Liu Guitang
Liu Guitang or Liu Kuei-tang (1892-1943). Chinese bandit and soldier, involved in the Japanese attempt to control Chahar province in 1933. Noted for switchiing sides several times and returning to banditry. Later a during the Second Sino-Japanese War he commanded some puppet Nanjing Government puppet troops.
Liu Guitang became a bandit at the age of ten in the mountains of southern Shandong. Eventually he rose to command a large band of bandits, and eventually surrendered themselves to a Chinese army unit that absorbed them into its ranks, (a common recruitment practice of the time). Liu and his men were given new arms and equipment and then some time later deserted. They later were taken back by the army and deserted once again. Taken back again in 1931, and sent by General Han Fuqu to help garrison northern Shandong. After another desertion they were sent by the Young Marshal Zhang Xueliang to garrison Jehol against the Japanese and Manchukuoan forces in early 1933. There General Liu and his men immediately went over to the Japanese and Liu was made a Manchukuoan commander.
Liu Guitang, now under Japanese orders, was sent to the southeastern part of Chahar province in the Dolonor region with the object of causing trouble for the Chinese there. Liu then lead his estimated 3,000 troops further east to Changpei. Reported at the time as as a Japanese operation it may have been done by Liu without Japan's approval. [1] Liu then began talks with the Chinese commander in Chahar Sung Che-yuan who offered him a chance to change sides again. This he did, and was given the ironic title of Bandit Suppression Commander of Eastern Chahar and stationed at Chihcheng.
Over the next few months Liu and his men became discontented. Liu's forces clashed with the local militia's when they tried to clollect more taxes than were legally authorized. He tried to get his command posted to a more prosperous location where he not have difficulty getting food for his men. When Sung Che-yuan refused his request Liu and his men revolted on December 25, 1933 and sacked two towns. Under pressure from the forces of Tang Yulin, Liu's men loaded their loot on hundreds of commandeered camels and donkeys Liu and moved south into the newly created demilitarized zone in northern Hopei. He moved back and forth across it to avoid the Japanese and Chinese armies, neither of whom would employ him or his men anymore. By January 1st, 1934 his force attacked a town within 15 miles of Peiking. Troops of General Han Fuqu were sent against him and defeated Liu's force. Liu evaded capture and reached the Japaneses concession in Tientsin. There he was said to have once more offered his services to the Japanese.
It seems he returned to Shandong sometime in the 1930's and during the Second Sino-Japanese War commanded a puppet garrison for the defense of Juxian in support of the Japanese attack on Linyi during the Battle of Xuzhou. He managed to become a Commander of of over 1000 puppet troops for he Nanjing Government in Shandong province. It is claimed he was killed in combat with Communist guerrilla troops in November of 1943. [2]
Notes
- ^ http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,769784,00.html Leng Pass, From the Apr. 24, 1933 issue of TIME Magazine
- ^ http://english.pladaily.com.cn/site2/news-channels/2005-05/27/content_214875.htm
Sources:
- Jowett, Phillip S. , Rays of The Rising Sun, Armed Forces of Japan’s Asian Allies 1931-45, Volume I: China & Manchuria, 2004. Helion & Co. Ltd., 26 Willow Rd., Solihul, West Midlands, England.