Seeking Comments on the
Operational Deployment of the
First, Second, and Fourth Front Armies
(August 22, 1936)
Peng [Dehuai]:
Please consider the following points today and tomorrow and then reply.


1. Our investigation shows that the two Mas of Ningxia¹ have twenty infantry
regiments and eight cavalry regiments. Are these figures accurate?


2. Is the period during which the Yellow River freezes actually three months
long, or two months long?


3. If the Fourth Front Army waits for the opportunity to attack Qinghai
independently, the First Front Army attacks Ningxia independently, and the
Second Front Army is placed in a central position (for example, in the area of
Minzhou,² Jingning, and Tianshui) to contain the enemy and support the two
sides by coordinated action, do you estimate that the goal of occupying Qinghai
and Ningxia can be achieved? The main thing is whether the First Front Army is
assured of defeating the Ningxia Mas independently. If the uncertainty has more
to do with attacking the cities than with operations in the field, then does it make
a big difference whether more or fewer troops are used to attack the cities?


4. If the Second Front Army is positioned near the Shaanxi-Gansu road to
contain the enemies Mao [Bingwen], Wang [Jun], and He [Zhuguo], and we
decide whether to send reinforcements and where to send them only after seeing
the initial combat results of the First and Fourth Front armies' separate attacks on
Ningxia and Qinghai, would the distance and time factors allow us to do this
successfully? I feel that if the freezing period is longer than two months, then
there would be enough time to send reinforcements. Does this judgment correspond to reality or not?
Mao


Our source for this text is Mao Zedong junshi wenji, Vol. 1, pp. 572-73, where it is
reproduced from a copy in the Central Archives.
1. The reference is to Ma Hongkui and Ma Hongbin. See above, the relevant notes to
texts of May 25 and June 28, 1936.
2. That is, Minxian in Gansu Province.