Crush the Enemy's Offensive and Achieve the Creation of a Soviet Area in Shanxi
# Date: 1936-03-11
# Source: en:MRP

reproduced from a copy in the Central Archives.


1. Yesterday we shattered the three divisions under the command of Yang,
Li, and Li¹ of the enemy's Third and Second columns, and they have retreated in
the direction of Duijiuyu.


2. Our army has the task of striving to create favorable conditions for the
establishment of soviet areas by having the main forces advance eastward on the
heels of victory to threaten Taiyuan, completely shattering the general offensive
dispositions of the enemy under Yan [Xishan], expanding strategic results, expanding propaganda, expanding the soviet areas, expanding the Red Army, and
winning over the popular masses.


3. Dispositions are as follows:


a. The First and Fourth divisions of the First Army Group and one unit of its
directly affiliated troops are to be led by Lin, together with the Seventeenth
Platoon. The Fifteenth Army Group's Seventy-fifth Division (minus one
regiment) is to be led by Xu. Both army groups are under Lin's command
and are to advance to Nanbeimazhuang tomorrow (the 12th), occupy the
road on the western edge of Fenxian on the 13th, and await further orders.


b. The First Army Group's Second Division and one of its directly attached
units, led by Nie, is to control the triangular area between Zhongyang City,
Duijiuyu, and Shuitou, force Sun's column² to withdraw, and consolidate
this area as well as turn it Red.


c. The Fifteenth Army Group's Seventy-eighth and Eighty-first divisions,
and its directly attached units, are to control the area south of Shuitou and
Damaijiao, under Cheng's leadership. The main forces are to press straight
on to Xixian, lure Yang's column³ into retreat, and turn this area Red.



--- Notes



1. Li Tianyou was then deputy commander of the First Front Army First Army
Group's Second Division. Deng Hua was head of the same unit's political section.
Crush the Enemy's Offensive and Achieve the
Creation of a Soviet Area in Shanxi
(March 11, 1936, 12:00 noon)
To Lin [Biao] and Nie [Rongzhen], Xu [Haidong] and Cheng [Zihua]:

Our source for this telegram is Mao Zedong junshi wenji, Vol. 1, pp. 488-89, where it is
reproduced from a copy in the Central Archives.

1. These units all belonged to the Guomindang army's Taiyuan Pacification Office.
They are the Sixty-sixth Division of the Second Column, and the Sixty-eighth and
Seventy-second divisions of the Third Column, under the command of, respectively, Yang
Xiao'ou, Li Fuying, and Li Shengda.

2. Refers to the Fourth Column under the Guomindang army's Taiyuan Pacification
Office, commanded by Sun Chu.

3. Refers to the First Column under the Guomindang army's Taiyuan Pacification
Office, commanded by Yang Chengyuan.