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Customer Review
Reviewed in the United States on August 30, 2020
Dr. Harold Tanner has written an overall terrific book for anyone wishing to understand the early days of the Chinese Communist Party and the People's Liberation Army. He provides great context to help lead into the important battles in Manchuria/northern China 1948. I find the book extremely well cited and detailed, providing insight into how CCP and KMT military leadership operated.
While the book does offer discussion of Soviet and American interventions (or lack thereof), its overall intent is to discuss the adaptations that Lin Biao and his generals made, and the issues ongoing within the KMT, that led up to the KMT's disastrous defeats in 1948. For example, the PLA was able to successfully shift from guerrilla/mobile warfare to the pitched, city-taking strategies seen at Jinzhou and Changchun. Meanwhile, the KMT repeatedly had issues with military commanders taking liberties in interpreting and executing Chiang's directives. If you are interested in these types of issues and want to "get inside the heads" of CCP and KMT generals, this book is for you.
The book does get a bit "academic" at times, but the main points in the bigger context were always clearly present. I appreciate and applaud Dr. Tanner in helping me gain a better understanding of the Chinese Civil War.
While the book does offer discussion of Soviet and American interventions (or lack thereof), its overall intent is to discuss the adaptations that Lin Biao and his generals made, and the issues ongoing within the KMT, that led up to the KMT's disastrous defeats in 1948. For example, the PLA was able to successfully shift from guerrilla/mobile warfare to the pitched, city-taking strategies seen at Jinzhou and Changchun. Meanwhile, the KMT repeatedly had issues with military commanders taking liberties in interpreting and executing Chiang's directives. If you are interested in these types of issues and want to "get inside the heads" of CCP and KMT generals, this book is for you.
The book does get a bit "academic" at times, but the main points in the bigger context were always clearly present. I appreciate and applaud Dr. Tanner in helping me gain a better understanding of the Chinese Civil War.
