The Strategic Tasks of the Advance Army[1]

(February 11, 1940)

Comrade Xiao Ke and all comrades of the Military and Political Committee of the Advance Army,[2] with copies to Zhu, Peng, Yang, He and Guan, Nie, and Peng:[3]

The Central Committee has defined your strategic tasks as securing the Pingxi[4] base area, developing guerrilla warfare in eastern Hebei, extending it to Rehe[5] and Shanhaiguan, and preparing to advance further into Liaoning in the future. This is consistent with the current tasks you have proposed: "consolidate Pingxi, persist in eastern Hebei, and develop Pingbei."

Because the enemy situation in your area is particularly severe, your policy for expanding the army should still be

[1] This is a telegram drafted by Mao Zedong on behalf of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Central Military Commission of the CPC, addressed to Xiao Ke, commander and political commissar of the Eighth Route Army's Ji-Re-Cha Advance Army, and all comrades of the Advance Army's Military and Political Committee, with copies to Zhu De, Peng Dehuai, and others.

[2] The Advance Army refers to the Eighth Route Army's Ji-Re-Cha Advance Army, formed in February 1939 in the western suburbs of Beiping (present-day Beijing) on the basis of the Fourth Column of the Eighth Route Army. Its task was to conduct anti-Japanese guerrilla warfare and establish base areas in the Ji-Re-Cha region.

[3] Yang refers to Yang Shangkun, then secretary of the Northern Bureau of the CPC Central Committee. He and Guan refer to He Long and Guan Xiangying, then commander and political commissar, respectively, of the 120th Division of the Eighth Route Army. Nie refers to Nie Rongzhen, then commander and political commissar of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region of the Eighth Route Army. Peng refers to Peng Zhen, then secretary of the Northern Sub-Bureau of the CPC Central Committee.

[4] Pingxi refers to the area west of Beiping (present-day Beijing).

[5] Rehe, a former province encompassing what is now northeastern Hebei Province, southwestern Liaoning Province, and southeastern Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, abolished in 1955.

to seek step-by-step expansion on the basis of consolidation. This is the same as your policy for developing base areas, which is to expand step by step on the basis of consolidation.

You should pay attention to expanding the accompanying school (or running a branch of the Anti-Japanese Military and Political University[1]), dividing the students into two groups: one group consisting of veteran soldiers and veteran cadres, to be selected for training as much as possible; the other group consisting of young students, to be recruited boldly and in large numbers from Beiping, Tianjin, and various parts of eastern Hebei, including revolutionary intellectuals or semi-intellectuals. Only by creating a large number of cadres through self-reliance can you undertake the task of creating a great base area spanning the three provinces of Ji-Re-Cha.[2]

Pay close attention to financial work and economic construction work. Establish an administrative work class within the branch of the Anti-Japanese Military and Political University to teach government administration work and financial and economic work. This is one of the fundamental determining conditions for sustaining a protracted war.

The Central Committee and the Central Military Commission

February 11

[1] Kangda, abbreviation for the Chinese People's Anti-Japanese Military and Political University. Founded on June 1, 1936, in Wayaobao, northern Shaanxi, initially named the Chinese People's Anti-Japanese Red Army University, it was renamed the Chinese People's Anti-Japanese Military and Political University in January 1937 and moved its campus to Yan'an. Kangda ran for eight terms and was dissolved after the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan in 1945.

[2] Cha refers to Chahar, a former province originally encompassing what is now northwestern Hebei Province and the Xilingol League of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. In 1949, its jurisdiction was changed to cover what is now northwestern Hebei Province and northern Shanxi Province. It was abolished in 1952.