Nationalist Chinese (Kuomintang) general called the “Rommel of the East”
Born in Anhui Province, Sun Li-jen studied civil engineering at Tsinghua University in 1920 then completed his senior year at Purdue University, Indiana, graduating in 1925. While he was in the United States, Sun Li-jen decided he could best serve his country not as an engineer but as a military officer; for at this time, China, torn by civil war, seemed about to be overrun by both the Soviets and the Japanese. Lying about his age—so as to be eligible for admission as a cadet—he enrolled at Virginia Military Institute and graduated in 1927. He then returned to China and joined Chiang Kai-shek (Jiang Jieshi) and the Nationalist Army in its Northern Expedition against the warlord generals of the Beiyang Army. Sun rapidly rose through the ranks as a field commander and became one of Chiang’s top lieutenants.
During World War II, Sun commanded the New 38th Division in Burma. Although he was unable to prevent the Japanese from severing the Burma Road, his outstanding leadership earned the attention and praise of British general William Slim, who incorporated Sun and his 38th Division into X Force, the Chinese forces under the command of U.S. general Joseph Stilwell. Stilwell put Sun in the vanguard of his 1943 drive to retake North Burma and open an alternative land route into China via the Ledo Road.
Sun ended the war in command of the New First Army, which was considered the best Chinese force employed against the Japanese. It is generally credited with more victories against Japanese forces than any other Chinese unit.
In August 1955, Sun was arrested and charged with attempting a coup d’état against Chiang Kaishek in Taiwan. He spent the next 33 years under house arrest, but was exonerated on March 20, 1988.
Further reading: Fong, Nina. Burma War and General Sun Li-jen. Taipei, Taiwan: Tai Yuan, 1965.
