Plan to Establish a Base Area in the Daqing Mountains[1]

(June 11, 1938)

Zhu, Peng; He, Xiao, Guan:

The importance of the Daqing Mountain Range[2] is as stated in your telegram. Which troops should be dispatched there, who should command them, and how operations should be conducted—you are to handle these matters based on the circumstances. However, when first establishing the base area, the enemy, aware of its vital significance, will certainly sabotage it in every possible way. Therefore, the troops must be selected from the most capable and competent; the leaders must be able to handle both political and military affairs, and must be vigilant, capable of enduring hardship, and determined to establish a base area in that place. The Northern Shaanxi Cavalry Regiment is currently controlling the vast Mongolian region of the Hetao area, operating in the Hanggin Banner[4] area five hundred li north of Dingbian and Yanchi[3] in coordination with the Mongol people to resist the enemy forces’ southward advance, and therefore cannot be redeployed.

Mao

June 11

[1] This is a telegram from Mao Zedong to Zhu De, Peng Dehuai, and He Long (commander of the 120th Division of the Eighth Route Army), Xiao Ke (deputy commander), and Guan Xiangying (political commissar).
[2] The Daqing Mountain Range, located north of the Tumochuan Plain in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, belongs to the middle section of the Yin Mountains.
[3] Ding refers to Dingbian, a county located in the northwestern part of Shaanxi Province, on the upper reaches of the Luo River, bordering Gansu, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, and other provinces and regions. Yan refers to Yanchi, a county located in the eastern part of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.
[4] Hanggin Banner, located in the northwest of Ih Ju League, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.