Mao Zedong s strategic and tactical thought

Mondo Military Updated on 2024-01-30

Strategic and tactical thinking is the guiding art and combat method used by the Chinese Communists to lead the people's army to wage a revolutionary war with the support and cooperation of the masses of the people. It is a complete set of strategies and tactics for the people's war with Chinese characteristics created by the Chinese communists represented by the Chinese Communists by integrating the basic tenets of Marxism-Leninism with the practice of China's revolutionary war, relying on the masses of the people, and persisting in armed struggle under the condition that their own troops and equipment have been inferior for a long time. The strategy and tactics of the people's war, often referred to as the people's war, are an important part of military thought.

The strategic and tactical thinking of the people's war was gradually formed, developed, and constantly improved in the practice of China's revolutionary war. At the beginning of the Agrarian Revolutionary War, in the course of the struggle in Jinggangshan, the basic principles of guerrilla warfare suited to the objective conditions at that time were gradually formed, and military policies and operational principles such as dividing troops to mobilize the masses and concentrating to deal with the enemy, separating fixed areas, advancing in waves, chasing the strong enemy, and circling in circles laid the foundation for the development of the strategy and tactics of the people's war later. Subsequently, in the anti-"encirclement and suppression" operations in the ** revolutionary base areas and other revolutionary base areas, guerrilla warfare gradually developed into guerrilla movement warfare, and the operational principle of active defense and luring the enemy into depth was proposed.

During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the operational policy of the people's army under the leadership of the Communist Party of China was proposed, which was basically guerrilla warfare, but it did not relax movement warfare under favorable conditionsThe idea of guerrilla warfare has been developed through the extensive use of raids, ambushes, sabotage raids, sieges, mine warfare, tunnel warfare, sparrow warfare, and other combat methods to strike at and destroy the enemy. During the War of Liberation, it was proposed to take movement warfare as the main form of operation, to annihilate the enemy's living forces as the main goal, and to advance and retreat in great strides in the strategic defense stage, so as to create fighter planes and annihilate the enemy who invaded the liberated areasIn the later stage, it turned to a strategic offensive, and large-scale movement warfare combined with large-scale positional warfare to destroy a large number of the enemy's living forces. These strategic and tactical ideas are reflected in the "Ten Major Military Principles." During the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, the Chinese People's Volunteers developed the most advanced strategic and tactical thinking, obtained valuable experience in joint operations, and relied on the positions with tunnels as the backbone to hold defensive operations and campaign tactical counterattack operations. The strategy and tactics of the people's war are ways and methods to persist in proceeding from the actual situation of China's revolutionary war and to guide the war in a realistic manner. Its basic characteristics are: Guided by Marxist military dialectics, on the basis of implementing a thorough people's war line, and on the basis of the war goal of "preserving oneself and destroying the enemy," it persists in proceeding from reality in everything it does, and practices flexible and mobile operations.

The main contents are:

Practice active defense and oppose passive defense. Active defense, that is, defense for the sake of defense and offense, in terms of operational guidance, is the interaction between defense and offense, saving military strength through defense, standing by to break the enemy, and finally reaching the defense and attack. Passive defense, on the other hand, is the opposite. ** Believing that only active defense is true defense, therefore, the basic principle he established was to recognize active defense and oppose negative defense. Its fundamental policy is to carry out offensive defense. This is to carry out a protracted defensive war on the internal line of strategy and a quick-decisive offensive war on the outer line of campaign battles in the strategic defensive stageIn the strategic offensive stage, the most exciting and active offensive warfare with decisive battles should be carried out.

The protracted battle of strategy and the quick decisive battle of campaign battle. These are the two principles of attaching equal importance to strategic defensive operations, which were put forward on the basis of summing up the rich experience of the agrarian revolutionary war, and are the basic means of changing the situation in which the enemy is superior and we are inferior. This strategic theory was put forward entirely in accordance with the characteristics of China's revolutionary war and the basic law that the people's army may develop and defeat the enemy, but it is impossible for the people's army to develop and defeat the enemy very quickly, and the conditions that the enemy is strong and we are weak, and the enemy is large and we are small. He pointed out that the strength of the enemy stipulates that our strategic principle of long-term warfare is protracted warfare, and this is the basic principle that must be followed in the guidance of war. However, protracted is by no means a passive wait, but a subjective effort must be made to shorten the course of war as much as possible. The military method is to practice a protracted strategic war and a quick decisive battle in a campaign battle.

A timely shift in military strategy was carried out. Strategic change, that is, the change in military strategy when there are fundamental changes in the situation, tasks, and enemy situation of the war. It is usually reflected in the transformation of specific strategic principles and the main forms of warfare, such as guerrilla warfare, movement warfare, and positional warfare. The Chinese Revolutionary War underwent a number of major military strategic shifts. He believes that at the turning point of the war, war instructors should be good at judging the hour and sizing up the situation, and flexibly and tactfully implement the strategic change in a timely manner. This is of great significance for the persistence, development, and victory of the war.

Strategically despise the enemy, tactically value the enemy. ** It is pointed out that from the very nature of war, imperialism and all reactionaries, which are politically decadent and backward, will eventually be defeated by the revolutionary people. Therefore, we should despise it in the big picture and in the long run, but in terms of real strength, the enemy is indeed still very strong, and he is not willing to accept his defeat and destruction, and will definitely fight to the death. Therefore, from a partial and temporary point of view, we must pay attention to it. He said: If we overestimate the enemy strategically and dare not win, we will make the mistake of right-leaning opportunismIf we tactically underestimate the enemy, do not stress the art of struggle, and do not concentrate all our efforts on combat, we will make the mistake of "leftist" opportunism.

Carry out favorable decisive battles and avoid unfavorable decisive battles. ** Emphasize that only a decisive battle can solve the question of who wins and who loses between the two armies. However, on the issue of strategic decisive battles, he always took a very cautious attitude, pointing out that there must be favorable timing and strength for decisive battles. Before there is a certain change in the balance of forces between the two sides of the war, it is groundless to hold a decisive battle rashly in an attempt to accomplish the whole battle. Therefore, it is necessary to adhere to the principle of "carrying out a decisive battle in favor of it and avoiding an unfavorable decisive battle."

Concentrate superior forces and annihilate the enemy individually.

** In accordance with the characteristics and laws of China's revolutionary wars, it has always been emphasized that the PLA must practice the principle of a war of annihilation in its campaigns and battles. He pointed out that a crushing war is not something that basically determines the outcome of a well-armed enemy, while a war of annihilation can have an immediate and significant impact on any enemy. And figuratively said: "For a person, it is better to cut off one of his fingers than to hurt his ten fingers."For the enemy, it is better to crush ten of his divisions than to annihilate one of them. "In order to achieve this goal, it is necessary to concentrate superior forces in specific combat methods and annihilate the enemy individually.

Strive to take the initiative and avoid passivity. ** It is pointed out that initiative, flexibility, and planning are all aimed at striving for the initiative and forcing the enemy to be in a passive position, so as to achieve the goal of preserving oneself and destroying the enemy. Therefore, he stressed, "we have never fought a war that we are unprepared for and uncertain, nor is we fighting a war that we are only prepared for but not sure. "The basic meaning of this is that all combat operations must be carefully planned in advance and prepared as fully as possible;Start with the most difficult situations and prepare with multiple hands. He said: As long as we are prepared in thought and action, we will always be able to take the initiative and get rid of passivity in war.

History has long proven that the strategic and tactical thinking of the people's war successfully guided the victory of the Chinese revolutionary war。Under the new historical conditions, social development and the progress of science and technology are bound to have a profound impact on strategy and tactics. However, no matter how the situation changes, the basic principles of strategic and tactical thinking are still applicable to the people's war under modern conditions, and they are still the magic weapon for the Chinese people and the People's Liberation Army to win victories in the anti-aggression war in the future.

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