Peng Dehuai - Citizendia

Peng Dehuai

Peng Dehuai (T. Chinese: 彭德懷, S. Chinese: 彭德怀, Pinyin: Péng Déhuái, Wade-Giles: P'eng Te-huai) (October 24, 1898 - November 29, 1974) was a prominent Communist Party of China military leader. Pinyin, more formally Hanyu pinyin, is the most common Standard Mandarin Romanization system in use Wade-Giles (ˌweɪdˈʤaɪlz) sometimes abbreviated Wade, is a Romanization system (phonetic notation and Transcription) for the Mandarin Events 69 - Second Battle of Bedriacum, forces under Antonius Primus the commander of the Danube armies loyal to Vespasian, defeat Year 1898 ( MDCCCXCVIII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Events 1777 - San Jose California, is founded as el Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe Year 1974 ( MCMLXXIV) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the 1974 Gregorian calendar. The Communist Party of China ( CPC) ( also known as the Chinese Communist Party ( CCP) is the founding and ruling political party of the

1 Early life
2 Red Army Commander
3 1937 to 1953
4 Fall From Power
5 Persecution, Death and Exoneration
6 See also
7 Notes
8 Further reading

Early life

Peng Dehuai was born in 1898 in Xiangtan County of Hunan Province. ( is a province of China, located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and south of Lake Dongting (hence the name Hunan, meaning He was a rough-hewn man from very humble beginnings. Peng was exiled from his family home at the age of nine. Before joining the army at sixteen, he had worked in coal mines at the age of thirteen and at dams of the Lake Dongting at the age of fifteen. Coal mining is the extraction or removal of Coal from the Earth by Mining. A dam is a barrier that divides waters. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water while other structures such as Floodgates, Levees Lake Dongting, or Dongting Lake ( is a large shallow Lake in northeastern Hunan Province of China. He attended the Hunan Military Academy and served as a Nationalist Officer. Until 1916, he was a day laborer and then a soldier in a Warlord Army for $5. 50 a month. He soldiered the rest of his life, some 60 years.

Red Army Commander

By the age of twenty-eight, he was a brigade-commander in the Kuomintang Army and had begun a flirtation with radical politics. Peng was forced to flee Chiang Kai-shek's purge in 1927 and joined the Communist Party of China, participating in the Long March. Chiang Kai-shek ( POJ: Chiúⁿ Kài-se̍k Jyutping: zoeng2gaai3sek6 GCB ( October 31, 1887 &ndash The Long March ( was a massive Military retreat undertaken by the Red Armies of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP the forerunner of the People's Liberation He commanded the Third Army during the Long March.

His contributions to the CPC were highly praised and earned him the nickname "Great General Peng" (彭大将军). As a poem by Mao Zedong in remembrance of Peng's contributions in the Long March put it,

"[In] High mountains, dangerous roads, deep pits,

Troops ride lengthwise and crosswise,

Who dares to [put the] glaive crosswise and draw the horse to a stop?

Only our [or my, depending on different interpretations] Great General Peng!"

山高路遠溝深

大軍縱橫馳奔

誰敢橫刀立馬

唯我彭大將軍

Peng Dehuai and Lin Biao were generally reckoned to be the Red Army's best battlefield commanders. Mao Zedong ( 26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976) was a Chinese Military and political leader who led A glaive is a Polearm consisting of a single-edged Blade on the end of a pole. Lin Biao ( born as Lin Yurong ( December 5, 1907 ?[[September 13]] 1971) was a Chinese Communist military leader They do not seem to have been rivals during the Long March. Both of them had supported Mao's rise to de facto leadership at Zunyi in January 1934. According to Harrison E. Salisbury's The Long March, by May 1935 Lin Biao was dissatisfied with Mao's strategy. He says of Mao's circlings to evade the armies of Chiang Kai-shek:

"the campaign had begun to look like one of Walt Disney's early cartoons in which Mickey Mouse again and again escaped the clutches of the huge, stupid cat. Chiang Kai-shek ( POJ: Chiúⁿ Kài-se̍k Jyutping: zoeng2gaai3sek6 GCB ( October 31, 1887 &ndash " (Page 188, chapter 18. )

But according to Salisbury, Lin Biao in May 1934 tried to persuade Mao to turn over active command to Peng Dehuai.

"A tough Red Army commander who looked a little like a bulldog and fought like one, Peng was a rough-hewn man with strong back and shoulders, from years of early labour. . . Peng got his first revolutionary spark from a great-uncle who fought with the Taipings in the rebellion of the 1850s. Then, said the uncle, the Taipings found food for everyone, the women unbound their feet, and the land was shared among the tillers. . .

"All his life Peng spoke frankly, bluntly, and he wrote in plain, vigorous Chinese, often at great length so that no one might doubt his meaning.

"The contrast between Mao's top field commanders [Peng and Lin Biao] could hardly have been more sharp, but on the Long March they worked well together, Lin specializing in feints, masked strategy, surprises, ambushes, flank attacks, pounces from the rear, and stratagems. The Long March ( was a massive Military retreat undertaken by the Red Armies of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP the forerunner of the People's Liberation Peng met the enemy head-on in frontal assaults and fought with such fury that again and again he wiped them out. Peng did not believe a battle well fought unless he managed to replenish--and more than replenish--any losses by seizure of enemy guns and converting prisoners of war to new and loyal recruits to the Red Army. " (Ibid. , pages 191-192)

Edgar Snow in Red Star Over China has much more to say about Peng than Lin, evidently having long conversations and giving Peng two whole chapters, more than any individual apart from Mao. Red Star Over China, a book by Edgar Snow, is an account of the Communist Party of China written when they were a guerrilla army still obscure

1937 to 1953

During World War II, Peng served as deputy commander-in-chief of the Communist forces and coordinated the Hundred Regiments Campaign. The Second Sino-Japanese War ( July 7, 1937 to September 9, 1945) was a major war fought between the Republic of China and the The Hundred Regiments Offensive (百团大战 ( August 20 – December 5, 1940) was a major campaign of the Communist Party of China 's Peng went on to serve with distinction behind Japanese lines in North China. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. After the Japanese surrender, Peng and He Long were cutting Beijing's Nationalist Kuomintang connections with the rest of China and effectively surrounded Beijing. Thereafter, during the late stages of the Chinese Civil War he led the Chinese 1st Field Army in its conquest of Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia, and Qinghai provinces. ( Postal map spelling: Shensi) is a north-central province of the People's Republic of China, and includes portions of the Loess ( is a province located in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. Ningxia ( Postal map spelling: Ningsia full name Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region ( is a Hui autonomous region of the People's Republic (青海 qīnghǎi is a province of the People's Republic of China, named after Qinghai Lake.

He was the supreme commander of the People's Volunteer Army during the Korean War (1950-1953), also serving as the Defense Minister and as a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of China. The Chinese People's Volunteer Army (PVA ( was the Army deployed by the Chinese government during the Korean War. The Korean War refers to a period of military conflict between North Korean and South Korean regimes with major hostilities lasting from June 25 1950 until the The Ministry of National Defense ( MND) (中国国防部 of the People's Republic of China is a ministry under the State Council. The Politburo of the Communist Party of China ( Chinese: 中国共产党中央政治局 Pinyin: Zhōngguó Gòngchǎndǎng Zhōngyāng Zhèngzhìjú (also "Political He was made a marshal of the People's Liberation Army in 1955. Marshal (also sometimes spelled marshall in American English, but not in British English) is a word used in several official titles of various branches The People's Liberation Army ( PLA) ( is the unified Military organization of all land sea and air forces of the People's Republic of China. However, his treatment of returning Chinese POW's from the Korean war was heavily criticized later. Strategic mistakes that led to the American capture of one Chinese division (the 180th Division) also led to disfavor in the party. History The 180th Division was a military formation of the People's Volunteer Army (Chinese People's Volunteers (CPV or Chinese Communist Forces (CCF during He was to have many military clashes with Marshal Lin Biao and won most of them.

Fall From Power

In June 1959, he tried to tell Chairman Mao at the Lushan Conference that the Great Leap Forward was a dramatic mistake. The Lushan Conference ( officially the 8th Plenum of the Eighth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, began on July 23, 1959 and The Great Leap Forward ( of the People's Republic of China (PRC was an economic and social plan used from 1958 to 1960 which aimed to use China 's vast population This statement would later cost him his life during the Cultural Revolution. Neither Mao nor Peng wanted a split but once Mao initiated the break with Peng, the whole Politburo and the Central Committee were bound to support Mao. They all quarreled with Peng, with Lin Biao the leader.

He was disgraced in 1959, in part because of his criticisms of Mao Zedong's Great Leap Forward that went beyond what Mao considered legitimate. The year 1959 ( MCMLIX) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Mao Zedong ( 26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976) was a Chinese Military and political leader who led Mao accepted that there had been mistakes, including the 'backyard furnaces', but still saw the process as generally positive. Mao had even suggested that Peng write a criticism - whether this was a trap or whether Peng went too far is moot. Definitely, Mao started treating him as an enemy. As a consequence, he was removed from all posts and placed under constant supervision and house arrest in Chengdu, Sichuan; Lin Biao took over the post of Minister of Defense. In Justice and Law, house arrest (also called home confinement, home detention, or electronic monitoring) is a measure by which ( located in southwest People's Republic of China, is the capital of Sichuan province and a Sub-provincial city. ( Postal map spelling: Szechwan and Szechuan) is a province in western China with its capital in Chengdu. Lin Biao ( born as Lin Yurong ( December 5, 1907 ?[[September 13]] 1971) was a Chinese Communist military leader Peng was eventually exiled, and shunned for the next 16 years of house arrest.

There were other major issues in the 1959 dispute. Peng had made the army more professional and less political, changes reversed when Lin Biao replaced him. Lin Biao ( born as Lin Yurong ( December 5, 1907 ?[[September 13]] 1971) was a Chinese Communist military leader He had also shown signs of not liking the break with Moscow. Mao in 1959 was in too weak a position to have removed Peng if others had not also been suspicious.

He may also have been blamed for the unsuccessful confrontation over Taiwan the previous year:

"On Sept. 17 [1959] Peking announced that Marshal Lin Piao had succeeded Marshal Peng Teh-huai as defence minister…

Marshal Lin Piao was commander-in-chief of the People’s Liberation Army which conquered the whole of mainland China in 1948-49, but owing to a breakdown of health he was inactive for many years. His return to health and to official activity was indicated when, in 1958, he was appointed a member of the Politburo. Marshal Peng, whose fame was not enhanced by the failure of the Quemoy operation in 1958, remained a deputy prime minister. " (Britannica Book of the year 1960).

Persecution, Death and Exoneration

He was arrested in 1966 during the Cultural Revolution and put in the hands of violent Red Guard torturers, beaten 130 times ^[1]until his internal organs were crushed and his back splintered. The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution in the People’s Republic of China was a struggle for power within the Communist Party of China that manifested into Red Guards ( were a mass movement of civilians mostly students and other young people in the People's Republic of China, who were mobilized During interrogations he shouted denials to the Red Guards who beat him, and it is reputed that he pounded the table so hard the cell walls shook. He died November 29, 1974, still loyal to his own version of communist ideals, which diverged radically from those of Mao.

The Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, held in 1978, reexamined Marshal Peng's case and reversed the judgment that had been imposed on him. The Communist Party of China ( CPC) ( also known as the Chinese Communist Party ( CCP) is the founding and ruling political party of the It exonerated him of all charges and reaffirmed his contributions to the Chinese Revolution. 'For the full story of the war that led to the Communist seizure of power on Mainland China, see Chinese Civil War.

Notes

^ The Cleveland of Asia: A Journey Through China's Rust Belt by P.J.O'Rourke

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