chinese army withdrew from the Great Wall, and Zheng Dongguo led the troops to retreat to Beiping.
In 1936, Jeong Dong-kook became the commander of the 2nd Division and was promoted to major general of the army.
After the outbreak of the All-out War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression in 1937, Zheng Dongguo was immediately sent to the battlefield of the Anti-Japanese War. He first led the 2nd Division to participate in the Battle of Baoding, and after the defeat, he led his troops to retreat to Wuyang for repairs.
In March 1938, the 2nd Division joined the 5th Theater of Operations under the command of Li Zongren and participated in the Battle of Xuzhou. When wang mingzhang's division of the Sichuan army was annihilated by the Japanese army and Tengxian fell, Zheng Dongguo led the 2nd Division to block the Japanese army on the south bank of the canal and launched a tenacious blockade. It greatly bought time for the Chinese army and laid the foundation for victory in the Battle of Taierzhuang.
In 1939, Zheng Dongguo led the 1st Honor Division, a first-class elite unit of the Chinese army composed entirely of wounded veterans, to participate in the Battle of Guinan and retake Kunlun Pass. This was the first time that the Chinese army conquered the natural danger controlled by the Japanese army and almost annihilated a japanese brigade, and Zheng Dongguo was promoted to military commander shortly after achieving such a feat.
After the outbreak of the Pacific War, the Chinese government formed the Chinese Expeditionary Force to participate in the war in Burma. After the defeat in the first battle in Burma, some Chinese troops entered India and formed the Chinese Army in India, and the Chongqing government appointed Zheng Dongguo as the commander of the newly organized 1st Army in India.
During the Indo-Burma Campaign, Zheng Dongguo not only continued to exert his command art and fought many beautiful battles, but also greatly promoted the cooperative relationship between the United States, the United States and the British Allies in Southeast Asia with his personal charm, laying a good foundation for the final victory in the Burma Campaign, and was promoted to lieutenant general in February 1945.
After the victory of the War of Resistance, Zheng Dongguo first went to the Beijing-Shanghai area to accept the surrender of the Japanese army, and was later sent by Chiang Kai-shek to fight a civil war in the northeast.
Shortly after the outbreak of the Liberation War, the Nationalist army once occupied a greater advantage in the northeast, at this time Zheng Dongguo was also busy fighting with the Northeast Democratic Coalition Army, and with the changes in the war situation, the Kuomintang lost its advantage in the northeast region, Zheng Dongguo actually lost real power, and had to lead his troops to hold the isolated city of Changchun, which was also the most painful period in his life, wanting to break through and could not, in the long siege, the residents and defenders of the city were difficult to survive, as a Chinese with conscience, he could not bear it. But the foolish loyalty to Chiang Kai-shek's clique left him with no way out.
Finally, in October 1948, the Kuomintang Changchun defenders revolted one after another, and Zheng Dongguo, who wanted to be "loyal" to the old Chiang, had to give up resistance.
After the founding of New China, Zheng Dongguo originally wanted to live in seclusion, but at the repeated invitation of Chairman Mao, he still came out to work, successively serving as a counselor of the Ministry of Water Resources, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and vice chairman of the Central Committee of the Kuomintang Revolutionary Committee, and later served as the president of the Huangpu Alumni Association, playing his own role in the construction and reunification of the motherland.
In 1992, he died of illness in Beijing, and the farewell ceremony of his body was held in Babaoshan, and at the same time, he was commemorated by Taiwan.