Liu Bocheng
刘伯承
1892–1986
- Commander, Central Plains Field Army
- Marshal of the People's Republic of China (1955)
Biography
Early Career and the Long March
Liu Bocheng (1892-1986) was born in Kaixian, Sichuan. He lost his right eye to a bullet wound in 1916, earning the sobriquet "One-eyed Dragon." After participating in the Nanchang Uprising of 1927, he studied at the Frunze Military Academy in Moscow. He served as PLA Chief of Staff during the Long March and became one of the most professionally accomplished commanders in the Communist forces.
The Liu-Deng Army and the Civil War
Liu Bocheng commanded the Central Plains Field Army with Deng Xiaoping as political commissar — the partnership known as the "Liu-Deng Army." In June 1947 they led the strategic offensive that crossed the Yellow River into the Dabie Mountains, marking the turning point of the civil war. In the Huaihai Campaign, his forces encircled and destroyed Huang Wei's 12th Army Corps at Shuangduiji in December 1948, the most decisive engagement of that campaign.
After 1949
After the founding of the PRC, Liu Bocheng focused on military education, establishing and heading the PLA Military Academy. He was appointed one of the ten Marshals of the PRC in 1955. He died in Beijing in 1986, widely regarded as one of the most strategically gifted commanders of the civil war era.