The strategy of strengthening the country and the army goes first.
-Guidance on innovative development of military strategy.
23. Why do you want to understand the winning mechanism of modern warfare?
Every revolutionary development of human society, especially the major changes in science and technology and mode of production, will inevitably have a revolutionary impact on weapons and equipment and combat methods, and then promote the overall reform in the military field. Today, with the rapid development of high technology and its wide application in the military field, the form and style of war have undergone profound changes. President Xi pointed out that these changes look dazzling, but there are laws behind them, and the fundamental reason is that the winning mechanism of war has changed. We should look at the essence through the phenomenon and thoroughly understand the winning mechanism of modern warfare, otherwise we can only look at the peep show and get nowhere.
Understanding the winning mechanism of war is the premise of guiding war and the inevitable requirement of grasping the laws of war and winning war. Comrade Mao Zedong pointed out that the law of war is a problem that anyone who directs the war has to study and solve. If you don’t know the law of war, you won’t know how to direct the war and you won’t win the battle. The essence of winning the war is that the participants comprehensively use various means to attack the enemy, destroy the body and spirit of their personnel, destroy their material resources and state machinery, and weaken their social order and organization, so as to conquer and overwhelm the enemy and win the war. Different war forms have different winning mechanisms. The cold weapon war mainly relies on the physical strength or external mechanical strength of weapon users to kill the enemy, which determines that the key to winning the cold weapon war lies in the number and physique of soldiers. In the era of hot weapons, firepower attack constitutes the dominant factor of the combat capability of the opposing sides in the war. The key to winning the war lies in who can better concentrate firepower advantage and give full play to firepower attack efficiency. In the era of mechanized warfare, aircraft, tanks and warships with high-speed maneuverability have become the main equipment for combat. The key to winning the war lies in giving full play to the army’s assault force, mechanical power and overall combat capability. Grasping the winning mechanism of war is the fundamental basis for winning the war. If we can’t see the development of the war form clearly and can’t control the change of the winning mechanism of war, we will pay a painful price. Before the outbreak of World War II, France spent a lot of money to build the Maginot defense line, which was called "the strongest and most exquisite" with machine guns, barbed wire and trenches. As a result, it was useless before the German Blitzkrieg.
Idioms and idioms
Only by studying and knowing the war can we win the war.
The highest realm of art of war guidance is that you hit yours and I hit mine.
The core of studying operational problems is to make clear the characteristics, laws and winning mechanism of modern warfare.
Strengthen the concepts of information leading, system support, elite soldiers fighting and joint victory, and develop the operational theory and thinking with our military characteristics.
The winning mechanism of modern warfare has undergone profound changes. Since the 1990s, the Gulf War, the Kosovo War, the Afghan War and the Iraq War have played an important turning point in the evolution of modern wars, marking the evolution of war forms from mechanized wars to information wars. The right to control information has become the core to seize the comprehensive control of the battlefield, integrated joint operations have become the basic form of operations, and platform operations, system support, tactical actions and strategic support have become the remarkable characteristics of modern warfare. The time and space characteristics of war have changed greatly, the multi-dimensional battlefield space has been integrated, the boundaries of strategy, campaign and tactical action have become blurred, and the time element has been constantly appreciated, and the war has entered the era of "seconds kill" when it is discovered and destroyed; The characteristics of using elite forces to carry out precise operations are more prominent, and it has become an important combat mode to carry out medium-and long-range precise strikes on full-depth targets outside the defense zone; Operational command is becoming more and more flat, and operational organization and management are becoming more standardized, streamlined and refined. In these profound changes, information technology has become the fundamental motivation and main pusher to change the face of war. By aggregating the energy of troops, firepower and information power to a great extent and releasing it accurately, it has achieved a decisive winning advantage. In the Syrian war and the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia, unmanned and intelligent weapons are being used more and more, and the veil of intelligent war is gradually unveiled, and the winning mechanism of war will undergo subversive changes.
The winning mechanism of war has changed, and the war thinking and operational concept must also keep up. Engels pointed out: "In a long period of peace, how much weapons have improved due to the development of industry, how much the combat methods have fallen behind." Our army has been in a period of relative peace for a long time, and its military thinking is easy to lag behind and be conservative. It is necessary to keep up with the changes in the form and mode of war and update its operational concept. We must vigorously carry out investigation and research on operational problems, study the winning mechanism of modern warfare, increase original, forward-looking and preset theoretical exploration, and build an advanced operational theoretical system with our military characteristics and in line with the laws of modern warfare to better win the future battlefield.
24. Why do you say that the magic weapon of the people’s war can never be lost?
During the War of Liberation, our army successively carried out two large-scale battles in East China, Huaihai Campaign and Crossing the River Campaign, and the land of Jianghuai became a vast battlefield of the people’s war. In December 2017, when President Xi visited the Huaihai Campaign Memorial Hall, he said with deep feelings that it is not necessarily weapons and forces that determine the outcome of the war, but the strategic and tactical use of the army, the confidence and courage of the soldiers and the support and help of the people are often more important factors. In August, 2020, when President Xi visited the memorial hall of the Battle of Crossing the River, he pointed out that the victory of Huaihai Campaign was pushed out by ordinary people in small cars, and the victory of the Battle of Crossing the River was rowed out by ordinary people in small boats. History tells us that with the will of the people, the will of the people and the strength of the people, the people’s army will be invincible and invincible in the world.
Soldiers and civilians are the foundation of victory. The people are the creators of history and the real driving force of historical development, which is the basic viewpoint of Marxist historical materialism. The people’s army has always shared the same breath with the people, shared the same destiny, and fought for the people completely and thoroughly, thus winning the heartfelt support of the overwhelming majority of the people and building an iron wall of unity. Comrade Mao Zedong pointed out in "On Protracted War": "The deepest root of the great power of war lies among the people." In 1947, when the Northwest Field Army fought with the Kuomintang army in northern Shaanxi with a disparity of 1∶10, the people in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia border region scrimped and saved food, and widely participated in the tasks of stretcher transportation, shoe washing, leading the way to deliver letters, rescuing the wounded, standing guard and other tasks. More than 2.18 million people were dispatched to support the battle, raising more than 1.2 million tons of grain and 60 million kilograms of firewood, and mobilizing 42,000 young people to join the army. History has proved that the army won the battle and the people relied on it. The roots of the people’s army are deeply rooted in the deep land of the people; The great power of the people’s war comes from the great power of the people.
The information war provides a broad stage for the implementation of the people’s war. Information warfare has the remarkable characteristics of integration of peacetime and wartime, integration of front and rear, and integration of military and civilian. The integration of peacetime and wartime is conducive to cultivating the potential of war in peacetime and transforming economic strength, national defense strength and national cohesion into strategic capabilities to deal with crises and wars; The front and rear are integrated, and the battlefield space is expanded in many dimensions, providing a wider stage for the people to participate in the war and carry out various forms of struggle; Civil-military integration can organize and mobilize the people most widely, make full use of all forces contained in the people, especially professional and technical forces, and provide scientific, technological and intellectual support for the war. At the beginning of 2020, in the face of the sudden COVID-19 epidemic, under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee and President Xi, we quickly launched a people’s war, a general war and a blocking war to fight the epidemic, carefully deployed the Wuhan Defence War and the Hubei Defence War, and carried out an unprecedented life rescue with the strength of the whole country. Millions of medical staff fought in the front line of the epidemic prevention, all kinds of enterprises made every effort to speed up production in wartime, carried out vaccine research and development through multiple technical routes at the same time, and 19 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities helped 16 cities and states in Hubei except Wuhan … The people of China worked together to share weal and woe, and built a solid defense line for epidemic prevention and control. In this great struggle, all-round manpower organization war, material support war, science and technology assault war and resource movement war fully demonstrated the majestic power contained in the people. This strongly proves that the magic weapon of the people’s war is not outdated, and further strengthens our confidence and determination to give full play to the great power of the people’s war and win the information war. In response to the information war,Our greatest advantage is the people’s war, and what the enemy fears most is that we carry out the people’s war. It is necessary to grasp the new characteristics and requirements of the people’s war under the new era, innovate and develop the strategy and tactics of the people’s war, innovate the content and methods, and give full play to the overall power of the people’s war.
Our army is the people’s army, and our national defense is the national defense of the whole people. Modern warfare is not only a contest between military systems, but also a systematic confrontation based on the overall strength of the country. After decades of development, China’s national defense mobilization ability has achieved a historic leap based on the achievements of economic and social development, and its rapid response ability, scientific and technological support ability, continuous support and comprehensive protection ability have been significantly improved, laying a solid foundation for fighting the people’s war. To make good use of the people’s war as an important magic weapon in the new era, we must coordinate with the country’s modernization, improve the national defense mobilization system, improve the mechanism of strengthening the border and strengthening defense, strengthen national defense education for the whole people, consolidate and develop the unity of the military, the government, the army and the people, and build an integrated national strategic system and capability.
