The Situation in the Anti-Friction Struggle[1]

(February 20, 1940)

Comrade Dehuai:

Chiang Kai-shek’s offensives against us in North China, the Northwest, and the Central Plains, after several months of our resolute counterattacks, can be said to have been basically beaten back. The 23 counties of the Border Region have gradually been unified; in North China (the entire area north of the new Yellow River), we have already gained the dominant position; and in the Central Plains, we have also expanded. Chiang is now entirely on the defensive.

Zedong

The 20th

[1] This is a telegram from Mao Zedong to Peng Dehuai on the situation in the anti-friction struggle.