Operational Dispositions in the Area between Hengshan and Dingbian
# Date: 1936-06-06
# Source: en:MRP
City.


4. One regiment plus a company of cavalry troops and a radio transmitter is to
be sent to advance toward Sancha and prepare to take Sancha within three days.
Mao
Operational Dispositions in the Area
Between Hengshan and Dingbian
(June 6, 1936, 12:00 noon)


Peng [Dehuai]:
1. The work within the 50 li between Hengshan and Dingbian provides a
protective screen to the north for the western base area, and serves as a strategic
pivotal point through which to go north to Suiyuan and Ningxia and through to
the Soviet Union. The full strength of the Eighty-first Division, the Twentyeighth Army, and the cavalry regiment should be used to undertake it, and the
initial stage of turning the area Red must be completed within a month and a half
(by mid-July). Song Renqiong should first be given orders to lead one regiment
to reach Ningtiaoliang by the 10th, and Song Shilun is to lead the main forces to
follow behind. Please wait until Song Renqiong has arrived and the work has
been arranged in person before proceeding to Hongde City.


2. The line between Qingyang and Hongdecheng and the areas to their east
and west constitute the core of the western base area, and also that portion of the
area north of Zhenyuan having relatively favorable population and economic
conditions. This work should be undertaken with all their strength by one division of the First Army Group, half of the army group's Political Department, and
the main forces of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Red Army. Here too, the work of
turning the area Red must be accomplished by mid-July.


3. Anbian and Dingbian are strategically key points, and there would be
trouble in the future if they were to remain in enemy hands, as can be seen from
the lessons of Qingjian and other towns. They cannot be seized in a short time,
however, so a plan should be made to devise various ways to take them within
two or three months. On your way to Hongdecheng, please go by way of the
vicinity of these two towns and do some investigating, and make arrangements in
person for the work of the Eighty-first Division. Attempts have been made to
obtain explosive materials and rifle bullets from the outside. It is all right at
present to retreat, strike their attacking and harassing troops, and proceed to
attack the towns when the ammunition arrives.


Mao [Zedong] Zhou [Enlai]



--- Notes

Our source for this order is Mao Zedong junshi wenji, Vol. 1, p. 541, where it is reproduced from a copy in the Central Archives.
is reproduced from a copy in the Central Archives.




We have translated this order from Mao Zedong junshi wenji, Vol. 1, pp. 542-43, where it