How accurate is CNN's (or Google Translate's) translation of 把全部心思和精力放在备战打仗上 as "put all our minds and energy on preparing for war"?
把全部心思和精力放在备战打仗上 --&gt; &quot;put all our minds and energy on preparing for war&quot;

It is an acceptable translation

把全部心思和精力 -  take all our minds and energy

[放在 (put) ] 备战 (preparing for war) 打仗 (war) [上 (on)]

备战 and 打仗 can be used as verb phrases because they are separable verbs that made up of [v + n], and [v + n] verb phrase can be used as a noun. For example, we cannot say 放在前進上 because 前進 is a [v + v] verb; but we can say 放在打仗上

打仗 can also be a noun for 'war'  e.g. 遇上打仗 (when war happens)


It seems that 打仗 (war/ battle) here is redundant since 备战 already meant &quot;preparing for war&quot;.
A reason for saying 备战打仗 is the verb 备战 is often used metaphorically to mean any &quot;preparation&quot;. For example, a football team's 备战 refers to their training before a match (备战球賽); A student's 备战 refers to his study before an exam (备战考试)
[备战]打仗 should be understood as &quot;[preparing for] battle&quot;
In a more political phrasing -- &quot;to maintain battle preparedness&quot; (保持战斗准备)