Red Letter Order No. 11 of the First Front
Army of the Red Army Regarding the Decision
to Sweep Away the Enemy of the Left Wing,
Zhang Huizan, and the Various Divisions
of Xu, Gong, and Luo¹

(December 28, 1930, 9:00P.M., at Huangpi)

(1) The enemy forces of Tan Daoyuan are still held up in the region of
Yuantou, Shangchao, Xiachao,² and Shupo, and are not advancing. The two
regiments of Mao Bingwen which entered Dongshao have moved to Luokou.
Their vanguard reached Pingtian yesterday. The actions of the forces following
on behind are not clear, but they are probably advancing towards Ningdu.
The forces of Zhang Huizan have passed Shanhe and Tengtian and reached
Tantou. Now they are advancing towards Shanggang and Longgang. The actions
of Xu's division are not clear. The forces of Gong and Luo are in various places
in Donggu, Nanlong, Fengpian, Futian and Pitou.

(2) The Front Army decides to change objectives, sweeping away the enemies
currently on our left flank (the forces of Zhang Huizan and also the various divisions
of Xu, Gong and Luo), and annihilating them one by one. It is planned to divide our
forces into two routes, with the left route advancing along Junbu and Longgang and
the right route advancing along Shanggu and Tantou to attack Donggu in order.

(3) The Third Army Group and the Fourth Army serve as the right route
forces (command is entrusted to Commander-in-chief Peng Dehuai and Political

Our source for this order is *Jiangxi dangshi ziliao*, Vol. 6, pp. 238-39. The text can also
be found in *Mao Zedong ji. Bujuan*, Vol. 3, pp. 201-202, but that version, taken from a
documentary collection published in China in 1979, is slightly less complete.

1. As indicated in the communiqué of December 30, 1930, Zhang Huizan, the commander of the Eighteenth Division of the Guomindang Ninth Route Army, was shortly
captured and executed. Xu is Xu Kexiang; Gong is Gong Bingfan; Luo is Luo Lin.
Regarding these three generals see respectively the notes to the texts of July 4, 1927,
August 31, 1930, and August 24, 1930.

2. Here the text in *Jiangxi dangshi ziliao* has Shanghu and Xiahu, while *Mao Zedong
ji* has Shangchao and Xiaochao. In the light of the occurrence of Shangchao in the text of
December 25, 1930, we conclude that the *Mao Zedong ji* version is probably correct as
regards this point.

726

DECEMBER 1930 727

Commissar Daiyuan³ of the Third Army Group), attacking Shanggu and Xiagu
along Saixia. When they have secured these places, they should continue to
advance and to attack in the direction of Tantou. Everywhere they should annihilate the enemies they find in each place, and then advance a bit toward Donggu.
Tomorrow (the 29th) they should go into action from their present position.
(They may draft the marching plan themselves and report on it.)

The Third Army and the Twelfth Army are the left route army (under the
command of this Headquarters), attacking Longgang and then Nanlong along
Junbu. After destroying all the enemies in the area, they should advance a little
toward Donggu. They should go into action from their present position tomorrow
(the 29th). (The plan of march is detailed elsewhere.) The Political Guards Detachment of the Central Revolutionary Military Commission (except the fourth
company) will remain in Huangpi, place themselves under the command of the
battlefield committee, and pin down the enemies in the Eastern region.

(4) The heavy baggage and noncombatant troops of the whole Front⁴ Army
are commanded by Chen Zongshi, the chief adjutant of General Headquarters of
the Third Army Group, and will advance with the left route armies. (All units
must take with them only four poles of food,⁵ and necessary small pieces of
baggage.) The fourth company of Political Work Troops covers the advance of
the heavy baggage, and is commanded by Chief Adjutant Chen.

(5) The medical teams will each march with their respective units.

(6) General Headquarters will march with the left route armies.

Attention:

1. If there are no enemies in Shanggu and Xiagu, the right route armies
should coordinate with the left route armies in annihilating the enemies in
Longgang, and maintain their guard in the direction of Shaxi.

2. The rear guards of the right route armies should pay attention to the enemies in the direction of Yuantou and Shupo.

3. The important documents of all regiments and companies should be gathered together in the divisional headquarters.

4. At least half of the personnel of the political departments of each army
should follow the troops and work in the battlefields; the other half should follow
the heavy baggage.

3. The reference is to Teng Daiyuan (1904-1974), a native of Hunan, who was at this
time Political Commissar of the Third Army Group.

4. Here there is a misprint in the *Jiangxi dangshi ziliao* version, which reads *fangxiang*
("direction") instead of *fangmian* ("front").

5. The character *dan* might be taken here to refer to the unit of weight sometimes
translated "picul," and commonly represented in this volume by the word Dan written with
a capital. It seems more plausible, however, that it has its basic meaning of "to carry on a
pole." In other words, each unit could take along only what could be borne by four porters,
each with a pole on his shoulder.