Memoirs o f a Chinese Marshal —The autobiographical notes of Peng Dehuai (1898-1974) Translated by Zheng Longpu English text edited by Sara Grimes FOREIGN LANGUAGES PRESS BEIJING First Edition 1984 ISBN 0-8351-1052-4 Published by the Foreign Languages Press 24 Baiwanzhuang Road, Beijing, China Printed by the Foreign Languages Printing House 19 West Chegongzhuang Road, Beijing, China Distributed by China International Book Trading Corporation (Guoji Shudian), P.O. Box 399, Beijing, China Printed in the People’s Republic of China PUBLISHER'S NOTE This book presents the memoirs of Marshal Peng Dehuai, the outstanding general who was one of the builders of the Chinese Red Army and who served as Vice-Premier of the State Council and Minister of Defence until mid-1959. The autobiographical notes were written in response to interrogations during the “Cultural Revolution” (1966-76). In July 1959, Marshal Peng was denounced for a letter he wrote to Chairman Mao Zedong during what is known as the Lushan Meeting, an enlarged session of the Political Bureau of the Central Com­ mittee of the Communist Party. In the letter, Mar­ shal Peng pointed out some of the ultra-left mistakes that occurred during the “Great Leap Forward” in the national economy and in the establishment of the people’s communes. This was followed by the Eighth Plenary Session of the Party’s Eighth Central Committee in Mount Lushan, where Peng Dehuai and a few other com­ rades were condemned as a “Right-opportunist anti- Party clique.” The persecution of Marshal Peng intensified dur­ ing the Cultural Revolution under circumstances that led to his death on November 29, 1974. The Cultural Revolution ended in 1976. The Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Party, held in December 1978, reexamined i Marshal Peng’s case and reversed the judgement that had been imposed on him. It exonerated him of all charges and reaffirmed his contributions to the Chinese revolution. This English edition is a translation of Memoirs of Peng Dehuai, published in Chinese in December 1981 by the Beijing People’s Publishing House. It in­ dudes an introduction by the editorial group in charge of compiling the marshal’s memoirs and a preface by Yang Shangkun, Vice-Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress and Vice-Chairman of the Military Com­ mission of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. Marshal Peng’s letter to Chairman Mao at the Lushan Meeting in 1959 as well as a record he made of his last talk with the Chairman in 1965 are printed as appendices. C o n t e n t s Introduction 1 On Reading the Memoirs of Peng Dehuai — By Way of a Preface Yang Shangkun 13 I. Childhood Plight (1898-1916) 19 II. Enlisting in the Hunan Army (March 1916* Autumn 1921) 28 Joining the Hunan Army 28 Assigned to Spy on Warlords’ Armies 37 The Campaign to Oust Warlord Zhang 39 The Fight for Back Pay 41 The Battle in Support of Autonomy in Hubei Province 44 III. Determined to Save the Poor (Autumn 1921- 1925) 48 Killing the Tyrannical Landlord Ou Shengqin 48 The Charter of the Save-the-Poor Committee 54 Going to Find a Friend in Guangdong 60 A Review of Six Years of Soldiering 68 Returning to Farming at Home 72 Entering the Hunan Army Officers’ Academy 76 Contradictions in the Hunan Army; Activities of the Save-the-Poor Committee 82 My Home Visits 90 IV. Finding the Communist Party of China (1926- April 1928) 92 Taking Part in the Northern Expedition, Making the Acquaintance of Duan Dechang 92 Setting up Soldiers’ Committees 98 The Kuomintang Betrayed the Revolution 102 Tang Shengzhi’s Eastern Expedition Failed 108 The Battle for Xinzhou 114 Becoming Regimental Commander 117 lii Foiling the Inauguration of Nanxian’s Village Suppression Committee 126 Joining the Communist Party of China 129 Who Recommended Me for Party Member­ ship and When I Was Admitted 140 V. The Pingjiang Uprising (Spring to July 1928) 144 The Independent Fifth Division Set up a School 144 The Struggle for Back Pay 159 The March on Pingjiang 165 Deciding on an Uprising 177 Rising in Arms 193 A Brief Summary 209 VI. Marching into the Jinggang Mountains (July 1928-July 1929) 216 The Red Army Smashed a “Joint Suppression” Campaign by White Armies of Three Prov­ inces; the Hunan-Hubei-Jiangxi Border Area Established 216 The Fourth and Fifth Armies of the Red Army Met in the Jinggang Mountains 227 A Breakthrough from the Jinggang Mountains 233 The Fourth and Fifth Armies Met in Ruijin 249 Returning to the Jinggang Mountains, Re­ storing the Hunan-Jiangxi Border Area 252 The Attack on Anfu 258 VII. Back in the Hunan-Hubei-Jiangxi Border Area (August 1929-June 1930) 262 Returning to the Hunan-Hubei-Jiangxi Border Area 262 My Talks with Pan Xinyuan, Inspector from the Party Central Committee 269 The Yuan Wencai-Wang Zuo Incident 274 The Border Areas in Full Bloom, the Central Committee’s April Reply 279 Crushing the Offensive of the Luo Lin and Guo Rudong Divisions 282 VIII. Storming Changsha City (June-September 1930) 286 The Attack on Wuchang City and the Li Lisan Line 286 Occupying Yuezhou City 290 The First Attack on Changsha City 293 iv The Founding of the First Front Army and the Second Attack on Changsha 299 IX. From the First to the Fourth Counter-Campaigns Against “Encirclement and Suppression” (September 1930-February 1933) 303 The Third Army Group Crossed to the East of the Ganjiang River 303 A Forged Letter Exposed; the Red Army Smashed the First "Encirclement and Sup­ pression” Campaign 308 Shattering the Second Encirclement Cam­ paign 316 Killing Huang Meizhuang 318 Breaking the Third Encirclement Campaign 322 Creating a New Soviet Area, Learning to Do Mass Work 324 The Failure to Take Ganzhou City 326 Repulsing the Fourth Encirclement Campaign 329 X. The Errors of the Wang Ming Line Became Clear to Me During the Fifth Counter-Cam­ paign Against Enemy Encirclement (Novem­ ber 1931~September 1934) 333 The Battle of Liancheng 337 Negotiating with the 19th Route Army 340 The Fujian Incident and the Beginning of the Fifth Counter-Campaign Against Enemy Encirclement 344 The Battle of Tuanchun 347 The Battle of Guangchang 352 XI. The Long March and the Meeting of the Three Main Forces (October 1934-December 1936) 359 The End of the Wang Ming “Left” Op­ portunist Line 359 From the Zunyi Meeting to the Huili Meeting 362 Joining Forces with the Fourth Front Army and the Struggle Against Zhang Guotao 371 Crossing the Grasslands on the Long March 380 Smashing the Third “Encirclement and Sup­ pression” Campaign Against Northern Shaanxi 384 Crossing the Huanghe River to the East, Heading for Shanxi Province 390 The Western Expedition in June 397 v XII. The War of Resistance to Japanese Aggression (July 1937-August 1945) 407 The Red Army Redesignated as the Eighth Route Army 407 An Instruction from the Military Sub-Com­ mission 413 The Second Wang Ming Line 415 An “Anti-Friction” Battle 425 The Hundred Regiments Campaign 434 XIII. The War of Liberation (1946-October 1949) 448 Withdrawal from Yan’an 448 The Fighting in Qinghuabian, Yangmahe and Panlong 454 Switching from the Defensive to the Offensive 458 The New-Type Ideological Education in the Army 461 From the Wazijie Battle to the Capture of Lanzhou City 464 Two Mistakes and One Precious Lesson 469 XIV. The War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea (October 1950-July 1953) 472 Dispatching Troops to Korea 472 The First Campaign 474 The Second Campaign 476 The Third Campaign 477 The Fourth Campaign 479 The Fifth Campaign 480 XV. The Lushan Meeting (1959) 485 The Situation Surrounding the Lushan Meet­ ing 485 July 23 — a Severe Test for Me 502 Appendices 510 Comrade Peng Dehuai’s Letter to Chairman Mao (July 14, 1959) 510 Chairman Mao’s Conversation with Comrade Peng Dehuai (excerpts) (September 23, 1965) 521 vi Marshal Peng Dehuai with his signature in Chinese Í Í * ‘Í *¥ **4 <iMix*} % fe, * %p*»; «f i h * <m**-fc#* ¿A*» ¡%-Ak’ - * « « - » I) kfk* ^>«4., - -A* ^ #»*••> A f£.f*4 ll| f* fe ti ¿Aí>-AI.%4>*i*5. ^ * * .< ¡* * » £ ¿ .4 . il ^ J L ü ^ d U < f , V f-A.4í *- A”iMfa * i ‘M * » í H . « •*. t* f Mrijt M, v u . *®*W' ?&**•** M l'?* * >$*&./» *fW f**4 •*«*♦*/» . i stJHfcMt ./t «Î* f T » ». » 6 - j ^ - i t kÜ (*)*♦♦**; («i JÄ l.*-.*» >♦^1» K«UíA¡í4i»« The manuscript of the Marshal’s Memoirs