What Does a Military Advisor Do?

German consultants have spent 10 years trying to help China build a German-style, Asian version of the army. This army, which is the most modern army in China's modern history, and the defense industry initially established in China's Yangtze River basin, have enabled China to reach the "minimum standard" for resistance to Japanese aggression.

German military adviser

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German consultants have spent 10 years trying to help

In the 1930s, China began to have troops with German steel helmets, German military uniforms, and German ordnance. This was the new Chinese Army under the guidance and training of German military consultants. These troops participated in the Anti-Japanese War many times. Major battles; and the military arsenal assisted by German consultants in China also played a key role in logistics supplies during the Anti-Japanese War. ^[1]

Since the end of the Qing Dynasty "

German Prime Minister

Colonel Ball, the first general counsel, from November 1928 to May 1929, set up a teaching team, reserve compilers, and advocated the establishment of China's arms industry

Coliber, Lieutenant Colonel, Acting General Counsel, May 1929-May 1930, Practical Military Training and Teaching

Forzell, Lieutenant General, second general counsel, May 1930-April 1934, actual military training and teaching, served as the combat consultant of the "Fifth Siege" of the Central Plains War

General Seckett, the third general counsel, May 1934-March 1935, promoted the development of China's defense industry and enhanced the quality and combat effectiveness of the Army

Falkenhausen, General, Fourth General Counsel, March 1935-July 1938, Strengthening the National Defense and Helping the Anti-Japanese War

The National Government decided to use the German system to establish a new Chinese army (hereinafter referred to as the national army). With the advent of German military consultants, German equipment and German training naturally followed. Arms-related heavy industry groups and production equipment manufacturing plants And raw material suppliers have also come to China to carry out close contacts. ^[2]

As early as the summer of 1926, Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975) commissioned Zhu Jiazhen, who had studied in Germany, to contact German military advisers. Zhu Jiazhen had contacted several famous German generals, but all of them were declined. The first reason is that Article 179 of the Treaty of Versailles stipulates that not only cannot Germany send any land, sea or air force delegation to any foreign country, but also "it will take appropriate measures to prevent the German people from leaving its territory in order to serve any foreign army , Navy, or air force, or to assist the army, navy, or air force to practice, or perhaps to educate the army, navy, or air force in a foreign country. "German citizens are prohibited from acting as foreign military advisers. Several generals are notorious and highly regarded, and any of them as military advisers may attract international attention and interference. On the other hand, at that time, the Beiyang Government was the legal government representing China internationally. As for the Guangzhou Government and Chiang Kai-shek, the above-mentioned people did not understand the situation of the Chinese civil war and did not want to come to China rashly. Therefore, German World War I Ludendorff recommended Ball to the Guangzhou government. Max Bauer is a soldier with a long history, a complex background and a legendary experience. When the outbreak of World War I served as the staff of the German Staff Headquarters. At the end of World War I, the ranks of the above schools were retired. Bauer is a heavy artillery expert who has relationships with arms giants such as Krupp because he advocates mass production of heavy artillery. Dissatisfied with the Treaty of Versailles and the Weimar Republic, in March 1920, he and a large number of veterans participated in the famous

George Forzell spent four years in China from May 1930 to April 1934 and participated in the command of the Central Plains War, Songhu, and the Great Wall of China. In the battle of the Central Plains, Chiang Kai-shek concentrated his forces against the strongest Northwest Army and implemented a large-scale rifle-air joint operation in accordance with Foetzer's suggestion, which fully demonstrated the power of German weapons and training. The Central Plains War ended with the victory of the Chiang Kai-shek Central Army. Chiang Kai-shek gave Foetzer a four-word evaluation for this. ^[3]

German military assistance is not limited to personnel training and organization, but also military hardware. ^[11]

Chiang Kai-shek's positive results in the decade of national unification from 1928 to 1937. The Kuomintang's authoritarian system characterized by nationalism from 1928 to 1949 was the fourth political choice in China's modernization, following Cixi s enlightened autocratic model, Sun Yat-sen s parliamentary competition model, and Yuan Shikai s military strongman authoritarian model. . After Chiang Kai-shek basically completed national unification in 1928, he did indeed achieve considerable success in modernization. ^[13]

Chiang Kai-shek hired German military consultants not only for the preparation of a modern anti-Japanese defense force, but also hoped to rely on German talents and technology to build a complete military industrial system and use the development of military industries to drive the take-off of the entire economy. In order to meet the needs of Chiang Kai-shek, and also to sell German arms and production equipment, to facilitate German monopoly capital to occupy the Chinese market and plunder strategic raw materials, German military consultants actively participate in China's economic construction as a link between China and Germany. At that time, a French newspaper commented: "Their presence in China not only placed Chinese military organizations and systems under the influence of Germany, but also made their industrial development follow German guidance." German military consultants in the field of Chinese economy Activities mainly include two aspects, one is the construction of military industry, and the other is the Sino-German arms trade. ^[14]

First, in terms of China's military industry and transportation infrastructure construction, German military advisers provided a lot of advice and participated in the formulation and implementation of related plans. Ball has pointed out to Chiang Kai-shek: China "must first have a complete arms industry, transportation, telecommunications, postal services, and even municipal and sanitary facilities. Without any party, it will be hindered by the desire to build a modern national army." We must start with economic construction, whether we are willing or not, we must start from a distance and start from a short distance! "Seckett emphasized in the" Army Reform Proposal ": China's arms industry cannot rely on foreign inputs for a long time, and must be assisted by European arms companies To build enough arsenals to maintain the self-sufficiency of weapons and ammunition. Seiket cautioned Chiang Kai-shek that "the establishment of China's own armed industry is an urgent task." After Falkenhausen took office, he followed Seiket's principles and strongly urged the National Government to develop a self-sufficient arms industry. Chiang Kai-shek greatly appreciated the advice of the German military adviser and instructed the German adviser to assist China in developing modern industries. Bauer had been instructed by Chiang Kai-shek to draw up a series of plans to rebuild China, such as the development of the Chinese railway, the financial and aviation system, the construction of ports, and so on. After taking over, he "continued to complete his work, assisted in the construction of China, and promoted China-Germany political and economic relations." As a general consultant, Seckett worked with the Director of the Ordnance Agency Yu Dawei and the Secretary-General of the National Defense Design Committee Weng Wenxun to formulate a plan for the development of the arms industry, detailing the monthly needs of 6, 12, and 18 divisions for various arms. Production, and schedules for building several arsenals, a steel plant, a machine building plant, and an automobile plant. During the Falkenhausen period, the Sino-Japanese war broke out. In order to achieve self-sufficiency in arms production in a short period of time, Sino-German ordnance experts drafted the "Five-year Arms Development Plan" in 1935. According to this, the Nanjing government imported a large number of arms production equipment from Germany, and the German consultant was responsible for technical guidance. Production and development of German-style weapons and equipment such as Maxim machine guns, 82 mortars, and Mauser rifles in arsenals such as Nanjing, Gongxian, and Hanyang. These weapons are of good quality, and some of them have reached the level of similar products in the West. , Which partially meets the requirements for preparation. In 1936, the German military adviser helped the National Government to formulate an ambitious "China Industrial Plan". The main goal of this plan was to establish a new economic center in central and southern China in a very short period of time to resist Japan. Invasion and laid the foundation for the future development of Chinese industry. The actual implementation of the plan was suspended due to the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War. ^[14]

Although due to the interference of the war, the implementation of the above plan did not achieve the expected goal of modernizing the national defense industry, but under the guidance of German military advisers and the assistance of German technology, China's national defense industry has improved. According to statistics, in 1935, half of the ammunition used by the Kuomintang army's rifles needed to be imported, but by the beginning of the Anti-Japanese War, the production of light weapons and ammunition was basically self-sufficient, which was related to the assistance of the German military advisory group. ^[14]

Secondly, in terms of the Sino-German arms trade, German military advisers played an intermediary role. Helping German arms dealers to sell arms is an important task for German military advisers. In their proposals submitted by Chiang Kai-shek, most of them mentioned that the army should increase the use of new equipment and ammunition to improve the combat effectiveness of the army. Weizer pointed out that "the victory of the new war is not the strength of the troops, but the use of well-equipped new weapons in a well-trained army." This precisely meets the requirements of Chiang Kai-shek to enhance the strength of Germany with advanced weapons and equipment. As a result, through the draw-off of German military advisers, China-Germany arms trade has made great progress, and German arms have flooded the Chinese market. Only on April 26, 1934, Kong Xiangxi once negotiated to purchase 100 million rounds of 79 rifle bullets, 5,000 light machine guns, 5,000 short guns (with 5 million rounds), 10,000 rifles, and 32 gun vehicles in Germany. , 24 tanks (13,200 rounds), 240 mortars, 215 aircraft bombs, and 421 types of tank spare parts. Soon after Seckett took office, Chiang Kai-shek accepted his suggestion and decided to buy only German weapons, and Seckett and Yu Dawei determined the type and quantity of weapons. On August 23, 1934, the "Sino-German Barter Agreement" facilitated by Seckert pushed the Sino-German arms trade to a climax. The purpose of the agreement is to exchange German raw materials and agricultural products for German industrial products. The conclusion of the agreement was not only due to the economic complementarity of the two sides, but also the main reason was that Germany was extremely short of foreign exchange at that time, and it needed to purchase a large amount of raw materials to restructure its arms. The only remedy was to find an object willing to barter. The situation of the Chinese National Government is similar. China was in desperate need of funds and equipment for the development of industry and the military, and it was rich in agricultural and mineral products. "It is necessary to have a pair of countries that have no territorial ambitions and can meet their needs everywhere. A friendly combination will help. The "China-German Barter Agreement" was signed immediately. The Chiang Kai-shek government has high expectations for this and believes that "the success of this Sino-German cooperation will not only greatly assist our national defense, but also the future of our national rejuvenation. " ^[14]

On the eve of the Anti-Japanese War and through the Sino-German Barter Agreement, Sino-German trade increased dramatically. From 1933 to 1937, China's import and export trade with Germany had an increasing trend. (Germany ranks fourth in China's export trade, and in import trade, it has surpassed the United Kingdom by 1936, ranking third. In the same period, Germany's import and export trade with China also continued to grow. Among the goods exported by China, arms are the main. As of October 1937, Germany supplied 50 million marks to China's weapons. According to statistics from Taiwan scholars, 80% of China's foreign arms imports before the war were from Germany. China also It became the main country for German arms exports. The American scholar Ke Weilin pointed out in the article "The Chiang Kai-shek Government and Nazi Germany" that the value of Germany's arms exports to China in 1935 accounted for 8.1% of the total German arms exports in 1935, which increased to 28.8 in 1936 %, Which was as high as 37% in 1937. China has jumped to the top of Germany's second place as an arms exporter. Germany's arms exports to China have not only increased sharply, but also have a complete range of chariots, 8.8 cm and 10.5 cm heavy guns, Anti-aircraft guns together with searchlights, machine guns, helmets and mobile communication equipment, torpedoes, speed boats, etc. Therefore, the Chinese army of the entire division used a full set of German equipment. A German-made 8.8-cm anti-aircraft gun operated by a Chinese soldier wearing a German-style helmet. German-made 7.5-cm gun, Krupp gun, Mercedes-Benz M · A · N tractor, and other German weapons lined up on Nanjing Street. " ^[14]

German military advisers participate in China's economic construction and promote Sino-German arms trade, of course, not to truly realize China's modernization, to help China completely defeat its Far East ally, Japan, and its activities in China's economic field remain unchanged: to occupy the Chinese market and seize strategic materials The purpose is obvious. With regard to the acquisition of China's strategic materials, due to the strong coordination of the general consultants, Germany signed a barter trade agreement with the Chiang Kai-shek government through the "Hubeilou" company, and was able to exchange arms for China's precious tungsten sand. The amount of tungsten sand exported from China to Germany is increasing rapidly. However, the motivation of German military advisers to participate in China's economic activities and their role cannot be equal. Their work has indeed laid a foundation for China's Anti-Japanese War and the development of China's industry in the future, but its objective role in the economic field also has its negative side. ^[14]

While German military advisers helped the National Government strengthen its national defense forces, it also helped Chiang Kai-shek launch a civil war and build dictatorship. In the Central Plains War of 1930, Jiang Jun's victory with less was the result of the participation of German instructors with automatic weapons. At that time, Jiang Jun not only cooperated with rifles and artillery, but also introduced German reconnaissance aircraft and set up an aviation reconnaissance team to monitor the enemy's situation. In the "encirclement and suppression" of the Red Army, Chiang Kai-shek was eager to use advanced German weapons. Falkenhausen called the German Foreign Ministry and reported on China's political situation that the "Jiangxi Communist Party Campaign" ended because of the "comprehensive attack" using modern weapons such as mortars and bombers. ^[14]