In August 1937, the Battle of Songhu broke out, and Liu Xiang, Li Zongren and other local powerful factions sent troops to participate. At the same time, Chiang Kai-shek ordered the 87th and 88th Divisions of the National Revolutionary Army to be stationed in Shanghai. On August 12, Wang Jingjiu and Sun Yuanliang led their troops to Hongqiao, Shanghai, and formed a confrontation with the Japanese army. A day later, the battle officially began. At that time, the Japanese army was well-equipped and had heavy weapons such as aircraft carriers and infantry guns. The National Revolutionary Army held a Mauser gun and engaged in a fierce battle with the Japanese army.
On August 19, the Japanese army attacked Luodian, and Sun Yuanliang was ordered to reinforce Huang Wei, who was defending Luodian. Sun Yuanliang and Huang Wei were both graduates of the first phase of the Whampoa Military Academy, and successively participated in the Northern Expedition and the Central Plains War. In the face of the fierce and abnormal attack of the Japanese army, Sun Yuanliang and Huang Wei led the soldiers to fight bloodily. According to the recollections of the parties concerned, the battle for Luodian was extremely fierce, and the Kuomintang troops faced the Japanese army's machine gun and artillery shell attacks, and suffered very serious casualties. On August 28, the Kuomintang army was forced to evacuate Luodian at a cost of tens of thousands of casualties. Huang Wei retreated to Kunshan to rest, and Sun Yuanliang stayed in Shanghai to defend the Sixing warehouse.
At this time, the main forces of the Kuomintang retreated to Suzhou and Wuxi, and the Kuomintang defenders in Shanghai had only one regiment of Sun Yuanliang. The fighters, under the leadership of the regiment commander Xie Jinyuan, repelled many Japanese attacks. Sun Yuanliang provided firepower support for Xie Jinyuan and was known as a famous anti-Japanese general. On November 13, after completing their mission, the defenders of the Sixing Warehouse retreated to the Public Concession. Sun Yuanliang retreated to Nanjing with the remaining brothers.
On December 1, the Japanese army attacked Nanjing, Bauhinia Mountain, and Qixia Mountain, and rumbling artillery sounded. Sun Yuanliang was responsible for defending the Zhonghua Gate and fought fiercely with the Japanese army for several days, and his subordinates suffered casualties. Sun Yuanliang was afraid of being captured by the Japanese army, so he hid in a brothel and commanded the battle. Not only that, Sun Yuanliang didn't want to die when he saw a woman at night, and he had a hot fight with the woman in the Qinglou every night. On December 13, Nanjing fell, and Sun Yuanliang escaped from the Japanese encirclement by crossing the Qinhuai River at night with the help of prostitutes.
After several days of marching, Sun Yuanliang arrived in Wuhan and met Chiang Kai-shek. The 88th Division was completely annihilated, and Chiang Kai-shek was furious and ordered Sun Yuanliang to be imprisoned. Gu Zhutong and Zhang Zhizhong came forward to bail Sun Yuanliang, and Chiang Kai-shek allowed him to go to the United States for investigation. In 1943, Sun Yuanliang returned to China and served as the commander of the 29th Army, leading his troops to participate in the battle in southeastern Guizhou. Sun Yuanliang did not change his old habits, he fought hard with the Japanese army during the day, and he didn't want to die when he saw a woman at night.
After the end of the Anti-Japanese War, Sun Yuanliang was elected as a famous anti-Japanese general and was promoted to the commander of the corps. In 1948, the Huaihai Campaign broke out, and Sun Yuanliang's troops were completely annihilated at Chenguanzhuang and Qinglongji. He put on makeup and fled to Taiwan, where he retired from the military. In his later years, Sun Yuanliang lived in Taipei, entertaining himself by reading books and planting flowers. In 2007, Sun Yuanliang died in Taipei at the age of 103. Throughout Sun Yuanliang's life, we can sum it up in one sentence. He is a famous anti-Japanese general, fighting the Japanese army during the day, and dying when he sees a woman at night.