PLA marshal who commanded Chinese forces in Korea, then was purged for criticizing the Great Leap Forward
'I want to be a Hai Rui!' — In his 1962 'Letter of 80,000 Words' to Mao, invoking the Ming-dynasty official famed for his courage in admonishing the emperor
One of the ten marshals of the People's Liberation Army, he commanded the Chinese People's Volunteer Army in the Korean War and, as Minister of National Defense, pursued a Soviet-model professionalization of the military. His 1959 letter to Mao criticizing the famine and failures of the Great Leap Forward led to his purge as head of an 'anti-Party clique'; imprisoned and tortured during the Cultural Revolution, he died in custody in 1974 and was posthumously rehabilitated in 1978.
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1928Rebelled against KMT forces, formed the Red 5th Army, joined Mao and Zhu at Jinggangshan
- 1930–1934Commander, Red 3rd Corps; directed defense of the Jiangxi Soviet
- 1934–1935Participated in the Long March; supported Mao at the Zunyi Conference
- 1937–1940Deputy Commander, Eighth Route Army; directed the Hundred Regiments Offensive
- 1947–1949Commander, Northwest Field Army; defended Yan'an, liberated five northwest provinces
- 1950–1953Commander and Commissar, Chinese People's Volunteer Army in the Korean War
- 1954–1959Minister of National Defense, CMC Vice-Chairman; Soviet-model military modernization
- 1959Purged at Lushan Conference for letter criticizing the Great Leap Forward; stripped of posts
Related historical events
- 1927–1936From Jinggangshan to Yan’an: the soviet bases and the Long MarchCommander of the Third Army GroupTook Changsha in 1930 and led a main army group on the March.
- 1937–1945The war with Japan and the second united frontCommander of the Hundred Regiments OffensiveDirected the 1940 offensive in north China and was later criticised for it.
- 1945–1949The Chinese Civil WarNorthwest Field Army commanderRecovered northern Shaanxi and the Northwest after Yan’an fell.
- 1950–1953The Korean WarCommander and Commissar of the People's Volunteer ArmyAt the 5 October 1950 Politburo meeting he backed Mao's intervention and turned the debate; from 19 October he commanded the PVA and expelled UN forces from the Yalu.
- 1949–1956From New Democracy to socialist transformationCommander of the People’s VolunteersCrossed the Yalu in October 1950 and commanded in Korea.
- 1958–1962The Great Leap Forward and the Great FamineDefence minister who criticised the Leap at LushanHis July 1959 letter to Mao made him head of an “anti-party clique” and cost him his post.
- 1966–1976The Cultural RevolutionFormer defence minister who died under persecutionDragged to Beijing in 1966 for struggle sessions; died in custody in 1974.
Commanding the Korean War: Supreme Commander of the Chinese People's Volunteer Army
In October 1950, as UN forces drove toward the Yalu, Mao resolved on intervention, and Peng, one of the few senior military leaders to support China's entry, was appointed Supreme Commander and political commissar of the Chinese People's Volunteer Army. He effectively took over military command from Kim Il Sung, reflecting Beijing's lack of confidence in the Korean leadership's capacity to sustain the fight.
Between the First Phase Campaign of October 1950 and the Fifth Phase Campaign of June 1951, Peng directed an unbroken series of offensives: driving UN forces south of the Chongchon River, recovering the area north of the 38th parallel, and briefly capturing Seoul before being forced back into stalemate near the parallel by the UN counterattack. The first year's heavy losses, especially supply shortages and tens of thousands of frostbite deaths in the face of an enemy with complete air superiority, impressed on him that China's army was unfit for modern conventional warfare.
He exercised direct command through the first half of the war, until recalled by a head tumor in April 1952, and on July 27, 1953 personally signed the armistice at Panmunjom. At a mass rally in Pyongyang four days later, Kim Il Sung awarded him the title of Hero of the DPRK and the first-class National Flag Order of Merit. The Korean War convinced Peng that the People's Liberation Army must be reorganized into a modern, professional, regular force on the Soviet model, the direct seed of both his later military reform as Defense Minister and his unfolding conflict with Mao, who insisted on politics in command.