Dispatch Two Detachments for Guerrilla Operations East of the Peiping–Hankow Railway[1]

(December 16, 1937)

Comrades Zhu and Ren:

A. According to a telegram from Nie,[2] the area east of the Peiping–Hankow Railway[3] is now very thinly held. It is proposed to dispatch two detachments eastward for guerrilla operations.

(1) The 129th Division shall send one infantry battalion supplemented by one cavalry company to penetrate deep into the vast area east of Cixian, Shahe, and Zhaoxian, including Yongnian, Guangping, Quzhou, Guangzong, Qinghe, Pingxiang, Nangong, Xinhe, and Zaoqiang, and carry out activities there.

(2) Rongzhen shall form a detachment consisting of two infantry companies and one cavalry company to penetrate deep into the area east of the line connecting Shijiazhuang, Baoding, and Dingxian, north of the Cangzhou–Shijiazhuang Highway, and south of the highway from Tianjin and Baxian to Dingxing, and carry out activities there. First, it is imperative to destroy the highway from Baoding, Gaoyang, and Renqiu to Dacheng in order to facilitate the maintenance of a flexible operational zone. Second, the destruction of the Cangzhou–Shijiazhuang Highway is also very important.

B. These two detachments must be fully equipped with competent military and political cadres, radio transceivers with designations, and independent cipher books.

C. The tasks of these two detachments are:

(1) Reconnoiter the situation.

(2) Expand the anti-Japanese united front, mobilize the masses, and organize guerrilla units.

[1] This is a telegram from Mao Zedong and Peng Dehuai to Zhu De and Ren Bishi, Director of the Political Department of the Eighth Route Army.
[2] Nie refers to Nie Rongzhen, then Commander and Political Commissar of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region of the Eighth Route Army.
[3] The Peiping–Hankow Railway refers to the railway from Peiping (present-day Beijing) to Hankou, now a section of the Beijing–Guangzhou line.

(3) Sabotage puppet organizations.

(4) Collect abandoned and scattered weapons and expand their own strength.

D. These two detachments must act with extreme prudence, thoroughness, and flexibility, and determine their own actions flexibly according to the situation.

Mao Zedong
Peng Dehuai

The 16th