We Must Do Our Utmost to Wipe Out the Enemy
Advancing Westward from Fucheng
(February 25, 1938, 3:00 p.m.)

Zhu [De], and inform Peng [Dehuai]:

We have taken note of your telegram sent on the evening of the 24th.¹ Your judgment is correct. We must exert every effort to eliminate the enemy advancing
westward from Fucheng. But please warn Yan [Xishan] and Wei [Lihuang] in
advance that even if the said enemy makes a breakthrough to Linfen, he will absolutely not be able to change the entire war situation. The said enemy is few in
number. We can surround him with a single unit. The rest of our forces should be
determined to fight a mobile war in the rear of the enemy which allows him no
way out for retreat. In this way, we will definitely be able to defeat the enemy in
the end.

Mao [Zedong]

Our source for this letter is Mao Zedong shuxin xuanji, pp. 123-24, where it is reproduced
from the manuscript. The words set in bold are those which Mao underscored by placing
dots underneath them.
1. He Changgong (1900-1987), a native of Hunan, was deputy director of the Anti-
Japanese Military and Political Academy, but because the director, Lin Biao, was in very
bad health, he was in fact in charge, as Mao indicates below.
2. The reference is to Teng Daiyuan, at this time chief of staff of the Central Military
Commission; Xiao Jingguang, head of the Rear Office of the Eighth Route Army; Tan Zheng,
deputy head of the Political Department of the Central Military Commission; and Mo Wenhua,
head of the Political Department of the Rear Office of the Eighth Route Army.

Our source for this text is Mao Zedong junshi wenji, Vol. 2, p. 166, where it is reproduced
from a copy in the Central Archives.
1. Here Mao indicates the time using a Chinese character signifying the period from 5 to
7 P.M.