Education
On the opposing side General Zhao Shoushan led the Communists, Chao formerly attended the same school as Ma.
On the opposing side General Zhao Shoushan led the Communists, Chao formerly attended the same school as Ma.
Ma was 28 years old when he defeated the Communists in 1948. On the Heshui campaign in 1948 Ma defeated 30,000 Communists. He became a colonel at the age of 16 and was promoted to major general at the age of 20.
He had attended the Whampoa Military Academy.
In May 1949, General Hu Zongnan and Ma set up a planned trap. Hu faked a retreat, then Communist General Peng Dehuai advanced with 120,000 men from Xi"an to Sichuan, but at 75 mmiles Hu started a pitched battle and then Ma personally led 20,000 of his cavalry forces to defeat the Communist forces and send them fleeing, and he continued to battle the Communist forces throughout July around Xi"an.
However, the government denied his request, and Ma flew back to Lanzhou, then abandoned lanzhou, retreating all the way back to Xining on trucks. Ma also was married to two women, and enjoyed watching American movies.
His upbringing was under strict discipline, Chinese proverbs could be found posted around his Headquarters. He moved with his father to Egypt then to Saudi Arabia when his father was appointed as ambassador of the Republic of China to Saudi Arabia.
He died in Saudi Arabia in 2012. The Communist Party of China issued condolences for his death. 1944 General Officer Commanding 82nd Army.
Ma complained that the Kuomintang government was not resupplying him enough and that there was no more "revolutionary spirit". In between the move he also traveled to Taiwan to advise the Ministry of National Defence and the Kuomintang party.
He defended Gansu during the Lanzhou Campaign from the Communists.
