Guo Songling

Who was Guo Songling?

Guo Songling was a Manchurian general who led a three month rebellion against his commanding warlord - Zhang Zuolin.

Rising from obscure origins, Guo Songling enlisted in Zhang Zuolin's Fengtian clique as a division commander in 1920. After nearly five years of service, Guo served with distinction as commander of the Fengtian 6th Brigade. However, his personality caused problems: during the Second Zhili-Fengtian War a personal grievance over a friend's removal from command caused him to retreat and nearly cost his army the war. A sense that he was being under-appreciated, along with gradual encouragement by Guominjun rival Feng Yuxiang to help put Zhang's more liberal son on the Manchurian throne, led to his mutiny in mid-1925. Marching his division north towards Zhang's headquarters at Shenyang on 22 November, Guo met success in the early weeks of the offensive. However, when the city's Japanese garrison interfered in defence of Zhang and neither the expected popular support or assistance of the Guominjun appeared, his rebellion stalled. Within the month his forces were surrounded by the Fengtian Army and annihilated. Guo and his wife were captured on 24 December 1925, and executed the next day.