in expanding Communist base areas throughout the period of World War II. Part of He's success was due to the social confusion caused by Japan's Ichi-Go offensive in the areas of China that Japanese operations effected. He was frequently able to expand Communist areas of operation by allying with local, independent guerrilla forces who were also fighting the Japanese. He's experience fighting the Kuomintang and the Japanese led him to question Mao's unconditional emphasis on the importance of ideological guerrilla warfare at the expense of conventional tactics and military organization. In October 1945, one month after the Japanese surrender, the command of He's forces was transferred to Peng Dehuai, which operated as the "Northwest Field Army". He became Peng's second-in-command, but spent most of the rest of the Chinese Civil War in central Party headquarters, in and around Yan'an. After the Japanese surrender, in 1945, He was elected to the Central Committee, and his influence rose within both the military and the communist political system. Near the end of the Chinese Civil War He was promoted to command the First Field Army, which was active in Southwest China. After the Communists won the civil war in 1949, He spent most of the 1950s in both civilian and military roles in the southwest. In the People's Republic He's military accomplishments were recognized when he was promoted to being one of the Ten Marshals in 1955, and he served in a number of civilian positions. He was made Vice Premier, and he headed the National Sports Commission. He was one of the most well-traveled members of the Communist Party elite, and led numerous delegations abroad, meeting with leaders of other Asian countries, the Soviet Union, and East Germany. After Mao Zedong purged Peng Dehuai in 1959, Mao appointed He to the head of an office to investigate Peng's past and find reasons to criticize Peng. He accepted the position but was sympathetic to Peng, and stalled for over a year before submitting his report. Mao's prestige weakened when it became widely known that Mao's Great Leap Forward had been a disaster, and He eventually presented a report that was positive, and which attempted to vindicate Peng. Peng was partially rehabilitated in 1965, but then purged again at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution 1966. Jiang Qing denounced He in December 1966 of being a "rightist" and of intra-Party factionalism. Following Jiang's accusations