Campaign Plans for the First Front Army
of the Red Army
(Issued on October 14, 1932, in Guangchang)

I. Assessment of the Situation

Generally speaking, the Fourth "Encirclement and Suppression" being conducted
against the soviet areas in the entire country by the reactionary ruling class of the
imperialist Guomindang warlords is a plan that, taking advantage of the difficulties in communication and deficiencies in coordination between individual soviet
areas, gradually shifts its concentrated forces to achieve breakthroughs individually. We can see that, although the enemy's shifting attacks against the West
Hunan-Hubei, Hubei-Henan-Anhui, Hunan-Hubei-Jiangxi, and Northeast Jiangxi
soviet areas failed to produce the expected results, the plan indicated above has
already become very clear. The enemy's deployment for attacking Hubei-Henan-
Anhui is to defend several key points while pressing onward with several powerful parallel columns on various fronts to drive deeply into the soviet areas and
seek out our main forces to do battle. Then, he uses his forces specialized in
political warfare to push forward gradually. This deployment is the result of the
enemy's repeatedly getting defeated and annihilated one by one by the Red
Army in every soviet area. It is highly possible that the enemy will make use of
this plan while rapidly deploying a massive attack against the Central Soviet
Area. Moreover, he is now about to transfer units to increase his strength in
Jiangxi. Before the enemy finishes this deployment against the Central Soviet
Area, however, he will mostly defend key positions in all areas and use small
forces to harass the soviet areas to prevent our main forces from launching
offensives. He will attempt to use a situation of encirclement to support his
economic blockade and pursue his "encirclement and suppression" plan of cor-doning off and pressing against the soviet areas.

II. Program for the Campaign

In order to coordinate our action with the Red Army units in other soviet areas
and support each other, and in order to take advantage of the time before the
enemy completes the deployment indicated above to rout the enemy on one side

and establish contact with the Red Army units in the Northeast, this front army is
to destroy enemy units speedily and simultaneously in Jianning, Taining, and
Lichuan, when the enemy least expects it, and occupy his positions. The forces
that will occupy Taining are to send one unit of considerable force, immediately
after they occupy Taining, to [Shao]wu' to establish contact with the Red Army
units in Chong'an. After they accomplish their missions, these forces are to
return to their original units. After accomplishing the above missions, all the
remaining units should turn Red the areas where they are stationed and collect
the materials needed by the Red Army so as to create favorable conditions for
future campaigns. But the main forces must be concentrated; they should always
be kept battle-ready and concentrated.
While the above missions are being carried out, if the enemy launches a
parallel attack across Nancheng and Nanfeng (or even stretching to Guangchang)
against Lichuan, our army is to concentrate toward Jianning and attack his right
flank. If the enemy attacks the Soviet Area in parallel from north to south, our
army is also to concentrate toward Jianning and fight him in the area between
Guang[chang], Shi[cheng], and Ning[hua].
Other units that fight along the borders of the Soviet Area should all operate
toward the enemy's rear, especially its rear along key transportation lines. Everywhere, they should develop guerrilla warfare, mobilize the broad masses of
workers and peasants, disintegrate the enemy forces, and reduce and destroy the
enemy's capability to attack the Soviet Area. The core teams of these units must
concentrate their operations against the enemy's key transportation links.

III. The Positions of Individual Units Before Beginning Their Advance²
A. First Army Group—Toupi
B. Third Army Group—Guangchang
C. Fifth Army Group—Ganzhu
D. Twenty-second Army—Bakouqiao
E. General Headquarters—Guangchang

IV. Distinctions Between Columns and the Routes They Should Take
A. The Twenty-second Army is to be the right column; its objective is to
destroy the enemy units in Meikoupu and Taining. Moreover, it is to send some
forces directly to [Shao]wu to establish contact with the Red Army units in
Chong'an. It is to advance on the route to Jianfeng, Guifang, Junkou, and
Meikoupu, and onward toward Taining.

B. The First Army Group is to be the central column; its objective is to
destroy the enemy units in Jianning and Lixin and send some forces to Kangdu
and toward Nanfeng to protect Jianning. One of its routes should run through
Guangchang, Shuinan, and Lixin to Jianning; the other should be Baishui,
Jianfeng, Guifang, Huangnipu, and Shuangxikou, and onward to Jianning.
C. The Third Army Group is to be the left column; its objective is to destroy
the enemy units in Lichuan. Its route should be Qianshan, Kangdu, Xichengqiao,
Hengcun, and thence to Lichuan.
D. The Fifth Army Group is the general reserve force of the campaign. Its
objective is to assist the First Army Group and the Twenty-second Army in
destroying the enemy units in Jianning and Taining. Its route is to be Qianshan,
Fufang, [X]yang, Jianning, and [X]guaxia; it must reach the areas west of
Meikoupu on the 19th to support the operations of the Twenty-second Army.
E. General Headquarters is to follow the First Army Group; its route is to be
via Shuinan and Lixin. After the occupation of Jianning, it should be in Anren, in
northern Jianning.

V. Carrying Out the Advance of the Various Columns

All columns are to begin their advances from their current positions on October
16. The following table summarizes the plan regarding their parallel advances
each day and their locations as each column advances toward the battle zone:

Table Showing the Plan for the Parallel Advance Toward
the Battle Zones by the Columns of This Front Army

Units and Locations
Date Left Central Right Central Notes
Column column Column Column
16th As on Guang- Kefang Guang- Qianshan One part of the
the 17th chang- chang City, central column is in
Baishui Ningjia- Guangchang and on
line yuan the line east of
Guangchang; the
other part is on the
Baishui-Yingqian line
17th Xicheng- Yang- Junkou Chang Jianning If there is insufficient
yan Kefang qiao housing for the
line central column in
Fayang
18th Lichuan Jianning Meikou- Ma'an-pu qiao
19th Lichuan Jianning Taining Meikou
20th At work At work Anren Anren
place place
21st As above As above Anren Anren


VI. Temporarily Designated Line of Depots

The line of depots remains the same for the moment, but the stage extending
from Guangchang to Jianning should use the same route taken by the General
Headquarters. Preparations should be made for the following two lines of depots
in the future:
A. City of Anyuan, Shicheng, Guhou, Quyang to the Office for Rear Administration; and
B. City of Anyuan, Ninghua, Yan'gangyu, Rentian to Ruijin.

VII. Things to Be Noticed in Turning Red the Areas Where
the Red Army Is Located and in the Collection of Materials

A. In addition to fulfilling the principal mission of this campaign, one part of
our forces should be used to make Red the areas where our forces are stationed
and collect the materials needed by the Red Army, while the main forces should
be concentrated to prepare for battle.
B. The areas where the main forces of each army group are to be concentrated and the areas where they are to be dispersed are indicated on Map No. 2.3
The explanation is as follows:
1. The First Army Group is to send work units to Kangdu, Fufang, Fayang,
Guifang, and Anyuan City, with its main forces concentrated near Jianning.
2. The Third Army Group is to send work units to Lichuan [City] and areas in
northeastern and northwestern Lichuan, with its main forces concentrated
near Yuheng.
3. The Fifth Army Group is to send work units to Guangchang, Junkou, and
Zhushuxia, with its main forces concentrated near Meikoupu.
4. The Twenty-second Army is to send work units to areas of northeastern and
southeastern Taining, with its main forces concentrated near Taining [City].

C. In addition to routine reconnaissance, each army group should have plans
for sending out reconnaissance units to make contact with the enemy and facilitate our timely concentration.
D. Army groups should have plans to develop guerrilla units and help them
grow fully to become the main factors in strengthening the local soviet areas.
E. The collection of materials should be carried out according to the principle
of not hindering the development of class struggle.

Supplementary notes:
a. Each army group must conduct careful reconnaissance of the areas of its

operations, especially the enemy situation and terrain, as well as annihilate the
White army and mintuan bandits along the way.
b. Each army group must pay attention to air defense, especially by concealing our army's objectives. Order No. 1 of the campaign on the right wing has
been sent to Lin [Biao], commander-in-chief, and Nie [Rongzhen], chief political
commissar, of the First Army Group.

Commander-in-Chief
Chief Political Commissar
Acting Chief Political Commissar
Zhu De
Mao Zedong
Zhou Enlai

--- Notes

Our source for this text is Mao Zedong ji. Bujuan, Vol. 4, pp. 81-86, which reproduces it
from a documentary collection published in China in 1979.


1. The first character of this name is replaced by an X in the Chinese text we follow
here, but on the basis of the geographic context, the reference is almost certainly to
Shaowu.

2. In general terms, the deployments and movements outlined in this and the following
section call for Red Army forces stationed in the northeastern part of the Central Soviet
Area to advance further to the northeast into Fujian.


3. This map does not appear in the only available text of this document.