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Dehuey PenChinese political and military leader
Country:
 China |
Biography of Dehuai Peng
Dehuai Peng (1898-1974) was a Chinese political and military leader. He was born in Xiantan County, Hunan Province. His military career reflected the history of the Chinese revolutionary movement and the wars that took place in his homeland. Peng joined the Chinese revolutionary movement at a young age and focused on self-education, particularly in the history of military art. With excellent organizational skills and knowledge of military affairs, he quickly rose to commanding positions in the revolutionary forces, which mainly consisted of illiterate peasant-poor.
During the Northern Expedition in 1926-1927, Peng commanded a regiment. As a supporter of left-wing forces, he joined the Communist Party of China in 1928. That same year, Peng was appointed commander of the 5th Army Corps, the first unit of the Chinese Red Army, and in 1930, he became the commander of the 3rd Army Group. Peng's leadership talent was revealed at the beginning of the Chinese Civil War.
In the Chinese Red Army's campaign to the north, Peng led the vanguard of the 1st Front, commanded by Zhu De. Along with the army's troops, the column of government institutions and the CCP Central Committee moved forward. By December 1934, they had broken through four lines of Kuomintang fortifications, crossed several major rivers, and overcome several mountain ranges. However, they were unable to establish a new Soviet district south of the Yangtze River due to strong enemy pressure. When the Red Army reached the city of Zunyi in Guizhou Province, only 35,000 fighters remained out of the initial 80,000. They were unable to break through further to the north, so they began a westward campaign in Yunnan Province, bypassing the main Kuomintang army forces.
After successfully crossing the Yangtze River, the 1st Front's troops merged with the forces of the 4th Front coming from the Sichuan-Shaanxi Revolutionary Base. In August 1935, the withdrawal of the Red Army troops to the border areas of Shanxi and Gansu, defended by the revolutionary forces under the command of Gao Gang and Liu Zhidan, began. The Chinese Red Army's campaign to the north ended in the autumn of 1936. In the liberated border region of Shanxi-Gansu-Ningxia, the main base for subsequent military operations against the Kuomintang was established.
During this campaign, Peng became closely acquainted with Mao Zedong, who at the time was effectively serving as the Chairman of the Military Committee of the CCP Central Committee. This encounter largely determined Peng's fate. When the struggle for leadership between Zhang Guotao and Mao Zedong began in the CCP's leadership in 1935, the commander of the 3rd Army Group sided with the latter. The Northern Expedition was a significant milestone in Peng's military career, not only from a purely military point of view. As an experienced military leader and authoritative figure among soldiers, he was first included in the Central Committee of the CCP and then, a year later in 1935, elected as a member of its Political Bureau.
During the Chinese people's war of resistance against Japanese aggression from 1937 to 1945, Peng served as the deputy commander of the 8th Army. In the war against the Chiang Kai-shek regime from 1945 to 1949, Peng held positions as commander and political commissar of the People's Liberation Army in Northwest China.
Subsequently, Peng held a series of high-level state and party positions. He served as the deputy chairman of the People's Revolutionary Military Council and the chief of the General Staff. He then became a member of the Central People's Government, chairman of the Administrative Council of Northwest China, and secretary of the Northwest Bureau of the CCP Central Committee.
The Korean War marked a new chapter in Peng's military career. From 1950 to 1953, he commanded one million Chinese volunteers in Korea. Initially, the People's Republic of China transferred two divisions composed of Korean nationals living in China to the Korean People's Army, which was fighting against the South Korean and UN forces. Later, more Chinese volunteer troops began arriving in North Korea. The Chinese volunteer forces under Peng's command participated in all major offensive and defensive operations during the Korean War.
From September of the same year, under the command of General Peng, there were two army groups consisting of 30 infantry and 4 artillery divisions of the People's Volunteer Army in Korea. The deployment of Chinese divisions began on October 19 and came as a complete surprise to the American command led by General MacArthur.
In the second half of 1951, peace negotiations between the warring parties began. By that time, there were already 40 Chinese volunteer divisions on North Korean territory. The negotiations involved the top commanders, including General Peng. The negotiations were constantly interrupted, and during these intervals, the opponents would resume active combat to exert both physical and moral pressure on each other.
On July 27, 1953, at 10 o'clock Korean time, the parties signed an armistice agreement in Panmunjom. The 38th parallel once again divided Korea into two conflicting parts.
General Peng's last military task in Korea was the exchange of prisoners of war with the UN forces, particularly the Americans. He handed over 12,756 prisoners of war to the opposing side and received 75,823 prisoners of war in return, including over 5,000 Chinese.
In 1955, Peng was awarded the title of Marshal of the People's Republic of China. From 1954, he held the posts of deputy premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, deputy chairman of the State Council for Defense, and Minister of Defense of the People's Republic of China, as well as deputy chairman of the Military Committee of the CCP Central Committee. In other words, he was among Mao Zedong's closest associates.
Peng's downfall began in 1959 when he opposed Mao Zedong at the Eighth Plenum of the CCP Central Committee, known as the Lushan Conference, and criticized his internal policies. In response, Mao's supporters accused the Minister of Defense of anti-party activities. Peng was removed from all his posts and subjected to severe persecution during the Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1969.
