Communist Military Leaders of the Korean War

Marshal Lin Biao

Background and History Lin Biao was born October 7, 1907, in a Lin Family village in Hubei Province, where his father ran a small factory that was ruined by a Warlord's extortion. Graduating from Whampoa Military Academy in 1926, he joined the Guomintang (the Nationalist People's party), in 1924, and the Chinese Communist party in 1925. In 1927, when Chiang Kai-shek, generalissimo of the Kuomintang army, began a purge of Communist party members, Lin Biao defected with his regiment to the guerrilla headquarters of Mao Zedong (Mao Tse-tung). Lin Biao (pronounced Leen Bee-Ow) was ten years younger than Peng and in many ways the opposite of Peng. He was rather slight, oval faced, olive skinned, dark, and handsome. He kept his distance from his troops. To many, he seemed shy and reserved. His fellow commanders regarded him as a loner; many felt he was a hypochondriac and a neurotic. There are no stories reflecting warmth and affection for his troops. His fellow Red Army commanders respected Lin but when he spoke it was all business. Lin fought good battles and was a fine military commander. Lin was the darling of Mao and before that of Chiang Kai-shek.

Activities in Korean War Lin was named vice-premier of the state council in 1954, vice-chairman of the party in 1958, and defense minister in 1959, and he was proclaimed the second-ranking member of the party in 1966.

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In the 1969 party charter Lin was designated the eventual successor to Mao, chairman of the Communist party. Minister and later his legal successor. No man lived in greater peril than one which Mao designated his heir apparent. Lin who had opposed China's entry into the Korean War was Mao's first choice to command the Chinese "volunteers" in Korea but Lin pleaded illness and flew off to Moscow for treatment. The First Marine Division claimed he led the 124th Division in Korea but this is doubtful.