Strive to Establish Key Strategic Strongholds for the Long-Term War of Resistance[1]

(February 21, 1938)

A. On the assumption that the Kuomintang is capable of independently defending Wuhan to the end, Chiang[2] will not allow us to gain a foothold in the Hubei-Henan-Anhui region. However, if this is not the case, the possibility exists that Chiang will permit us to gain a foothold there.

B. The important strategic strongholds for the long-term War of Resistance include six areas: the Shanxi Area, the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Area, the Jiangsu-Zhejiang-Anhui-Jiangxi Border Area, the Shaanxi-Gansu Area, the Hubei-Henan-Shaanxi Border Area, and the Hunan-Hubei-Jiangxi Border Area. This is based on the assumption that if the four points of Xi’an, Wuhan, Changsha, and Nanchang come under enemy attack and, in the worst case, cannot be held, we must strive to establish these as the main strategic strongholds for base areas in the War of Resistance, supplemented by the Jiangsu-Shandong Border Area, the Southern Hebei Area, the Rehe[3]-Hebei Border Area, and the Daqingshan Mountain Range Area. If Wuhan and other places cannot be held in the worst case, the possibility exists that we will be permitted to gain a foothold in all these areas, including the vicinity of Wuhan.

C. Therefore, the positions of the three main-force divisions should, in general, be pre-arranged with one located in the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Area, one in the Hubei-Henan-Shaanxi Area, and one in the Shaanxi-Gansu Area; that is, two on the inner line and one on the outer line.

D. Although the inner-line area west of the Beiping-Hankou Railway[4] is vast, only the three river basins of the Fen River, the Wei River, and the Han River are relatively rich, and the Fen River and Wei River basins are both areas the enemy is bound to contest. To enable all three divisions to have broad prospects for development, to play an important role in constraining the enemy during the war, and to influence the whole country, it is necessary to prepare to position one division in the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Area. This opinion, of course, can continue to be considered.

Mao Zedong

Twenty-first Day

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[1] This is a telegram from Mao Zedong to Zhu De, Peng Dehuai, the 115th Division, the 120th Division, and the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army, and the Yangtze River Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in Hankou.

[2] Chiang refers to Chiang Kai-shek.

[3] Rehe, former province name, administered the northeastern part of present-day Hebei Province, the southwestern part of Liaoning Province, and the southeastern part of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. It was abolished in 1955.

[4] The Beiping-Hankou Railway refers to the railway from Beiping (present-day Beijing) to Hankou, a section of the present-day Beijing-Guangzhou Railway.