Develop Guerrilla Warfare Freely in North and Northwest China[1]

(June 15, 1938)

Comrades Zhu, Peng, and Zhou:

Zhou’s telegram[2] received. The enemy’s main direction of attack is toward Wuhan, and for the time being it is unable to devote much attention to North and Northwest China, giving us an opportunity to freely develop guerrilla warfare and strive for a measure of mobile warfare, as I broadly indicated in my telegram of the 26th of last month. At present, in order to coordinate with operations in the Central Plains, to reduce the enemy’s occupied territory in North China, and to develop and consolidate the base areas in North China, it is necessary to launch large-scale attacks on the enemy. The proposal in Zhou’s telegram is correct, but specific operations must be entirely determined by the actual conditions currently facing the enemy and ourselves, and we must not let others’ comments disrupt our own steps. This, too, should be noted.

Mao

The 15th

[1] This is a telegram from Mao Zedong to Zhu De, Peng Dehuai, and Zhou Enlai.

[2] This refers to Zhou Enlai’s telegram of June 15, 1938, to Mao Zedong, Zhu De, and Peng Dehuai. The telegram pointed out that the Japanese forces were concentrating their main strength to attack the Longhai and Jinpu railways, while Shanxi, the Beiping–Hankou railway, and the northern section of the Jinpu railway were all relatively weakly defended, and that we should seize this favorable opportunity to expand the political influence of our army and our Party, and to encourage and strengthen the resolve of friendly forces to resist Japan.