Peng Dehuai (1900-1974)

Peng Dehuai (P'eng Teh-huai) was born to a rich peasant family in Hunan province, China. He had little education but rose rapidly through the ranks of the provincial army, graduating from the Hunan Military Academy and commanding a brigade during the first stage of the Northern Expedition of 1923-1927. He sided with the Communists in the split of 1927 and joined Mao Tse-tung in the Kiangsi Soviet along with 8,000 of his men. He commanded 3 Army during the Long March.

Peng was the deputy commander of 8 Route Army under Chu Teh during the Pacific War. However, Mao did not trust Chu, and Peng had long held the real authority over the army. He masterminded the Hundred Regiments Offensive in 1940, which greatly irritated the Japanese but was immensely costly to the Communists. Thereafter he restricted himself to inserting Communist forces into areas swept clear of the Kuomintang by the Japanese advance.

Following the Japanese surrender, Peng commanded the unsuccessful defense of Yenan in March 1947. He recaptured the area in April 1948 and embarked on the conquest of northwest China. He commanded the Chinese forces in Korea from the spring of 1951 and became minister of defense in 1954, becoming one of the ten marshals of the People's Liberation Army. He was forced into retirement after criticizing the economic disruption of the Greap Leap Forward in 1958-1959, was imprisoned in 1966, and died from prolonged maltreatment by the Red Guards on 29 November 1974.

Peng was a capable and dedicated soldier, blunt and honest, but his willingness to speak the truth even to Mao eventually cost him his life.

Service record

References

Dupuy et al. (1992)

Chang and Halliday (2005)
Tong (1947)

The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia © 2007-2009 by Kent G. Budge. Index

Comment on this article