Wang Jingguo

In 1936 units under Wang's command were sent to reinforce the Inner Mongolian province of Suiyuan, which Yan controlled. Wang's orders were to defend against an attack by the Japanese puppet army of Mengguguo, led by Demchugdongrub. Wang's senior commander in defending Suiyuan was Fu Zuoyi, who was also an officer of Yan's. In the subsequent battle with Mengguguo, Demchugdongrub's forces were virtually annihilated, and he lost all areas in Suiyuan and Chahar which were not under the immediate protection of the Japanese Kwantung Army.^[1]

When the Japanese invaded Shanxi in 1937, Yan Xishan requested, and received, military aid from the Communist People's Liberation Army, which entered Shanxi and set up operations in much of the province. By late 1938 Yan had become afraid of the rapid power and influence that the Communist forces operating in Shanxi quickly gained, and this fear caused Yan to become increasingly hostile to Communist agents and soldiers. In order to combat the spread and influence of communism within Yan's armies and in the area that Yan controlled, Wang Jingguo persuaded Yan to establish a "National Revolutionary Comrades Association", a paramilitary organization that existed to identify and persecute Communists in Yan's territory and in the army. The actions of this Association eventually contributed to the destruction of all cooperation between Yan and the Communists in the winter of 1939. From 1939-1945 Yan was successful in keeping his territory free from Communist influence and activity.^[2]

Para 1948, todas las fuerzas nacionalistas en China, incluidas las de Yan Xishan, estaban siendo rápidamente derrotadas por los ejércitos comunistas chinos. En marzo de 1948, el propio Yan fue evacuado por vía aérea de Taiyuan , llevándose consigo la mayor parte del tesoro provincial, aparentemente con el propósito de solicitar al gobierno central el envío de más suministros y material a sus fuerzas, que se encontraban cercadas. Yan no regresó. Wang Jingguo quedó al mando de gran parte de las fuerzas restantes de Yan, incluidos todos los refuerzos nacionalistas que habían quedado atrapados en Taiyuan. El superior directo de Wang era un oficial japonés que se había unido al ejército de Yan después de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, Imamura Hosaku , quien continuó dirigiendo la resistencia. En abril de 1949, los comunistas lanzaron un ataque final contra los últimos defensores de Taiyuan, con más de 1300 piezas de artillería y una fuerza tres veces mayor que la de los defensores. Tras la caída de Taiyuan, Wang Jingguo fue capturado. La última vez que se le vio en público fue siendo conducido por las calles atado a una cuerda. ^{[ 3 ]} Finalmente murió en 1952 en un centro de gestión de criminales de guerra.