The Fifteenth Army Group Should Move
to Southern Shaanxi
(January 3, 1937, 8:00 P.M.)
Peng [Dehuai] and Ren [Bishi]:
The Fifteenth Army Group should move to southern Shaanxi for the following
reasons:
1. That region is a strategic area that affects a number of provinces and is
one wing of the enemy's offensive. By moving the army to southern Shaanxi, it
may not only attack the two divisions of Wan Yaohuang and Wang Yaowu
which are being concentrated toward Yangxian, but also contain Li Mo'an and
Li Tiejun,2 who are now waging an offensive against Shangxian, thereby securing the right wing of Xi'an;
2. Coordinate with Chen Xianrui³ to enlarge the soviet areas and expand the
Red Army;
3. After our army eliminates approximately one of the enemy's divisions, the
enemy in that combat area will immediately come to a halt, and we shall not
need to use a large concentration of forces. For this reason, moving the Fifteenth
Army Group to southern Shaanxi will help rather than hinder combat by the
main force.
Mao Zedong

--- Notes

Our source for this text is Mao Zedong junshi wenji, Vol. 1, pp. 771-72, where it is
reproduced from a copy in the Central Archives.

1. Wan Yaohuang (1891-1977), a native of Hubei, was a graduate of the Baoding
Military Academy. He had participated in the campaigns of "Encirclement and
Suppression" during the Jiangxi period, and strongly opposed the action of Zhang and
Yang in Xi'an. At this time, he was commander of the Tenth Column of the Guomindang
Third Army Group, and concurrently commander of the Thirteenth Division. Wang
Yaowu (1903-1968), a native of Shandong, had graduated from the Huangpu Military
Academy in the third class. He had participated in the Fifth "Encirclement and
Suppression," and was at this time commander of the Fifty-first Division of the Tenth
Column.

2. Li Tiejun (1901-), a native of Guangdong, graduated from the Huangpu Military
Academy in the first class. He participated in the Fourth "Encirclement and Suppression"
in 1932. In December 1936, he had been appointed to the command of the Ninety-fifth
Division of the Eastern Army Group of the Guomindang "Rebel-Suppressing Army."

3. Chen Xianrui was commander of the Seventy-fourth Division of the Red Army,
and was carrying out guerrilla warfare in southern Shaanxi.