In reality, Chinese commanders weren't punished for failure with orders to get themselves killed. Except for that one time in Phuc Hoa county...
This is the second of three episodes about the highs and lows of the PLA's 42 Corps during its insane campaign for Cao Bang, when they were ordered to advance from "crawl" directly to "sprint."
In order not to keep you PLAtrons dangling, I'll release the climactic episode for you here in just a couple days.