Chapter 20 Section 7 "Oriental Rommel" legend

Sun Liren, a person with a unique personality, unconstrained speech and deeds, and full of westernized thoughts, is not used to this faction of the Kuomintang army, especially the domineering Whampoa faction, which makes him lonely and isolated in the Kuomintang official circles situation. Sun Liren, who succeeded the commander of the New First Army, had a life full of legends. Sun Liren was born in Shucheng, a famous town in central Anhui, in 1900.Father Xize, Guangxu Jiawu Imperial Examination, successively served as the prefect of Dengzhou, Denglaiqing Jiao Daotai, the head of the Shandong Judicial Department, etc., is an important civil servant of Duan Qirui's Anhui Department.He later engaged in education and served as the president of Zhonghua University in Peking.Shucheng is a cultural resort with elegant literary talents and shining brightly on the left of the Yangtze River. When he was young, Sun Liren was not interested in martial arts, but fantasized about being a construction engineer. Therefore, through hard work, he was admitted as an engineer with the first place in Anhui Province in 1914. Blue—Tsinghua Gengzi pays compensation to study in the United States for preparatory courses.The preparatory course lasted eight years, and Sun took a year off from school due to illness, so he stayed in Tsinghua for nine years in total.During his study at Tsinghua University, he loved sports and was good at basketball, which was not popular in China at that time. In 1921, the Fifth Far East Games was held in Hongkou Park in Shanghai. The Chinese basketball team first defeated the Philippine team, the basketball champion team of the previous four Far East Games, and then defeated the Japanese, the new overlord of East Asia, and won the championship of the Games. The champion, Sun Liren, who is 1.85 meters tall, was the defender of the Chinese team at that time.It is ridiculous to say that Sun Liren himself was tall, strong, and handsome. When he later selected officers in the army, he also used this as a criterion for promoting and appointing subordinates. Many short, ordinary-looking people lost their chances of promotion. Opportunity, so he gave birth to a stomach full of resentment.

After graduating from Tsinghua University, Sun Liren obtained the government-funded study abroad qualification and went to Princeton University in the United States to study civil engineering. One year later, he received a bachelor's degree in science.What is puzzling is that after that, Sun Liren gave up his favorite major, and changed his career to study military affairs, and entered the West Point Military Academy in Virginia to specialize in military command.Those who study science are equally serious about studying military affairs.In the past two years, he has mastered Western military theories and actual combat experience, especially the use of various weapons, vehicles, and tanks.Positional warfare and the idea that weapons determine everything became the fulcrum to support his combat theory, but I am afraid he never thought that the superiority of weapons did play a greater role in combating aggressors, but it did not gain much in dealing with revolutionary forces.This is a later story.

After Sun Liren completed his studies at West Point Military Academy in 1927, due to domestic political turmoil, he took a route to Western Europe to study military affairs in Britain, France, Germany and other countries, and returned to China by way of Japan two years later. After returning to China, Sun Liren first served as the deputy of the student brigade in the military training team of the Central Party Affairs School.Start applying what they have learned to train students.Soon, please transfer the army instructor and serve as captain and platoon leader.Because of his outstanding performance, he was soon promoted to the company commander of the junior colonel, the deputy of the battalion of the lieutenant colonel, and the commander of the battalion of the lieutenant colonel. In 1930, Sun was transferred to the Gendarmerie Corps as the first captain of the Colonel, and was then transferred to Chiang Kai-shek's Bodyguard Corps on the recommendation of a German adviser as the Colonel's Deputy Chief.But Sun was keen on leading troops to fight, and had little interest in the guards. This year, Song Ziwen, the president of the Central Bank and Minister of Finance, established the Tax Police Headquarters to supervise private responsibilities.Song Ziwen graduated from the Department of Economics of Harvard University, and treated people and things in a completely Western way. In this way, he responded with the same voice and sought the same spirit. This Western-style brother-in-law of the Jiang family soon focused his attention on Sun Liren. Served as the head of the 4th Regiment of the Tax Police Headquarters, stationed in Haizhou, Jiangsu.

This naturally aroused the suspicion and dissatisfaction of the generals of other factions in the Kuomintang.The Kuomintang’s army has factions such as the Baoding faction, the Japanese non-commissioned officer department, the Central Official Academy department, and the Huangpu faction. Take the Huangpu faction, a student of the Jiang family, as an example. "Colonel Commander", even though Sun Liren has great abilities, he has been back for less than a year!Besides, anti-smuggling is a lucrative job, and everyone wants to get it. Now it has easily fallen into the hands of Sun Liren, who has no party or affiliation. Can others not be jealous?What's more, the tax police team is run by the God of Wealth. Needless to say, the equipment and treatment, and living in a busy city, you don't have to suffer from the hardships of eating and camping, let alone risking your life on the battlefield.

He Sun Liren got it, and Sun Liren has become the enemy of all enemies since then! As for Sun Liren, this person with a unique personality, informal words and deeds, and a mind full of Westernized thoughts is even more displeased with this faction of the Kuomintang army, especially the domineering Whampoa faction. The lonely and isolated situation.He is close to the United States, and he has established unusual relationships with alumni who became famous Western generals during World War II, such as Eisenhower, Marshall, MacArthur, Stilwell, etc. With him, who was sought after in the West, the "Sun Liren Incident" broke out after he came to Taiwan. Sun Liren was dismissed from the military and placed under house arrest. This is the result of a combination of these factors.

Of course, Sun Liren stepped into his later position more by virtue of his military exploits. During the Battle of Songhu in 1937, Chiang Kai-shek sent almost all of his elite to the Shanghai battlefield, including the Tax Police Corps.In the Battle of Wenzaobang, Sun Liren took the lead and fought the enemy. He was wounded in 13 places and his life was in danger. Fortunately, a team of former students donated blood to save him from the danger and transferred to Hong Kong for treatment. After returning from injury in Hong Kong, the tax police regiment was expanded several times and changed its name. In November 1941, it was officially renamed the 38th Division of the National Revolutionary Army.

The British played military music, fired 10 guns, and respectfully welcomed the new 38th Division into India When the expeditionary force was established, the newly formed 38th Division was incorporated into the Zhang Zhen Department of the 66th Army.What really brought Sun Liren to the fore and became famous was the Battle of Ren'an and Qiang that took place shortly after entering Burma; later, due to the chaotic command of the expeditionary force, Sun Liren's troops and most of the expeditionary force had to retreat westward and northward in separate ways. The 200th Division of the Chinese Army and other damaged troops will return to the motherland, while the new 38th Division will be completely withdrawn to India.It is evocative that when Sun Liren led his troops to the Indian border, the British and Indian border guards actually asked the new 38th Division to disarm and enter India as refugees.Not long ago, they saved their lives, and now they are ungrateful, turning their faces and denying others, Sun Liren's anger can be imagined!

"Strengthen vigilance and prepare to fight!" Sun Liren issued a combat order, and the British and Indian troops suddenly became tense! The commander of the 1st Division of the British Army who happened to be rescued by the New 38th Division in Ren'anqiang was hospitalized there for treatment. After hearing about this incident, the commander immediately warned his compatriots: "This is a Chinese soldier who can fight. Take a look!" The British generals came to the camp of the new 38th Division suspiciously, while Sun Liren greeted them with a posture: In front of the barracks, a guard of honor composed of 200 strong soldiers stood like two walls. On the road, the military uniforms were torn but clean and tidy, the firearms were poor but polished, and the 2 mortars and 4 heavy machine guns in front of the queue looked at the British majesticly with their mouths open!The British generals were amazed: the British officers and soldiers they had seen routed from Burma, not to mention guns, even their clothes and pants were thrown on the way to escape. Bring all the mortars and heavy machine guns over!

"How did you carry all these back?" A British general asked puzzledly, pointing to the mortar. "Weapons are our life, where there are people, there are weapons!" The Chinese soldier replied with his chest out. The British were completely convinced at once: weapons are their lives. If you want him to disarm and put down his weapons, will they agree? As a result, the attitude of the British changed drastically. On the second day, they played military music and fired 10 cannons to welcome the new 38th Division into India respectfully! "The Times" specially published an article praising this: "From the first Burma campaign, the 38th Division and its talented division commander came into being and established their reputation. In addition to the battle of Ren'anqiang, the brave and capable Sun Liren Another remarkable achievement was leading the 38th Division across Qingling as a full combat unit without any compromise in discipline and morale."Rommel was Hitler's famous general. He made the Allies suffer a lot on the North African battlefield. He was good at using weapons and equipment to fight quickly. Rommel" was given to Sun Liren.

With such a record, coupled with the appreciation of the Allied forces, it was a matter of course for Sun Liren to serve as the commander of the New 1st Army.Judging from the military history of the Kuomintang, Sun Liren's promotion speed is astonishing, even in the Whampoa faction, it is rare.It took Sun 14 years from returning from studying abroad to serve as platoon leader to army commander, which is exactly the same time as Hu Zongnan, the No. 1 seed in the Whampoa Department, was the army commander!