Those who are familiar with China's modern history must be aware of the fact that Chiang Kai-shek was defeated and retreated to Taiwan. But you must know that Chiang Kai-shek's retreat to Taiwan not only took away his family members, but also took away a large number of Kuomintang generals.
Sun Yuanliang As a general under Chiang Kai-shek, he is not famous for his outstanding military exploits, but for his repeated "escapes", which is really embarrassing.
It is worth mentioning that Sun Yuanliang, who retreated to Taiwan with Chiang Kai-shek, later turned to business. Not only did he live to the age of 103, he also had a famous movie star son - Qinhan.
Qin and Han
Sun Yuanliang's origin determined that he was destined to be smoother than the average person in that era. His father was Sun Tingrong. At that time, Sun Tingrong was still serving as a county magistrate in the Qing government. In his early years, the Sun family was well off.
Sun Yuanliang can be regarded as Sun Tingrong's old son. Sun's father has always doted on him. Although the Sun family's money was looted due to the patrol rebellion in the year of 1911, Sun Tingrong never failed to cultivate Sun Yuanliang.
In 1922, Sun Yuanliang was admitted to the affiliated middle school of Nanjing Normal University to continue his studies. Sun Yuanliang can be regarded as a lucky man of that era. The reason why he said this is because the person who served as his teacher at that time was the famous Li Dazhao.
At that time, Mr. Li Dazhao had a profound influence on the Chinese revolution. Facing this young man who, like him, had a sincere heart to serve the country, he was willing to support him.
Li Dazhao
Sun Yuanliang took Li Dazhao's recommendation letter and successfully entered the Huangpu Military Academy, becoming the first batch of "reserve troops" prepared for the revolution. Sun Yuanliang not only faced heavy military training at Huangpu Military Academy, but also learned theoretical knowledge.
After his long-term efforts, he soon attracted the attention of Chiang Kai-shek with his excellent results. At that time, the Whampoa Military Academy sent batch after batch of high-quality talents for the Chinese revolution. Sun Yuanliang's excellence made him highly valued by the Kuomintang headed by Chiang Kai-shek.
Why is such an ambitious young man called the "escape general"?
Sun Yuanliang is considered to be "expert at escaping from battle". His several escapes earned him the nickname "Flying General"...
Sun Yuanliang
During the Northern Expedition , , Nanchang City fell, Sun Chuanfang's troops came fiercely, and Sun Yuanliang's troops were attacked by the enemy. The situation was instantly reversed. The originally dominant Kuomintang army lost because of Sun Yuanliang's momentary laxity.
At this time, Sun Yuanliang did not turn the tide, but instead ran away with a bundle of baggage. This move left the troops leaderless and could not find a decision-making general for a while, which indirectly led to the defeat of the war.
The Kuomintang at that time thought that Sun Yuanliang died on the battlefield, but they did not expect that he had escaped long ago to save his life. Such an approach shocked the teachers and students of the entire Whampoa Military Academy. No one could imagine that an aspiring young man who wanted to serve the motherland was actually a person who was "greedy for life and afraid of death"!
Therefore, Chiang Kai-shek had to remove Sun Yuanliang from his military post due to public opinion, but because of his cherished talent, he allowed Sun Yuanliang to study in Japan and temporarily avoid the limelight.
Never thought that Sun Yuanliang, who had returned from his studies, would once again write his own dark history.
As soon as Sun Yuanliang returned to China, he was reused by Chiang Kai-shek and served as a senior official within the Nationalist Party. In 1932, the Battle of Songhu broke out. In order to resist the Japanese offensive, Chiang Kai-shek once again reused Sun Yuanliang and appointed him as the commander of the Young Brigade to participate in this battle.
At that time, Chiang Kai-shek sent Sun Yuanliang's 88 Division to garrison Shanghai. In order to occupy the strategic commanding heights, Japan gathered a large number of troops to attack Shanghai.
Anti-Japanese general Chen Cheng Seeing the huge gap in strength between the two armies, he called Chiang Kai-shek to request support. Unexpectedly, Sun Yuanliang and part of his main force retreated quietly, which led to the fall of Shanghai at that time.
Chen Cheng was furious when he saw this decline and rebuked Sun Yuanliang for his "cowardice".
Chen Cheng
Sun Yuanliang's "escape" behavior once again angered the world, although there were rumors that Sun Yuanliang secretly retreated because he was prompted by Chiang Kai-shek.
The reason why Chiang Kai-shek acquiesced in his "escape" behavior was because Chiang Kai-shek was just showing off to the world and did not want to waste his troops on a battle that was bound to be lost.
But no matter what the facts were, Sun Yuanliang still became the "escape general" again.
The ancients said: "There are only three things that can be done." Unexpectedly, Sun Yuanliang once again staged an "escape" behavior during the Battle of Nanjing.
At that time, Sun Yuanliang led his troops to occupy the commanding heights of Yuhuatai and the south of the city. Facing the fierce attack by the Japanese army, three days later, Tang Shengzhi, the commander of the garrison, issued an order to retreat, but at this time Sun Yuanliang was already ready to escape.
Tang Shengzhi
Before the Kuomintang's internal defense line was defeated, he led his troops to leave! Precisely because of the retreat of the main force of the Kuomintang, Nanjing became an everlasting pain in Chinese history. The Japanese invaders carried out a brutal and inhumane massacre in Nanjing.
Nanjing became a purgatory, the war spread here, every inch of the land here was stained with blood, and the Japanese invaders even conducted a so-called "massacre contest" here...
This time the Kuomintang's "escape" behavior taught China a painful lesson!
The Nanjing Massacre caused Chiang Kai-shek to dismiss Tang Shengzhi and Sun Yuanliang for investigation. However, after Chiang Kai-shek calmed down, he re-appointed Sun Yuanliang as the commander of the 29th Army.
In 1944, when Sun Yuanliang was stationed in Guizhou, he encountered a sneak attack by the Japanese invaders. He fought with them for a day and a night and won a great victory! But during the Xuzhou Defense War, Sun Yuanliang once again committed "escapeism".
Sun Yuanliang
In 1948, Sun Yuanliang went to Xuzhou for appointment. His subordinate Huang Baitao and his men were all annihilated by the Communist Party. Seeing that the situation was not good, Sun Yuanliang ordered the troops to retreat.
However, during the retreat, he was surrounded by ambushed Communists and the entire army was wiped out. Sun Yuanliang managed to escape under the cover of several subordinates. It was this escape that caused Sun Yuanliang to be "left out" by Chiang Kai-shek.
China ushered in the dawn of victory under the leadership of the Communist Party, but the Kuomintang could only follow Chiang Kai-shek to retreat to Taiwan. Sun Yuanliang, who went to Taiwan with him, saw that the revolution was hopeless, so he decided to abandon politics and engage in business and became a businessman.
In fact, Sun Yuanliang was not without any achievements. On the contrary, when he served as the deputy commander-in-chief of the 28th Group Army of the Kuomintang, he commanded his subordinates to fight and repelled repeated Japanese invasions.
In 1945, Sun Yuanliang led the 29th Army to defeat the Japanese army in the Yongfu area and Yishan, opening up the way forward for the victory of the Anti-Japanese War.
Sun Yuanliang
People have two sides, and so does Sun Yuanliang. He was a "running general", but he did contribute to China's anti-Japanese war. Eighty-one-year-old Sun Yuanliang appeared in front of the public again because Japan refused to admit the crimes committed in Nanjing. At this time, the elderly Sun Yuanliang wrote down the evidence of the Japanese army's crimes in his own hand.
Qin Han, the famous movie star who has appeared in many works such as " Misty Rain " and " On the Water Side ", is the son of Sun Yuanliang.
Qin Han recalled: "My father himself was not aggressive...he was just a respectful person in the fight against Japanese aggression.."
Sun Yuanliang's merits and demerits can only be judged based on history. Regardless of whether his "escape behavior" had hidden motives, it can only be said that merits and demerits only depend on the people's hearts!
Reference:
[1] Quan Xingguo. "Escaped General" - Sun Yuanliang, the father of the movie star Qin and Han Dynasties[J]. Legal Expo (Lectures of Famous Experts, Classic Essays), 2010(22):3.
[2] Sima Zhengxiang. The father-son relationship between the famous anti-Japanese general Sun Yuanliang and the movie star Qin and Han Dynasty[J]. People's Life, 2009(2):2.
[3] Cheng Xiao. The strategies of China and Japan in the early days of the Anti-Japanese War and the Battle of Songhu[J]. Research on the History of the Communist Party of China, 1995(6):5.
