.1928-1938 German Advisory Group In China Historical Research

Ten years after its foundation in 1928, the German military consultant delegation stationed in China became the most influential and integral foreign military organization in Chinese history with the longest stay in China.at the end of 1927, there were several negotiations between Jiang Jieshi and Bauer who died in Shanghai in 1929, the German military delegation was at last founded in November, 1928 and Kriebel was appointed by Jiang Jieshi as the deputyhead of the delegation, which played a very important role for Jiang Jieshi during the civil war in China. However, Kriebel was not to be favored by Jiang Jieshi and was replaced by Bauer the next year as the official head of the German delegation. There are two reasons for this: one is that Kriebel was only a Lieutenant Colonel and not very influential; the other is that Kriebel focused his attention only on military combating, and paid less attention on the military industry which Jiang Jieshi was very concerned about.Then in May, 1930 Wetzel came to China as the head of the delegation, and stayed in China for four years (1930-1934). He made significant achievement in his work, but left China because of his directness and incompetence in terming with the Chinese colleagues.The following head, named Seecht, came to China in May, 1934, and was given special privilege in many ways. His work and impact was of great importance. Ten months later he left China and was succeeded by Falkenhausen, during whose administration China and Germany experienced the climax of military and economic cooperation with the signing of "Sino-German Trade Agreement". When Sino-Japanese war broke out, the delegation was dismissed under the request of the Japanese authority.The German military consultant delegation could be formed and worked its way through ten years largely for historical and practical reasons.Early in the Qing Dynasty, German consultants were invited to China, and later Sun Zhongshan favored to form an alliance with Germany. All this became the foundation of inviting German military consultant delegation by the Nanjing government. Besides, the German consultants were able to mediate among the powers at that time. The Germans who worked in China gained their fame for the diligence and prudence in their work and greatly impressed the Chinese then. Of course, those consultants came to China also for the sake of their own country.The work of the German military consultants was mainly to help Jiang Jieshi in military ways. From Bauer to his successors, the consultants helped Jiang Jieshi to get a firm military position in China by first reforming the military system, and then training and equipping the army. They also improved and strengthened the military academic education, assisted Jiang Jieshi in the civil war and anti-communist war.When Bauer came to China with his delegation in November, 1928, he set the general task for the delegation, which was to help Jiang Jieshi to eliminate all the war lords in China, and make China a German market. In the following ten years, this task remained unchanged only adding to it the work to promote bilateral trade between the two countries so that Germany could greatly benefit from it. They actively imported German technology and capital to China, making China a big market for German products. All those efforts objectively strengthened China's national defense and economy, therefore played a positive role in Anti-Japanese war.The ten years of military assistance from the German military consultants can be summarized in three ways: a) helping Jiang Jieshi to consolidate his ruling position, b) helping to build a new and modern Chinese army, c) assisting in Anti-Japanese war. The three were interrelated. There were, however, defects in the work of thoseconsultants. The German military theories and practice were not often applicable in China. For example, the way of military training was not suitable for the Chinese army.Politically, those consultants were conservative and countering in though...