Sun Li-jen

Sun Li-jen (December 8, 1900November 19, 1990) was a Chinese Nationalist (KMT) general, a graduate of Virginia Military Institute in the United States, best known for his leadership in the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Chinese Civil War.

His military achievements earned him the laudatory nickname "Rommel of the East".

In the same year (1919) he married Gong Xitao (龔夕濤) and was admitted in 1920 to Tsinghua University to study civil engineering.

Sun played basketball at Tsinghua, becoming a star.

He led the Chinese team to a gold medal at the 1921 Far Eastern Championship Games.

With a Boxer Indemnity Scholarship, he transferred to Purdue University in the United States to complete his senior year in 1923, where he graduated in 1924.

He briefly interned at Chicago Bridge & Iron Company in Chicago, Illinois.

But patriotism motivated him to change career and pursue a military studies instead.

China was in the middle of a nationalist drive to unite the divided country and to protect the nation against imperialists.

Sun decided that he could better serve his divided nation as a soldier rather than an engineer.

He applied to the Virginia Military Institute.

He graduated from VMI class of 1927.

In 1927 Sun toured Europe and Japan to see the latest military organization and strategic thinking, then returned to China and became a corporal in the National Revolutionary Army and the Central Political Institute.

He was then given command of the National Salt Gabelle Brigade, organized by Finance Minister T. V. Soong, which he made the KMT's best trained and equipped troops.

His New First Army was known as the "Best Army under heaven" and credited with effectively confronting Japanese troops in the 1937 Battle of Shanghai and in the Burma Campaign, 1943–1944.

Perhaps because of his foreign military training, he did not have the full confidence of Chiang Kai-shek.

Sun led his troops fighting the Japanese during the Battle of Shanghai in 1937 and was badly wounded by mine fragments.

After recovering, Sun returned to lead his troops at the front.

Four of the regiments later became the New 38th Division.

His training center was located in Duyun, in Guizhou province.

After two years training, Sun's New 38th Division was sent by Chiang Kai-shek into Burma to protect the Burma Road under General Zhang Zhen, commander of the 66th Army, together with General Du Yuming (5th Army) and General Gan Lichu (6th Army) as part of the Chinese Expeditionary Force.

Early in 1943, after the successful retreat into India, Sun's division was incorporated in the New First Army, and became a part of 'X Force', the Chinese force under the command of Joseph Stilwell, the American commander of all American and Chinese troops in the "China Burma India Theater".

The battle discipline of Sun's divisions reaffirmed Stilwell's respect for the Chinese soldier.

His troops spearheaded the Burma Campaign, Stilwell's 1943 drive to reconquer North Burma and re-establish the land route to China by the Ledo Road.

General Stilwell considered Sun the most capable Chinese field commander in the entire war.

In 1945, at the invitation of American General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Sun toured the battlefields of Europe.

He returned to China to lead the New First Army to Canton to accept the Japanese surrender.

The end of the war with Japan did not bring peace to China.

Sun's New First Army was deployed to Manchuria, where the Soviet armies left the Communist forces in control of strategic areas and the Nationalists could find support only by enlisting local bandits and surrendered Japanese troops.

Sun was relieved of battle command in the Chinese Civil War in 1946, and although he was made Commander in Chief in 1950 after the retreat of the Nationalist central government to Taiwan, he was given only ceremonial roles.

On May 20, 1946, Sun's troops defeated the People's Liberation Army to take a key railroad junction in the Battle of Siping, but only after a month of fighting.

He was charged with conspiracy in 1955 and spent his last thirty years under virtual house arrest.

He was also known as Sun Chung-neng (孫仲能, Sūn Zhòngnéng; "Chung-neng" being his art name) and had the courtesy name Fu-min (撫民, Fǔmín).

Sun Li-jen was born in Jinnu, Lujiang, Chaohu, Anhui, with ancestry in Shucheng County.

During the May Fourth Movement, he was part of the Scouts in the march at Tiananmen Square.

Sun led the 113th Regiment as part of the 38th Division through difficult terrain to relieve 7,000 British forces trapped by the numerically superior Japanese in the Battle of Yenangyaung.

His command included British artillery and 7th Armoured Brigade (United Kingdom) tanks temporarily placed under his command by General Slim.

For his gallantry at Yenangyaung, Sun was honoured by King George VI with the Commander of the British Empire medal.

Although unable to stop the Japanese from cutting the Burma Road, Sun gained the respect of General William Slim, the commander of the British 14th Army.

Sun and his division retreated into India, while those of Du, against Sun's advice, retreated back into China and were badly mauled both by nature and by the Japanese.