Allied Leaders of World War II - Republic of China

Republic of China

• Chiang Kai-shek was the leader of the Nationalist Government of the Republic of China and the supreme commander of the China Theatre, which also included Burma. He was the chairman of the National Military Council, the highest political organ of the wartime Chinese government. He wished to defeat communism first before taking on Japan, but after the Xi'an Incident Chiang made a temporary truce with the communists to form a united front against Japan. After that war the truce ended and hostilities continued until his government retreated to Taiwan.

• Mao Zedong was leader of the Communist Party of China. He formed an alliance with the Nationalist Government after the Xi'an Incident.

• Zhang Xueliang was warlord of Manchuria after the death of his father. Nicknamed the "Young Marshal"; he was a strong opponent of the Japanese occupation of Manchuria after the Mukden Incident. He was responsible for the Xi'an incident which established a truce between the Nationalist and Communists. He fled the mainland with Nationalist government to Taiwan after the communists seized the mainland.

• Chen Cheng was a prominent nationalist military leader and political figure who led the National Revolutionary Army during the Battle of Wuhan. In the latter years of the war, he went on to command during the Battle of Changsha, Battle of Yichang and Battle of West Hubei. In 1943, he was appointed the commander of the Chinese Expeditionary Force in Burma campaign. After the war, he became the Chief of the general staff.

• Zhu De was the commander of the main communists army that fought under the banner of the Nationalists Party. His forces fought in alliance with Chiang Kai-shek's forces until after the battle of Wuhan, when the cooperation between the nationalists and communists began to deteriorate, utimately ending after the New Fourth Army Incident.

• Li Zongren was the former Guangxi warlord that fought in alliance with Chiang Kai-shek during the Second Sino-Japanese War. He was the commander of the battle of Xuzhou, and commanded one of the largest and relatively better equipped regional armies that comprised the bulk of the Chinese armed forces during the war.

• Xue Yue was the military commander that led the many successful defenses of Changsha.

• Claire Lee Chennault was the commander of the Flying Tigers. Originally a military advisor to Chiang Kai-shek, Chennault was asked to establish American squadrons to aid the Republic of China. Chennault spent the winter of 1940–1941 in Washington, helping to negotiate the establishhment of the American Volunteer Group. The AVG began their service with the Chinese Air Force in 1941 until it was disbanded in 1942.