Inscription for the 359th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army[1]

(September 1939)

One must not only be brave, but also wise; neither of the two can be dispensed with.

[1] The 359th Brigade was a crack unit under the 120th Division of the Eighth Route Army. It was formed in late August 1937 by merging the 6th Corps of the Second Front Red Army and the 32nd Army of the Northern Shaanxi Red Army, among other units. In August 1939, it was transferred back to the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region to undertake the task of defending the Party Central Committee. In September 1939, to commend and encourage the 359th Brigade as a heroic unit, Mao Zedong personally wrote this inscription, pointing out the direction for their further advance.