Following the practice of the late Qing government and early warlords, the Chinese Republic relied on imports of foreign
arms in the 1920s and 1930s to modernize its armed forces. Purchases from firms
in Britain, France, Italy, and Germany introduced a motley group of armaments
into the Chinese arsenal.
As Britain and France had been the principal European
imperial powers that had sought concession after concession from China, there
existed mutual suspicions that created the conditions for a deepening
partnership between the Nationalist Chinese government and Germany that was
only ended in 1941 with Japanese insistence. After an Anglo-Japanese agreement to take control of its important concession of the Liaotung peninsula and its capital
Tsingtao during WWI, Germany sought to re-insert itself into East Asian
affairs.
Military advisers and favorable sales of military equipment became the
cornerstone of this rapprochement between two countries that had good cause to
resent the victors’ peace at the Treaty of Versailles. Sino-German cooperation
allowed Chiang Kai-shek to base his military modernization on the creation of
several German-trained and -armed divisions. This was to be the Republic’s “New
Model Army” that would carry the burden of showcasing a modern China.
These German-trained divisions formed the core of the forces that Chiang Kai-Shek committed to fight in Shanghai in 1937. They acquitted themselves well through dogged resistance although the nature of urban warfare did not allow them to use their dearly-bought mechanization to advantage. Eventually these divisions were ground down by attrition and lost the greater part of their numbers and (German) equipment.
Building some of these German-trained and -equipped KMT Chinese Nationalist troops is another one of my many languishing projects. I hope to get it started up again before too long.
The following infantry figures are made from 1/72 Caesar Miniatures, 1/72 HäT Miniatures (Ottoman infantry with heads swapped), and 20mm Foundry.
Fantastic stuff yet again Richard! You might be interested to know that I've just commissioned a bunch of Chinese figures as a result of my current studies - coincidence or what?
ReplyDeleteOh no!! Just kidding... That sounds great. When will you get the figures and can you say more about them now? Will I be able to purchase some eventually? ;P
DeleteMatt's sculpting the figures, and as such they will be available from Elhiem. The first batch will represent members of the German-trained divisions; hopefully they'll be joined by more provincial types once my wallet's ready.
DeleteVery much looking forward to tomorrow's up date. ;)
Very interesting?? I never knew any of this history, it does look strange though to see oriental faces under the Fritz helmets!! Nice blog btw!!!!
ReplyDeletesame here. I am glad I found your blog this is some very nice historical information.
DeleteMany thanks. :-)
DeleteHello hey love the miniatures very well done sir:) Would like to see more pics of them. Keep up the great post. Thanks for the info.
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