In 1932, the Chinese military purchased a number of the Vickers-Carden-Loyd A4E12 light amphibious tank. See an earlier post (from June 4) for more details about this tank. These would see action against the Japanese at the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War. The photograph depicts a column of A4E12 tanks of the 1st. Platoon, 8th. Route Army which was based near Canton circa 1933.
The nearest vehicle is the last tank of the platoon as denoted by the number “6” on the side of the hull. The 1st. Platoon tanks were numbered 1 through 6 while 2nd. Platoon had tanks 7 through 12. The Nationalist insignia on the tank’s turret may have been added to the photograph as normally, these tanks did not carry any insignia on them. The 8th. Route Army was a Chinese Communist Party force which prior to the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War, fought against Nationalist Chinese (Kuomintang) forces under Chiang Kai-shek as part of the Chinese Civil War which began on August 1, 1927. The Japanese invasion of China in 1937 would see the Communists and Nationalists put aside their differences and combine forces to repel the Japanese as the Second United Front. However, the alliance was weak at best and neither side ceased vying for power to the point they were ineffective in stopping the Japanese. The 8th. Route Army was commanded by Communist leader Mao Zedong and General Zhu De.
Following the exit of Japan in World War Two, Chiang Kai-shek attempted to broker peace with Zedong but this failed and the Chinese Civil War resumed in 1946 with the Communist forces emerging victorious. On October 1, 1949, Mao Zedong established the People’s Republic of China and would remain the Chairman of the Communist Party until his death on September 9, 1976.
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