The First and Fifteenth Army Corps

Current Plans for Rest and Reorganization and the Issue of Expanding the Red Army[1]

(April 22, 1936)

Comrades Lin and Nie, Comrades Xu and Cheng, and for the information of Vice-Chairman Zhou and Chief of Staff Zhang[2]:

A. The enemy forces in Shanxi have for the time being all gone over to the defensive. Their main force is constructing a blockade line on three sides—southeast, north, and west—running from Sanjiao Township[3] through Zhongyang, Xiaoyi, Lingshi, Linfen, and Xinjiang to Hejin. A part of their force is garrisoning the cities of Yonghe, Daning, Xi County, and Shilou[4]. It is estimated that by the end of this month or early next month they will launch attacks on us along several routes. In Shaanxi, Wang Yizhe’s[5] army under Zhang Xueliang[6] has begun to advance to the area between Fu County and Ganquan to build blockhouses, and four brigades of Yang Hucheng’s[7] troops have advanced to the area between Hancheng and Yichuan. All of them are preparing to continue their northward advance and to blockade the Yellow River from the west.

B. Our army needs a short period of rest and training at present and should continue to expand its various units. In accordance with this policy, we should make appropriate dispositions of our forces and draw up a six-day plan from the 23rd to the 28th.

C. The First Army Corps should dispatch a unit to occupy Yonghe Pass and ensure that all the boats at Hejiapan are launched. It should also send small detachments to keep the four crossings of Qingshui Pass, Tieluo Pass, Matou Pass, and Pingdu Pass[8] in our hands, and dispatch additional units to conduct guerrilla operations in the three cities of Yonghe, Daning, and Xi County respectively, so as to open up contact between Sangbi Township and Yiquan Township[9]. The Fifteenth Army Corps should send units to reconnoiter separately the strength, locations, gaps, and routes of the enemy blockade lines between Zhongyang and Xiaoyi, between Xiaoyi and Jiexiu, and between Jiexiu, Lingshi, and Huo County, in preparation for later breaking through the blockade line eastward or turning back westward to strike at Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng.

D. In addition to training, all units should still give top priority to expanding the Red Army. The quota is set at one thousand for the First Army Corps, five hundred for the Fifteenth Army Corps, and one thousand for the Song Detachment,[10] the Twenty-eighth Army, and the Thirtieth Army combined.

E. Apart from daily rations, all units should prepare to carry fifteen days’ worth of grain.

Peng and Mao

1:00 a.m., April 22

[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, Nie Rongzhen, its political commissar, Xu Haidong, commander of the Fifteenth Army Corps, and Cheng Zihua, its political commissar.

[2] Vice-Chairman Zhou refers to Zhou Enlai. Chief of Staff Zhang refers to Zhang Yunyi, who was then deputy chief of staff of the First Front Army of the Red Army and concurrently chief of staff of the Rear Office of the Northwest Revolutionary Military Commission.

[3] Sanjiao Township is located in the western part of present-day Liulin County, Shanxi Province.

[4] “Yonghe, Daning, Xi County, and Shilou” refers to Yonghe, Daning, Xi County, and Shilou in Shanxi Province.

[5] Zhang Xueliang was then deputy commander-in-chief of the Kuomintang’s Northwest “Bandit Suppression” General Headquarters.

[6] Wang Yizhe was then commander of the 67th Army of the Kuomintang’s Northwest “Bandit Suppression” General Headquarters.

[7] Yang Hucheng was then commander-in-chief of the Kuomintang’s 17th Route Army and director of the Xi’an Pacification Office.

[8] Qingshui Pass is located southeast of present-day Yanchuan County, Shaanxi Province. Tieluo Pass is located west of present-day Yonghe County, Shanxi Province. Matou Pass and Pingdu Pass are located northwest and southwest of present-day Daning County, Shanxi Province, respectively.

[9] Sangbi Township is located southeast of present-day Yonghe County, Shanxi Province. Yiquan Township is located south of present-day Xi County, Shanxi Province.

[10] The Song Detachment refers to the force consisting of one battalion of the 224th Regiment of the 75th Division and one battalion of the 81st Division, led by Song Shilun, chief of the operations section of the Fifteenth Army Corps of the First Front Army of the Red Army. At the time, it was pinning down the main force of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army at Shuitou, Guanshang, and other places during the enemy’s second counteroffensive against the Red Army.