in fact, that the armed forces' chain of command was
 unbroken and that the PLA continued to perform normal
 training or operational tasks.
 14.
 In late October 1966 there
 was a normal rotation of two division-size support
 units stationed in North Vietnam. The navy conducted
 a guided-missile patrol boat exercise in the Pohai
 Gulf during November. A division-size army construction
 unit moved into Vietnam in later December, and
 during January two antiaircraft artillery divisions
 were deployed there from China. One of these units
 cam from Manchuria, transiting the country north to
 south in about 30 days--the usual time required for
 such a movement. Two nuclear tests took place, one
 in October and the other in December, and there were
 two possible missile firings in West China during
 December.
 15. Attacks on important military figures by the
 Maoists which began in early January suggest that the
 armed forces were not used because some key military
 leaders had opposed plans to achieve final victory for
 Mao's radical program by using military means to overthrow
 political leaders in outlying areas with whom
 they had connections. They may have confronted Mao
 with demands that he should relieve the crisis by
 moderating the course of the revolution and coming
 to terms with his opponents.The timing of events is
 obscure, but if such a showdown took place it seems
 most likely to have occurred shortly before the end
 of the year.
 The "plot" of Ho Lung
 16. Heavy criticism of military leaders began in
 earnest when Liu Chih-chien came under fire on 8 January.
 A deputy director of the PLA General Political
 Department since 1958, Liu had headed the army's Cultural
 Revolution Group charged with purging the armed
 forces during late 1966. The group was reorganized
 on 11 January and Madame Mao was named as its "adviser."
 -9-
 
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