World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseLu Han was born into a Yi ethnic family in Zhaotong, Yunnan Province, Qing Dynasty China. In 1911, he and his friend Long Yun both joined the revolutionaries and became close comrades. In 1912, he was made a warrant officer and studied at the Yunnan Military Academy. In 1914, he married Long Yun's younger cousin Long Zeqing. In 1937, he was made the commanding officer of Chinese Nationalist 60th Corps; in this role, he saw combat in the Battle of Tai'erzhuang. Later in the year, the 60th Corps was redesignated 30th Corps, and then it was expanded to the 1st Army Group; Lu remained the commander throughout the process. In 1939, he led troops in the First Battle of Changsha. In early 1945, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general. After the Japanese surrender, he led the Chinese 60th Corps, 93rd Corps, and 9th Army Group (totaling about 20,000 men) into Indochina. Arriving in Hanoi on 20 Sep 1945, he negotiated with General Yuitsu Tsuchihashi (Japanese 38th Army) for the surrender, which took place on 28 Sep. He and his troops would remain in the Hanoi area for six months on occupation duty, during which the occupation administration earned a very poor occupation after many reported cases of rape and looting by soldiers under his command. On 1 Dec 1945, he succeeded Long Yun as the Chairman of Yunnan Province. In Dec 1949, seeing that the Chinese communists were on the verge of winning the civil war, he placed fellow Nationalist official Zhang Qun under arrest (who would escape shortly after) and declared Yunnan Province's defection to the communists. In Mar 1950, he was made the communist commissar of military affairs of Yunnan, followed by several other appointments in the communist government. In 1956, he was a member of a visiting legation to Moscow, Russia. He passed away in Beijing, China from lung cancer in 1974.

Lu Han Interactive Map

Photographs

Lu Han Timeline