World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseWang Mingzhang was born in Xindu County, Sichuan Province, China. He graduated from the Sichuan Army Academy in 1914 and joined the Sichuan regional army. In 1927, he became the commanding officer of the 3rd Mixed Brigade. In 1929, he served as a staff officer in the 29th Army. In 1930, he was the commanding officer of the 4th Division of the 29th Army. In 1935, he became the commanding officer of the 122th Division. In 1937 when China entered WW2, the 122th Division acted as reserves to forward war areas. In Mar 1938, he took on a second role as a staff officer of the 41st Corps due to a shortage of capable officers. In Apr 1938, he personally led the defense at Tengxian, Jiangsu Province where the stubborn though valiant Chinese defense sacrificed thousands of lives to delay the Japanese advance for four days, which laid down the basis for a major Chinese victory at Tai'erzhuang in the following month. He died during the defense at Tengxian; he was given a state funeral at Xuzhou and Wuhan, and was posthumously promoted to the rank of a full general in the Nationalist Army. The Communists also honored him with the title as a martyr of the People's Republic of China.

Wang Mingzhang Timeline