Xue Yue (26 December 1896-3 May 1998) was a Chinese Nationalist general who served in the Chinese Civil War and the Second Sino-Japanese War.
Biography[]
Xue Yue was born in Shaoguan, Guangdong, Qing China in 1896, and he joined the Tongmenghui in 1909 and participated in the Xinhai Revolution. He became a member of Sun Yat-sen's bodyguard before becoming one of Chiang Kai-shek's officers during the Northern Expedition. He was purged from the 1st Army after suggesting that Chiang be arrested as a counter-revolutionary, but he returned to service as a divisional commander under Li Jishen and fought alongside Zhang Fakui in suppressing the communist Guangzhou Uprising of 1927. Xue became Zhang's deputy commander of the Guangdong 4th Army, supporting the New Guangxi Clique against Chiang during the Central Plains War. After Zhang's defeat at Hengyang, Xue took command of the army and was forced to join Chang. He attacked the CCP forces of the Jiangxi Soviet during the Chinese Civil War, forcing them to embark on the Long March. He later forced Chiang to collaborate with the Communists against the Japanese in the Xi'an Incident of 1936, and he commanded the 19th Army Group at the Battle of Shanghai, the 1st Army Corps at the Battle of Wuhan, and the 9th Front during the fighting for Changsha. He was accused of corruption by the American general Joseph Stilwell, who refused to supply his troops due to Xue's alleged diversion of resources away from the battlefield. However, Xue became sworn brothers with the aviator Claire Lee Chennault, leader of the "Flying Tigers". After World War II, he was removed from his command by Chen Cheng, and he defended Hainan in 1949 at the end of the Chinese Civil War. He went on to flee to Taiwan and serve as adviser to the chief of staff, and he died in 1998 at the age of 101.