Zhang Zhizhong

Who was Zhang Zhizhong?

Zhang Zhizhong was a general in the National Revolutionary Army of the Republic of China. He was born in Chaohu, Anhui, and attended the Baoding Military Academy from which he graduated in 1916. He then served in the local warlord armies of Yunnan and Guangxi before heeding the call of Nationalist leader Sun Yat-sen and moving to Guangzhou to became an instructor at the Whampoa Academy. He participated in the Northern Expedition, and after the Nationalists established the new republican government in Nanjing, became the commandant of the Central Military Academy. He joined in Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek's campaign against Yan Xishan and Feng Yuxiang, and led the 5th Army in the 1932 battle at Shanghai against Japan. Later as the head of the 9th Army Group, Zhang supervised the defence of Shanghai against Japan in 1937. Zhang is generally regarded as one of Chiang's close confidants.

Later in the Second Sino-Japanese War, Zhang was later appointed Governor of Hunan and was responsible for the Great Fire of Changsha, a fire that got out of hand when he ordered key buildings razed in anticipation of a coming Japanese attack. He was relieved of his duty after this event and several individuals responsible for bad intelligence were executed. In 1940, he became the political director of the National Military Council.