The Sword March

"The Sword March" is a Chinese patriotic song first sung in the Republic of China during

the Second Sino-Japanese War (World War II) after the Japanese invasion of 1937. It is also known
in Chinese by its first line, Dàdāo xiàng guǐzi de tóu shàng kǎn qù: "Our dadaos raised o'er the
devils' heads! Hack them off!"

History[edit]
Mai Xin wrote the song in 1937 specifically to honour the valour of the 29th Army [1] during the Marco
Polo Bridge Incident, where their standard weapons were only a rifle and a sword known in Chinese
as a dadao. Originally an agricultural tool, the long-hilted Dadao with its powerful chopping blade
was a favourite weapon of peasant militias. As this name literally means "big knife", the song was
also known as "The Big Sword March". Guizi—literally, "the hateful one(s)"—was a racial
epithet formerly used against the Western powers during the failed Boxer Rebellion; the anthem
helped popularise its use in reference to the Japanese, which remains current in modern China.
The lyrics were later changed to broaden its appeal from just the 29th to the "entire nation's" armed
forces.[1] This song became the de facto army marching cadence in the Chinese National
Revolutionary Army. The Chinese television series known in English as Chop! in fact used the
song's opening line as its title. It also appears in the films Lust, Caution and The Children of Huang
Shi.

National Revolutionary Army

The National Revolutionary Army (NRA; 國 民 革 命 軍 ), sometimes shortened to Revolutionary
Army ( 革 命 軍 ) before 1928, and as National Army ( 國 軍 ) after 1928, was the military arm of
the Kuomintang (KMT, or the Chinese Nationalist Party) from 1925 until 1947 in the Republic of
China. It also became the regular army of the ROC during the KMT's period of party rule beginning
in 1928. It was renamed the Republic of China Armed Forces after the 1947 Constitution, which
instituted civilian control of the military.
Originally organized with Soviet aid as a means for the KMT to unify China during the Warlord Era,
the National Revolutionary Army fought major engagements in the Northern Expedition against the
Chinese Beiyang Army warlords, in the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) against
the Imperial Japanese Army and in the Chinese Civil War against the People's Liberation Army.
During the Second Sino-Japanese War, the armed forces of the Communist Party of China were
nominally incorporated into the National Revolutionary Army (while retaining separate commands),
but broke away to form the People's Liberation Army shortly after the end of the war. With the
promulgation of the Constitution of the Republic of China in 1947 and the formal end of the KMT
party-state, the National Revolutionary Army was renamed the Republic of China Armed Forces,
with the bulk of its forces forming the Republic of China Army, which retreated to the island
of Taiwan in 1949.
History[edit]

Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, Commander-in-Chief of the National Revolutionary Army, emerged from the
Northern Expedition as the leader of China.

The NRA was founded by the KMT in 1925 as the military force destined to unite China in
the Northern Expedition. Organized with the help of the Comintern and guided under the doctrine of
the Three Principles of the People, the distinction among party, state and army was often blurred. A
large number of the Army's officers passed through the Whampoa Military Academy, and the first
commandant, Chiang Kai-shek, became commander-in-chief of the Army in 1925 before launching
the successful Northern Expedition. Other prominent commanders included Du Yuming and Chen
Cheng. The end of the Northern Expedition in 1928 is often taken as the date when China's Warlord
era ended, though smaller-scale warlord activity continued for years afterwards.

NRA troops against Sun Chuanfang's private army preparing to defend Shanghai.

National Revolutionary Army soldiers marched into the British concessions in Hankou during the Northern
Expedition.

In 1927, after the dissolution of the First United Front between the Nationalists and the Communists,
the ruling KMT purged its leftist members and largely eliminated Soviet influence from its ranks.
Chiang Kai-shek then turned to Germany, historically a great military power, for the reorganization
and modernization of the National Revolutionary Army. The Weimar Republic sent advisers to
China, but because of the restrictions imposed by the Treaty of Versailles they could not serve in
military capacities. Chiang initially requested famous generals such as Ludendorff and von
Mackensen as advisers; the Weimar Republic government turned him down, however, fearing that
they were too famous, would invite the ire of the Allies and that it would result in the loss of national
prestige for such renowned figures to work, essentially, as mercenaries.
When Adolf Hitler became Germany's chancellor in 1933 and disavowed the Treaty, the anti-
communist Nazi Party and the anti-communist KMT were soon engaged in close cooperation. with
Germany training Chinese troops and expanding Chinese infrastructure, while China opened its
markets and natural resources to Germany. Max Bauer was the first adviser to China.

The NRA during World War II

In 1934, Gen. Hans von Seeckt, acting as adviser to Chiang, proposed an "80 Division Plan" for
reforming the entire Chinese army into 80 divisions of highly trained, well-equipped troops organised
along German lines. The plan was never fully realised, as the eternally bickering warlords could not
agree upon which divisions were to be merged and disbanded. Furthermore, since embezzlement
and fraud were commonplace, especially in understrength divisions (the state of most of the
divisions), reforming the military structure would threaten divisional commanders' "take". Therefore,
by July 1937 only eight infantry divisions had completed reorganization and training. These were
the 3rd, 6th, 9th, 14th, 36th, 87th, 88th, and the Training Division.
Another German general, Alexander von Falkenhausen, came to China in 1934 to help reform the
army.[1] However, because of Nazi Germany's later cooperation with the Empire of Japan, he was
later recalled in 1937. After his goodbye party with Chiang Kai-shek's family, he promised not to
reveal his devised battle plans to the Japanese.

A Chinese propaganda poster depicting the National Revolutionary Army.

For a time, during the Second Sino-Japanese War, Communist forces fought as a nominal part of
the National Revolutionary Army, forming the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army units,
but this co-operation later fell apart. Throughout the Chinese Civil War the National Revolutionary
Army experienced major problems with desertion, with many soldiers switching sides to fight for the
Communists.
Troops in India and Burma during World War II included the Chinese Expeditionary Force (Burma),
the Chinese Army in India and Y Force.[2]
The US government repeatedly threatened to cut off aid to China during World War 2 unless they
handed over total command of all Chinese military forces to the US. After considerable stalling, the
arrangement only fell through due to a particularly insulting letter from the Americans to Chiang. [3]
After the drafting and implementation of the Constitution of the Republic of China in 1947, the
National Revolutionary Army was transformed into the ground service branch of the Republic of
China Armed Forces – the Republic of China Army (ROCA).