The era of Warlords in China 1911-27

[John Hilly]

At the same time, railroad is easier to destroy and harder to repair than simple road.

Indeed, but one must to take into account the lack and poor condition of China's road network.

Besides, RKKA showed during GPW, how rapidly it could repair destroyed tracks inflicted by e.g. Finnish Far-Range Patrols demoliting Murmansk Railroad! :roll:

Regards
Juuha-Pekka

[oirob]

From minute 05:12 to 06:06 of this film you can see Chinese and Russian soldiers of the Fentian or "Chili-Shantung Army" exercising the repair of a damaged railroad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSd0aq7ANqA

Cheers
Oirob

[YC Chen]

Hello!

Rails were much quicker and far-reaching compared with bad roads!

At the same time, railroad is easier to destroy and harder to repair than simple road.

Best regards, Aleks

So the Japanese Kwantong Army tried hard to destroy Chinese railways during the Manchuria Inccident.

[YC Chen]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Old-Antique-192 ... 49490#shId
See the fourth photo. There are also some very nice armored train and armored car photos, but none of them is as amazing as the TANK. I think its design was very modern in 1920s and I don't know there is a type of foreign tank looks like this.
This tank was onboard an Chili-Shantung armored train. I have read many times that Chili-Shantung army had tanks, but I just assume that they were Renault FTs. I never knew they could built tanks themselves.
So could it be China's first homebuilt tank???

[AVV]

Hello!

So could it be China's first homebuilt tank???

Yes, an interesting find. I would say the construction of this tank is somewhat British-like.

Best regards, Aleks

[randwick]

.
I though it was one of the Japanese whippet which would have fallen in Chinese hand , they had six
It looks like a whippet Mediun Mark B , as far as the tracks are concerned , but is quite different in superstructure lay out ,
and it has a gun in casemate at the front , this design was taken later by the French for their Char B1
anyway there is a complete uncertainty if there were any Japanese whippet in action in China ,
I'm totally puzzled by this machine even up to considering it was a fake to frighten any opponent
( the tracks side plates are not really practical )
it certainly looks like an advanced tank design for the time 1925 /1935

the other photo is the average truck chassis fitted with armor plate , that's very do-able ,
using truck parts also make maintenance and use simpler

[nuyt]

the book mentioned earlier - Arming the Chinese - names one of the warlords as importing a small number of tank chassis. cant find the page right now...

[YC Chen]

the book mentioned earlier - Arming the Chinese - names one of the warlords as importing a small number of tank chassis. cant find the page right now...

Tank chassis? That's great! I have lent my book to a friend because I'm too busy to read it carefully, and I'll ask him to find out.
Is there much info on warlord AFVs in that book?

[oirob]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Old-Antique-192 ... 49490#shId
See the fourth photo...

Great pictures, Chen!!!
Especially those with the armoured cars.
Thank you very much for sharing!

[YC Chen]

the book mentioned earlier - Arming the Chinese - names one of the warlords as importing a small number of tank chassis. cant find the page right now...

My friend have found a description in the book that fits the time zone and owner of the tank in that photo. On page 95, it says that Jinan arsenal(the main arsenal of Zhang Zongchang and his Chili-Shantung Army) once built tanks. It also says that in 1920s the director of the arsenal is a Czech man named Ferdinand Hauschildt, then in 1927 he was replaced by a German fellow called Dr. Fracke. I wonder if anyone can find more info on these two men.
The "tank chassis" you mentioned is on page 105. It says that Chinese warlord Lu Yongxiang ordered 20 tank chassis from Frenchmen Boixo Brothers(I don't have many hard proofs but I strongly suspect that they were the men who sold Chang Tso-lin those Renault FTs) in November 1923. However, after comparing this to some Chinese archives, I think that the "tank chassis" mentioned here is more likely to be the chassis of Citroen halftrack truck chassis.
And, although the bid on that photo album on Ebay has over, the sellor has put all the photos of the album on Flikcr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/33031853@N05/
You can see that there are far more armored train photos than armored car & tank photos.