Preparing to Advance Behind Enemy Lines in Henan, Anhui, Jiangsu, and Shandong
(May 20, 1938)
To Zhu, Peng, Liu, Xu, and Deng, with copy to Chen, Zhou, and Ye:
Following the fall of Xuzhou, Henan will quickly come under enemy control, and Wuhan will be in grave danger. At that time, Chiang Kai-shek will likely consent to our army’s southward advance, allowing us to operate deep behind enemy lines across the four provinces of Henan, Anhui, Jiangsu, and Shandong. However, we should not raise this matter with Chiang or with Li Zongren, Bai Chongxi, and Cheng Qian at present; instead, we should make preparations ourselves. By then, the 129th and 115th Divisions of the Eighth Route Army will undertake a completely new deployment. In Shandong, extensive guerrilla warfare has already developed. We have dispatched Zhang Jingwu and Guo Hongtao, leading fifty to sixty military and party cadres along with two radio stations, who can now cross the Jinpu Railway into Tai’an. There are an abundance of civilian firearms there. Our primary focus should be on sending cadres; it would be even better to station one or two battalions as a core force, but we must be prepared to leave them there long-term without reintegrating them into regular units. Crossing the Yellow River to the south presents no difficulty.
Mao
Morning of the 20th


[1] This is a telegram from Mao Zedong to Zhu De, Peng Dehuai, and to Liu Bocheng, Commander of the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army, Xu Xiangqian, its Deputy Commander, and Deng Xiaoping, its Political Commissar.


[2] Chen refers to Chen Shaoyu (Wang Ming), who at the time served as Secretary of the Yangtze River Bureau of the CPC Central Committee. Zhou refers to Zhou Enlai. Ye refers to Ye Jianying, who at the time was a member of the CPC Central Committee’s Yangtze River Bureau and was responsible for military affairs.


[3] Li refers to Li Zongren, then Commander-in-Chief of the Nationalist Army’s Fifth War Zone. Bai refers to Bai Chongxi, Vice Chief of Staff of the Nationalist Government’s Military Affairs Commission. Cheng refers to Cheng Qian, Commander-in-Chief of the Nationalist Army’s First War Zone.


[4] The “Liu-Lin Two Divisions” refer to the 129th and 115th Divisions of the Eighth Route Army, commanded respectively by Liu Bocheng and Lin Biao.