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People’s Liberation Army of China
PLA Day 01 Aug
Published: Thursday, August 1, 2013
Peoples Liberation Army of China
Mahbubur Rahman
August 1 is Army Day of the Peoples Republic of China. Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) of China, was founded on this day in 1927 through a bloody uprising in Nanchang, the capital of Jiangxi province. The glorious history of the PLA is a saga of a protracted war by the Chinese army against the imperialist and reactionary forces. The PLA went through a long evolutionary process. The history of the revolution of China is the history of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and also the history of the PLA, the vanguard of the Chinese revolution. Modern China, CPC and PLA are synonymous. They are inseparable and indivisible.
PLA had its genesis as the Red Army. It took different names at different times in different situations and at different theatres of operations, namely, New Fourth Route Army, Eighth Route Army and finally all combined and transformed into Peoples Liberation Army. The term PLA encompasses Army, Navy and Air Force, including its Second Artillery (the nuclear component).
The Red Army, in the course of its guerilla war, undertook the historic Long March, a strategic withdrawal to avoid the enemy advances on its mission of Communist annihilation. The epic Long March was a trek of more than 10 thousand kilometers, involved for more than a year over an area more than half of China, from South to North and from East to West, starting from the mountains of Jinggang Shan of Jiangxi to the plains of Yenan of Shaanxi. The Long March was a series of very long battles fought by the Red Army of some hundreds of thousands of men. It crossed deep jungles, endless marshes, swamps and grasslands, narrow valleys, steep gorges and snowcapped rocky mountains, fighting guerilla battles all through.
This great army was led by great commanders like Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Zhu De, Chen Yi, Peng Dehui, Ho Long, Nie Rongzhen, Ye Chienying, Liu Bochen and many others. The Long March, Chang Cheng as China calls it, is one of the greatest exploits in military history. In Asia, only the Mongols could do it, and there had been no similar armed migration of a nation in the past. Hannibals march over the Alps looked like a holiday excursion beside it. A nearer comparison was Napoleons retreat from Moscow when the Grand Army was utterly broken and demoralised.
While the Red Armys march to the North-West was unquestionably a strategic move, forced upon it by regionally decisive defeats, the army finally reached its objective with its nucleus still intact, and its morale and political will as strong as ever. Edgar Snow, in his book Red Star Over China, writes: Someday someone will write the full epic of this exciting expedition. Meanwhile, as epilogue, I offer a free translation of a classical poem about this 6,000-mile excursion written by Chairman Mao Zedong a rebel who could write verse as well as lead a crusade:
The Red Army, never fearing the challenging Long March,
Looked lightly on the many peaks and rivers.
Wu Mengs Range rose, lowered, rippled,
And green-tiered were the rounded steps of Wu Meng
Warm-beating the Gold Sand Rivers
waves against the rocks,
And cold the iron-chain spans of Tatus bridge.
A thousand joyous li of freshening snow on Min Shan,
And then, the last pass vanquished, the Armies smiled
I would like to pay my profound tribute to the great warriors of the Long March, many of whom I had the opportunity to meet and interact with, and I feel very proud. During my stay in China as the first military attaché (1980-84) I recall General Yang Dezhi, the hero of Tatu River, the commander of the Red Army detachment which captured the iron chain suspension bridge on the bank of the steepest gorge of Tatu and facilitated the whole Red Army to cross and avoid the pursuing Kuomintang forces.
General Yang was CGS when I was in China. He visited Bangladesh at that time. I also recall General Zhang Zhen, another Long March veteran who visited Bangladesh and delivered a lecture on Long March in the Staff College. On his invitation I also visited the Defence University of China. I also recall Admiral Liu Huaqing, Commander of PLA Navy, a great General of PLA who participated in the Long March. I had the privilege to accompany him during his visit to Bangladesh in the 1980s.
After the historic Long March, it is the PLA which fought against Japanese aggression and Chiang Kai-sheks reactionary forces, and came out victorious and liberated the country. Post liberation, this great Army continuously pursued highest combat excellence, struggled to consolidate the countrys independence and sovereignty and always remained a bulwark of national defense as an invincible fighting machine.
PLA, true to its name, always maintained its basic peoples army character. It always bore in mind what Mao Zedong taught, army is more like a fish and people are like the water in a river. This has been the ethos of PLA and the essence of Chinas civil- military relationship. PLA was never isolated from the broad masses and always remained deeply involved in all national development and socioeconomic activities. It played a dominant role in national reconstruction and infrastructure building and in combating natural disasters, like floods, cyclones, tornadoes, droughts and earthquakes.
Bangladesh pursues a defense policy of no aggression but defends every inch of its land. To achieve a military deterrence on land, in the air and the sea, Bangladesh was looking for friends who could help strengthen its defense capability. China, a close neighbour having ancient ties, immediately came forward after opening of diplomatic relations in October 1975. Bangladesh opened its embassy in Beijing and, along with political and economic relations, defense cooperation also started.
Bangladesh started building its armed forces almost from scratch with PLAs assistance. Almost all the defense capabilities we have today have been procured from China. China supplied the military hardware and many of the consignments during my time as defence attaché there in the 80s free of charge or on special goodwill price.
As I started my article with a eulogy to PLA, in conclusion I raise my right hand to salute PLA. I quote what Chairman Mao Zedong said: Without a peoples army the people have nothing. PLA has been very much a peoples army from its very genesis till today. It is the most modern and technologically advanced armed forces in the world today, ready to face any challenge from anywhere, prepared to counter any threat to Chinas sovereignty and security from anyone from anywhere. And having the most valuable possession of PLA, according to Mao Zedong, China and its people have everything.
The writer is a former Chief of Staff, Bangladesh Army.
PLA Day 01 Aug
Published: Thursday, August 1, 2013
Peoples Liberation Army of China
Mahbubur Rahman
August 1 is Army Day of the Peoples Republic of China. Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) of China, was founded on this day in 1927 through a bloody uprising in Nanchang, the capital of Jiangxi province. The glorious history of the PLA is a saga of a protracted war by the Chinese army against the imperialist and reactionary forces. The PLA went through a long evolutionary process. The history of the revolution of China is the history of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and also the history of the PLA, the vanguard of the Chinese revolution. Modern China, CPC and PLA are synonymous. They are inseparable and indivisible.
PLA had its genesis as the Red Army. It took different names at different times in different situations and at different theatres of operations, namely, New Fourth Route Army, Eighth Route Army and finally all combined and transformed into Peoples Liberation Army. The term PLA encompasses Army, Navy and Air Force, including its Second Artillery (the nuclear component).
The Red Army, in the course of its guerilla war, undertook the historic Long March, a strategic withdrawal to avoid the enemy advances on its mission of Communist annihilation. The epic Long March was a trek of more than 10 thousand kilometers, involved for more than a year over an area more than half of China, from South to North and from East to West, starting from the mountains of Jinggang Shan of Jiangxi to the plains of Yenan of Shaanxi. The Long March was a series of very long battles fought by the Red Army of some hundreds of thousands of men. It crossed deep jungles, endless marshes, swamps and grasslands, narrow valleys, steep gorges and snowcapped rocky mountains, fighting guerilla battles all through.
This great army was led by great commanders like Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Zhu De, Chen Yi, Peng Dehui, Ho Long, Nie Rongzhen, Ye Chienying, Liu Bochen and many others. The Long March, Chang Cheng as China calls it, is one of the greatest exploits in military history. In Asia, only the Mongols could do it, and there had been no similar armed migration of a nation in the past. Hannibals march over the Alps looked like a holiday excursion beside it. A nearer comparison was Napoleons retreat from Moscow when the Grand Army was utterly broken and demoralised.
While the Red Armys march to the North-West was unquestionably a strategic move, forced upon it by regionally decisive defeats, the army finally reached its objective with its nucleus still intact, and its morale and political will as strong as ever. Edgar Snow, in his book Red Star Over China, writes: Someday someone will write the full epic of this exciting expedition. Meanwhile, as epilogue, I offer a free translation of a classical poem about this 6,000-mile excursion written by Chairman Mao Zedong a rebel who could write verse as well as lead a crusade:
The Red Army, never fearing the challenging Long March,
Looked lightly on the many peaks and rivers.
Wu Mengs Range rose, lowered, rippled,
And green-tiered were the rounded steps of Wu Meng
Warm-beating the Gold Sand Rivers
waves against the rocks,
And cold the iron-chain spans of Tatus bridge.
A thousand joyous li of freshening snow on Min Shan,
And then, the last pass vanquished, the Armies smiled
I would like to pay my profound tribute to the great warriors of the Long March, many of whom I had the opportunity to meet and interact with, and I feel very proud. During my stay in China as the first military attaché (1980-84) I recall General Yang Dezhi, the hero of Tatu River, the commander of the Red Army detachment which captured the iron chain suspension bridge on the bank of the steepest gorge of Tatu and facilitated the whole Red Army to cross and avoid the pursuing Kuomintang forces.
General Yang was CGS when I was in China. He visited Bangladesh at that time. I also recall General Zhang Zhen, another Long March veteran who visited Bangladesh and delivered a lecture on Long March in the Staff College. On his invitation I also visited the Defence University of China. I also recall Admiral Liu Huaqing, Commander of PLA Navy, a great General of PLA who participated in the Long March. I had the privilege to accompany him during his visit to Bangladesh in the 1980s.
After the historic Long March, it is the PLA which fought against Japanese aggression and Chiang Kai-sheks reactionary forces, and came out victorious and liberated the country. Post liberation, this great Army continuously pursued highest combat excellence, struggled to consolidate the countrys independence and sovereignty and always remained a bulwark of national defense as an invincible fighting machine.
PLA, true to its name, always maintained its basic peoples army character. It always bore in mind what Mao Zedong taught, army is more like a fish and people are like the water in a river. This has been the ethos of PLA and the essence of Chinas civil- military relationship. PLA was never isolated from the broad masses and always remained deeply involved in all national development and socioeconomic activities. It played a dominant role in national reconstruction and infrastructure building and in combating natural disasters, like floods, cyclones, tornadoes, droughts and earthquakes.
Bangladesh pursues a defense policy of no aggression but defends every inch of its land. To achieve a military deterrence on land, in the air and the sea, Bangladesh was looking for friends who could help strengthen its defense capability. China, a close neighbour having ancient ties, immediately came forward after opening of diplomatic relations in October 1975. Bangladesh opened its embassy in Beijing and, along with political and economic relations, defense cooperation also started.
Bangladesh started building its armed forces almost from scratch with PLAs assistance. Almost all the defense capabilities we have today have been procured from China. China supplied the military hardware and many of the consignments during my time as defence attaché there in the 80s free of charge or on special goodwill price.
As I started my article with a eulogy to PLA, in conclusion I raise my right hand to salute PLA. I quote what Chairman Mao Zedong said: Without a peoples army the people have nothing. PLA has been very much a peoples army from its very genesis till today. It is the most modern and technologically advanced armed forces in the world today, ready to face any challenge from anywhere, prepared to counter any threat to Chinas sovereignty and security from anyone from anywhere. And having the most valuable possession of PLA, according to Mao Zedong, China and its people have everything.
The writer is a former Chief of Staff, Bangladesh Army.
