Eliminate the Enemy in the Area of Zhiluo Town[1]

(November 20, 1935)

Lin and Nie:

A. The army front has the task tomorrow (the 21st) of eliminating one to two enemy divisions in the area of Zhiluo Town.

B. The First Army Corps shall set out at 4:00 a.m. tomorrow, with its main force advancing to the area north of Yuanjiashan and Zhiluo Town to launch an assault from north to south. One regiment shall advance to the vicinity of Laorenshan to pin down the enemy’s follow-up units and intercept them when the enemy collapses and retreats. The reconnaissance company shall make a feint toward Heishuisi.

C. The Fifteenth Army Corps shall launch an assault from south to north from the area north of Yaobutou.

Peng and Mao

16:00, the 20th

[1] This is a telegram from Mao Zedong and Peng Dehuai, commander of the First Front Army of the Red Army, to Lin Biao, commander of the First Army Corps of the First Front Army, and Nie Rongzhen, its political commissar. After the Shaanxi-Gansu Detachment of the Red Army joined forces with the Fifteenth Army Corps of the Red Army, and in order to smash the third “encirclement and suppression” campaign launched by the Kuomintang army against the Shaanxi-Gansu revolutionary base area, the leaders of the First Front Army of the Red Army decided to concentrate forces and seek opportunities to fight southward, aiming to wipe out one to two enemy divisions. In mid-November 1935, the main force of the First Front Army advanced to the area east of Zhiluo Town in western Fu County, Shaanxi, where it concealed itself and awaited opportunities. On the night of the 20th, it surrounded the 109th Division of the 57th Army of the Kuomintang army that had advanced into Zhiluo Town, launched an attack on the 21st, and wiped out the greater part of it. Subsequently, the First Front Army used part of its forces to surround and annihilate the remaining enemy, while its main force shifted to striking at enemy reinforcements. On the 23rd, it wiped out one regiment of the reinforcing enemy 106th Division in the Zhangjiawan area. On the 24th, the remaining enemy forces in Zhiluo Town were completely wiped out while attempting to break through the encirclement. In the battle of Zhiluo Town, a total of one enemy division plus one regiment was wiped out, and over 5,300 enemy troops were captured, thus smashing the third “encirclement and suppression” campaign of the Kuomintang army.