General Zhang Zizhong, commander of the eight divisions that constituted the Chinese 33rd Army Group, was killed at approximately 4:00 p.m. on May 16, 1940, in fighting at Shilichangshan (‘Ten li mountain’) near Nanguadian in Northern Hubei. The battle was one engagement of the Zaoyang-Yichang campaign that rumbled through late spring of that year. Surrounded by the Japanese, his forces had refused either to retreat or to surrender. In the ensuing hand-to-hand combat, General Zhang had been wounded seven times in all, by grenade, bullet, and finally by bayonet. The victorious Japanese realized Zhang's identity only when a major discovered, in the left breast pocket of his blood-soaked yellow uniform, a fine gold pen engraved with his name. The major quickly summoned senior officers; they ordered a stretcher brought and the body was carried away from the battlefield. (This was observed, through half-opened eyes, by Zhang's long-time associate, the Chinese major Ma Xiaotang, who lay nearby, bleeding from a bayonet wound, and who later gasped out the story to Chinese as he died.)[3]
^1940年國民政府頒佈了褒恤令和追晉張自忠將軍為陸軍上將令「故陸軍上將銜陸軍中將張自忠追晉為陸軍上將。此令。中華民國二十九年七月七日。」 Executive Order issued by the Republic of China on July 7th, 1940 - "Post Posthumous promotion of Lieutenant General Zhang Zizhong to Full General, effects immediately. Date."
^Waldron, A. (1996). China's New Remembering of World War II: The Case of Zhang Zizhong. Modern Asian Studies, 30(4), 945-978. doi:10.1017/S0026749X00016851
Further reading
Arthur Waldron. "China's New Remembering of World War II: The Case of Zhang Zizhong". Modern Asian Studies 30, 4 (1996): 945–978.
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