The Chinese Red Army; Campaigns and Politics Since 1949

Reading, Berkshire: Osprey Publishing Ltd, 1974. Presumed First Edition, First Printing. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. 176 pages. Includes Preface, List of Illustrations (including 59 photographs and maps), Bibliography, Index. There are two charts presenting the military/political organization of China, the regional organization of the P.L.A.. This book covers the campaigns and politics of the first 25 years of the Chinese Red Army. The modern Chinese army has been in existence for twenty-five years and has been at war for most of that time; Tibet, Korea, India, Russia (in Mongolia). Little is known of this army by Westerners and this book will show its military developments along with its political advancement. The book concludes with an up-to-date[to that time] assessment of the Red Army's strength, potential, and political motivation. The author was a noted military and foreign affairs journalist who worked for several of the British newspapers during his distinguished career. Extracted from an article found on-line: Gerard H Corr's book entitled 'The Chinese Red Army' is an interesting read. Although Gerard Corr was a reporter for the centre-right Daily Express, his general view of China's 'People's Liberation Army' (PLA) is generally sympathetic. His chapter on the Sino-India War of 1962 is spot-on, and clearly demonstrates that India was encouraged by her Western allies to provoke a border war with Communist China. Unusually for the time, Gerard Corr admits that the Western media deliberately 'lied' about the situation and presented a false story depicting a spiritual India as being the victim of an aggressive Communist China! In reality, India's leaders took leave of their senses and started a war they could not win. On March 22nd, 1959, Nehru had written to Zhou Enlai stating that India now claimed a large area of territory in the Southern Tibet part of China. The roots of this conflict start with the CIA Operation in Tibet during the 1950s - which included the 14th Dalai Lama authorizing an armed uprising in 1959. When the CIA and their small number of Tibetan collaborators were defeated - India immediately gave protection and assistance to these fleeing survivors. In reality the Indians had been militarily building their forces for offensive action since June, with the violent part of the conflict lasting one month and one day - starting on October 20th with China calling a ceasefire on November 21st, 1962. The Indian Army was smashed with the PLA achieving its military objectives and in a position to initiate a regime change in the country - but Mao Zedong called upon the PLA to retreat back to the previous borders.