The war between the girls’ team of Whampoa Military Academy

In 1927, the Whampoa Military Academy girls’ team participated in the Women’s Day celebration held by the Hubei Provincial Women’s Association in Hankou. They combined the significance of taking back the British concession in Hankou to publicize it to the citizens of the three towns of Wuhan.

On April 12, 1927, Chiang Kai-shek launched a counter-revolutionary coup in Shanghai. Countless party members, cadres and progressive young people were brutally murdered. While the National Revolution was continuing its march north to attack the Fengcian warlord Zhang Zuolin, Chiang Kai-shek on the one hand ordered the warlords of Guangdong, Guangxi, Sichuan and Guizhou to attack the two lakes in three directions, and on the other hand he colluded with reactionary military officers as internal agents. Chiang Kai-shek instigated Xia Douyin to rebel and colluded with the Sichuan warlord Yang Sen in an attempt to overthrow the Wuhan National Government through internal and external cooperation in order to achieve his goal of eliminating the revolutionary forces. At that time, Wuhan only had one division under the garrison commander Ye Ting, and the revolutionary situation took a turn for the worse. The rebels soon arrived at Zhifang, which was only thirty or forty miles away from Wuchang. The situation was imminent. The military academy decided that Ye Ting, who stayed behind, would lead the 24th Division of the 11th Army to meet the rebel attack, and organized all the students of the military academy into the Central Independent Division, and the female team of the military academy into a political company, which was further divided into a rescue team and a propaganda team, respectively. Affiliated to the Military Medical Department and the Political Department, and under the command of Ye Ting, he went to the front line. "These more than 200 women's soldiers are required to be fully armed like male soldiers, armed with guns, and fight side by side with male soldiers."

The girls' team posted slogans along the way, made up their own songs, publicized to the masses, and investigated Condition. Xianning was a place looted by the rebel Xia Douyin. When the people saw the armed troops coming, they fled in all directions in fear. The girls' team seized the opportunity to publicize to the masses that "we are a revolutionary army and we protect the people." After repeated propaganda, the revolutionary army was finally understood and loved by the masses. Women took the initiative to deliver tea and water to the revolutionary army. "In the line of fire under heavy artillery fire, the cadets of the female team closely followed the fighting male cadet team and devoted themselves to the intense work of rescuing the wounded. They were all brave, regardless of the bullets screaming in their heads, and carried their injured comrades off the line of fire. We enthusiastically bandaged, changed and gave them medicine." This time it took ***34 days from departure to return to school. During these 34 days, the cadets of the female team "went through hardships and hardships, withstood the test of blood and fire, and wrote countless touching chapters with their practical actions."

The student class teacher of Whampoa Military Academy Wuhan Branch After returning to school, the designation of the Central Independent Division was cancelled, and the name and organizational structure of the Wuhan branch were restored. However, "the passionate spirit among the students seemed to have disappeared." In July 1927, Wang Jingwei followed in the footsteps of Chiang Kai-shek and publicly issued a statement against Japan. Some progressive leaders broke away from the Wuhan government. The Wuhan branch of the Whampoa Military Academy has decided to graduate early and each student will be issued a graduation certificate from the 6th phase of the Whampoa Military Academy. The girls team was forced to disband. Girls who receive their diplomas are free to leave school and continue schooling or find a job locally. Those who are willing to stay in school will evacuate Wuhan with the army.

Some of the girls were introduced to Ye Ting and He Long's troops to work in the political department, four were placed in the military supplies office of the teaching regiment, and the rest were issued 5-yuan treasury bills and allowed to move freely.