Welcome the Northward Advance of the Second and Fourth Front Armies[1]

(August 3, 1936)

We are gratified to receive your telegram of August 1.[2] Unite as one, sacrifice everything, and realize the great task of creating a new anti-Japanese situation in the Northwest—our hearts and your hearts are completely one. We have already communicated your telegram to the entire Red Army in the Soviet Area and called upon them, in a warm comradely spirit, to prepare all conditions to welcome you, so as to achieve the great rendezvous of the three front armies.

[1] This is the main content of a telegram from Mao Zedong, Lin Yuying (Zhang Hao), Luo Fu (Zhang Wentian), Zhou Enlai, and Bo Gu (Qin Bangxian) to Zhu De, Zhang Guotao, and Ren Bishi.

[2] In their telegram of August 1 to Lin Yuying (Zhang Hao), Luo Fu (Zhang Wentian), Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, and Peng Dehuai, Zhu De, Zhang Guotao, and Ren Bishi stated: Our Second and Fourth Front Armies are advancing conveniently toward Baozuo, Baxi, and Axi this time. After our forces are slightly concentrated, we will then advance toward Taomin and Xigu. Around mid-August, the main force can strike out toward the Tianshui-Lanzhou highway, with the objective of eliminating Mao Bingwen and Yu Xuezhong, in coordination with your army. At this critical juncture of the enemy Chiang’s offensive, only by actively maintaining close relations and resolutely fighting the enemy under a unified strategic policy can our First, Second, and Fourth Front Armies avoid being destroyed piecemeal by the enemy and possibly create a new situation in the Northwest. All commanders and fighters of our Second and Fourth Front Armies are unanimously excited about the great rendezvous and coordinated actions of the three front armies, and have prepared everything to struggle to the end to first achieve victory in the Northwest.