In summer 1937 however, the 36th Division was reorganised as a German-trained infantry division for the Battles of Shanghai and Nanking. In 1942 this division under Major General Li Chih-peng and sent into Burma as part of the Chinese Expeditionary Force to secure the Burma Road and rescue British forces. It played a pivotal part in the Chinese retreat from Burma and successfully blocked the Japanese 56th Division's advance in the Battle of Salween River in 1942.