Order to Take a Period to Do Work in the Northern Areas Before the Enemy Launches a Large-Scale Offensive[1]

(September 26, 1932)

1. The strategy of the imperialists and the Kuomintang warlords for the fourth “encirclement and suppression” campaign against all the Soviets and the Red Army is manifested in their actions as follows: using superior forces to actively and urgently attack our Eyuwan and Xiang-exi Soviet Areas and the Red Army, while for the time being adopting the tactics of holding strongpoints, blockading and besieging our Central Soviet Area, conducting guerrilla harassment near their strongpoints, suppressing the masses, and at the same time very actively preparing the nation’s reactionary forces in order to swiftly launch a large-scale offensive against the Central Area.[2] During this period, they are carrying out active devastation against Northeast Jiangxi and Hunan-Hubei-Jiangxi in order to eliminate worries about their rear and flanks when they launch the large-scale offensive against the Central Area.

2. Under the present circumstances where the enemy is holding strongpoints, conducting guerrilla harassment against the Central Soviet Area, and rapidly deploying for a large-scale offensive, our Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army in the Central Area, in order to create superior conditions for a victorious offensive to smash the counterrevolutionary large-scale offensive, has decided to carry out a period (one period being ten days) of work in this northern area to win over the masses, expand the Soviet Area, and conduct its own education and training in a state of combat readiness. The tasks of this operation are: to wipe out the enemy’s scattered guerrilla forces, eliminate the reactionary armed forces in this area, win over and Sovietize the areas and masses near these enemy strongpoints to the north, reorganize,

[1] This order was issued by Mao Zedong and Zhu De to actively prepare for smashing the Kuomintang army’s fourth “encirclement and suppression” campaign against the Central Revolutionary Base Area. Because the Central Bureau of the Soviet Area of the Communist Party of China did not agree, the deployment in the order was not implemented.

[2] The Central Area refers to the Central Soviet Area.

expand, and establish guerrilla units in these areas, and, in a state of combat readiness, be able at any time to strike and wipe out enemy sortie units, thereby creating conditions more favorable for a decisive battle with the enemy to the north and the destruction of the enemy’s main force, in order to capture the central cities and achieve the first victory of the revolution in Jiangxi.

3. To carry out and realize this task, concrete preparatory work is necessary, especially the work of arranging the battlefield. As for military requirements, even more active preparations must be made. The detailed stipulations are as follows:

(1) The Area of the Planned Battlefield

The battlefield planned for our army at present must meet two requirements:

a. In order to resolutely carry out the victorious northward advance mission, it is necessary to rapidly eliminate the White-area landlord armed forces blocking our army’s northward advance in the area of Yihuang, Le’an,[1] and Nanfeng, so that our army can securely approach the cities of Yihuang, Le’an, and Nanfeng, capture the strongpoints with certainty, destroy enemy reinforcements, and advance north victoriously.

b. When the enemy forces launch a general offensive against the Central Soviet Area and the Red Army, we must be able with certainty to smash the enemy’s fourth “encirclement and suppression” in the area of Yihuang, Le’an, and Nanfeng, and then, through vigorous pursuit, seize Fuzhou and Ji’an while exploiting the victory, thereby unfolding the situation in Jiangxi. Therefore, it is resolved to arrange the present battlefield in a state of combat readiness between Yihuang, Le’an, and Nanfeng.

(2) Organization of the Battlefield Arrangement

a. For the work deployment of our army, each corps shall be divided into units based on divisions. One division shall be dispatched as the covering force. Each division shall be separately assigned to appropriate areas for work and training. The essentials of their dispersal are as shown in the following diagram:

[1] Yihuang and Le’an refer to Yihuang and Le’an in Jiangxi.

Deployment Diagram for a Certain Corps

Covering Force

D (-R)

Work

Work

Small Group

Small Group

D

K

Work Small Group

b. The covering force must be composed of capable troops (led by someone with relatively strong combat command ability). It shall advance to a position about one day’s or half a day’s march ahead of the working troops, first occupying and consolidating positions (constructing necessary field fortifications). Its main task is to cover the security of the working troops in the rear. Apart from sending out security pickets and a small force for forward guerrilla actions, its main force shall be appropriately concentrated in one place to conduct training. When circumstances permit, it may dispatch work small groups to do mass work in the vicinity of its stationing area. When dispatching small guerrilla units to conduct guerrilla actions in the enemy’s direction, its covering function must not be weakened. When the covering force of each corps receives urgent enemy intelligence, it must not only quickly relay it to all units of its own corps but also directly relay it to the units of neighboring corps.

c. Work Small Groups. Each division (or corps headquarters) shall directly dispatch its own work personnel. Sometimes, necessary security detachments may be attached to directly protect the safety of the work small groups.

Each division (apart from the work small groups) shall concentrate for training as much as possible. If, for various reasons, the entire division cannot be concentrated and must be stationed separately based on regiments, the stationing areas of the various regiments should preferably be arranged one behind the other towards the enemy’s direction (the distance between the front and rear regiments must not exceed ten li). If the terrain does not permit this and they must be arranged in a horizontal line or echelon formation, the distance between regiments must not exceed five li.

d. Each army corps shall, based on past combat experience and targeting its own weaknesses, intensify various types of training. Each army corps shall formulate its own military training plan.

Command organs at the division level and above shall regularly dispatch inspection personnel to lower levels to conduct inspections, strictly supervise the execution of tasks, and report the inspection results to higher levels.

e. Staff Reconnaissance Group. The Staff Reconnaissance Group shall be organized on the basis of the army corps. Its tasks are: to conduct military geographic surveys and various types of reconnaissance for operations. In every place it visits, it must compile the results of its work into written documents, charts, and diagrams, ready to report to the direct commander and the higher-level general staff department (the detailed work plan shall be formulated separately). The matters this group should survey and register are stipulated as follows:

i. Social Survey

Population figures and the names of revolutionary leaders in the villages.

Number of houses.

Supply situation.

Special local products.

Local class relations.

History of various struggles, if any.

Reactionary political organizations, if any.

ii. Geographic Survey

Road conditions in all four directions.

Conditions of nearby rivers and streams.

Number of bridges and boats.

Forests.

Terrain features.

iii. Military Survey

Nearby landlord armed forces.

Local armed forces.

Situation of enemy troops and bandit forces ahead.

f. If any army corps encounters a concentrated enemy attack against us (excluding harassment by small enemy guerrilla units), it must, in a covering and planned manner, rapidly concentrate at the designated location (Dongbei, Xinfengshi, Ganzhu) and prepare for combat.

(3) Actions of the Main Force During the Work Period

For the purpose of arranging the battlefield, during the work period, it is advantageous for our main force to be concentrated at an appropriate position within the work area to conduct training.

(4) Dispersal and Concentration of Troops

a. Division of Operational Areas (see attached map).

When work begins, areas along the routes should be selected first, according to the needs of our army’s military communications, to carry out work, and then expand to the surrounding areas. The main roads (as shown in the map) shall be properly allocated by each army corps and army according to the stipulated areas and then reported to the General Headquarters.

i. The First Army Corps shall take Dongbei as its center. Its work area includes Shuikou, east of Dengxianqiao, north of Kuzhuping, Dongbei, and Zhufang, and west of Wuliudu and Shuinan (see attached map).

ii. The Third Army Corps shall take Xinfengshi as its center. It shall work east of Shuinan, Zhufang, and Wuliudu (not including Zhufang and Shuinan), and northeast of Xinfengshi, including Zhufang, Ganfang, Sanxi, Yangfang, Dangkou, Shengang, etc. (see attached map).

iii. The Fifth Army Corps shall take Ganzhu as its center, extending east to Luofang, Baishe, and Yaobei, and west to Qiacun and Shaping (see attached map).

iv. The Twenty-Second Army shall take Nancun as its center, extending east to Shuikou and Kuzhuping, north to Dengxianqiao

and Luoshanjie, west to the area west of Zengtian up to Shuinan, and south to merge seamlessly with the Soviet Area (see attached map).

b. The concentration plan for the Front Army shall be stipulated separately.

4. During the work period, each unit shall establish relay sentry posts to maintain close mutual contact. Especially the covering forces on the very front line, when the guerrilla units they dispatch obtain enemy intelligence, must immediately notify each other by telephone (horizontal telephone lines must be rapidly erected).

5. During the work period, the General Medical Department shall establish a temporary hospital at Shuikou to receive sick and wounded soldiers from the working units.

Before the troops are dispersed, each army corps shall give detailed explanations regarding military hygiene, such as the isolation of infectious diseases and precautions against poisoning of drinking water.

6. After each unit enters the work area, it shall conduct a detailed investigation of the supply situation there and report it by telegram to the General Headquarters. If supplies are insufficient, they must be procured from outside the work area to avoid a sudden grain shortage within the work area.

7. During the work period, the General Headquarters shall be at Wucun.

Commander-in-Chief Zhu De

Political Commissar Mao Zedong