Peng Dehuai

Marshal Peng Dehuai
元帅
Minister of National Defense
In office 1954–1959
Preceded by	None
Succeeded by	Lin Biao
Personal details
Born	(1898-10-24)October 24, 1898 Shixiang, Xiangtan County, Hunan Province, Qing Empire
Died	November 29, 1974(1974-11-29) (aged 76) Beijing, People's Republic of China
Political party	Communist Party of China
Awards	Order of Bayi (First Class Medal) Order of Independence and Freedom (First Class Medal) Order of Liberation (First Class Medal) "National Flag" Order of Merit (awarded twice) (North Korea)
Military service
Nickname(s)	彭老总 (Péng lǎozǒng, "Old Chief Peng") 彭大将军 ("Grand General Peng", addressed by Mao Zedong in his famous poem)
Allegiance	Communist Party of China  People's Republic of China
Service/branch	People's Liberation Army People's Volunteer Army Eighth Route Army Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army 8th Army of the National Revolutionary Army Hunan clique
Years of service	1916–1959
Rank	Marshal of the People's Republic of China Lieutenant general of the National Revolutionary Army, Republic of China
Commands	Third corps commander Deputy Commander in Chief, Eighth Route Army Deputy Commander in Chief, PLA Commander-in-Chief, Chinese People's Volunteer Army
Battles/wars	Northern Expedition Long March Hundred Regiments Offensive Chinese Civil War Korean War

Peng Dehuai
"Peng Dehuai" in Simplified (top) and Traditional (bottom) Chinese characters
Simplified Chinese	彭德怀
Traditional Chinese	彭德懷
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Péng Déhuái Wade–Giles P'eng2 Te2-huai2 IPA [pʰə̌ŋ tɤ̌.xu̯ǎi̯] Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Pàahng Dāk-wàaih Jyutping Paang4 Dak1-waai4

Order of Bayi (First Class Medal)

Peng Dehuai (Chinese: 彭德怀; pinyin: Péng Déhuái; October 24, 1898 – November 29, 1974) was a prominent Chinese Communist military leader, and served as China's Defense Minister from 1954 to 1959. Peng was born into a poor peasant family, and received several years of primary education before his family's poverty forced him to suspend his education at the age of ten, and to work for several years as a manual laborer. When he was sixteen, Peng became a professional soldier. Over the next ten years Peng served in the armies of several Hunan-based warlord armies, raising himself from the rank of private second class to major. In 1926 Peng's forces joined the Kuomintang, and Peng was first introduced to communism. Peng participated in the Northern Expedition, and supported Wang Jingwei's attempt to form a left-leaning Kuomintang government based in Wuhan. After Wang was defeated, Peng briefly rejoined Chiang Kai-shek's forces before joining the Chinese Communist Party, allying himself with Mao Zedong and Zhu De.