Let the Enemy Attack Wuhan and Be Trapped in
Our Strategic Encirclement

(December 30, 1937)

Comrades Chen [Shaoyu] [Wang Ming], Zhou [Enlai], Xiang [Ying], Bo [Gu]
[Qin Bangxian] and Ye [Jianying]:¹

Our views about the deployment for operations to the south and to the north of the
Yangzi:
1. In order to induce the enemy to attack Wuhan and be trapped in our strategic
encirclement, our forces must set up the following two major military districts and
six supplementary military districts.
a. The Jiangsu-Zhejiang-Anhui-Jiangxi Border Military District, with southern
Anhui as its core, which should attack or prepare to attack the enemy forces
in Nanjing, Wuhu, Hangzhou, the Zhe-Gan railway line,² and Hukou.
b. The Hubei-Henan-Anhui Military District, centered on Shu, Tong, Huang,
Guang, Shang, and Gu,³ which should attack or prepare to seize the three
railway lines, and attack the enemy troops along the river. The aforementioned two districts are the major districts. The Guomindang should appoint
high-ranking figures to exercise command there. Moreover, thirty to fifty
thousand troops should be deployed in each district. We will put Chen Yi's
detachment in southern Anhui, and Gao Jingting's detachment plus one more
unit in northern Anhui.
c. The Southern Zhejiang Military District, which should attack and take the
enemy troops along the Hang-Yong railway line⁴ and Zhe-Gan railway line.
d. The Hubei-Jiangxi Military District, which should prepare to attack and take
the enemy forces along the river and along the Nan-Xun railway line.⁵

--- Notes

Our source for this document is Mao Zedong junshi wenji, Vol. 2, pp. 136-37, where it is
reproduced from a copy in the Central Archives.

1. The recipients of this telegram were members of the Communist Party delegation
which had been sent to negotiate with the Guomindang in Hankou.

2. The Zhe-Gan railway line runs from Hankou in Zhejiang to Zhuzhou in Hunan.

3. The reference is to Shucheng and Tongcheng in Anhui, Huangmei and Guangji in
Hubei, and Shangcheng and Gushi in Henan.

4. The Hang-Yong railway ran from Hangzhou to Ningbo.

5. The Nan-Xun railway line ran from Nanchang to Jiujiang.