Current Military Strategy in Central China[1]

(March 29, 1940)

Comrades Zhu, Peng, Hufu, and Xiang Ying:

(1) Eastern Anhui, Huaibei, and Northern Jiangsu in Central China have become areas the diehards are bound to contest, their aim being to sever the links between our Eighth Route Army and New Fourth Army and to place the New Fourth Army in a perilous position.

(2) We fully agree with the determination of Zhu and Peng to transfer the 344th Brigade south of the Longhai Railway to reinforce Central China, and to transfer the Chen Detachment[2] to Jiaodong. The 344th Brigade should move out quickly, and its radio station should immediately establish contact with Hufu.

(3) After the diehards have suffered serious setbacks from the friction in North China, and with our additional troop deployment south of the Longhai Railway, the center of friction will shift to Central China.

(4) In the armed friction in Central China, our military strategy should be as follows:

Taking the Huai River and the Huainan Railway as the boundary, avoid armed struggle west of this line, while firmly controlling the area east of this line in our hands. First, clear out the local diehards; strive for a détente with the Guangxi Army; and resolutely wipe out Han Deqin’s[3] forces when they advance into our army’s garrison areas, provided the conditions are favorable and justified. After the Eighth Route Army arrives in Central China in the future, we should resolutely strive to bring all of Northern Jiangsu under our control. Chen Yi’s forces should step up their development toward Northern Jiangsu.

[1] This is a telegram from Mao Zedong and Wang Jiaxiang, Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the CPC Central Committee, to Zhu De, Peng Dehuai, Hufu (Liu Shaoqi), Secretary of the Central Plains Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, and Xiang Ying, Secretary of the Military Commission Sub-Committee for the New Fourth Army and Deputy Commander of the New Fourth Army.

[2] The Chen Detachment refers to the Jinxi Independent Detachment of the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army, with Detachment Commander Chen Shiju.

[3] Han Deqin was then Chairman of the Kuomintang Jiangsu Provincial Government and Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Kuomintang Lusu War Zone.

(5) Under conditions of increasingly acute friction with the New Fourth Army in Central China, the diehards may use their superior forces to attack the New Fourth Army headquarters area. Therefore, the army headquarters and the troops in Southern Anhui should make preparations in advance to avoid being attacked. As a last resort, they may move closer to the Chen Detachment[1] in Southern Jiangsu and then shift to Northern Jiangsu.

Military Commission
Mao, Wang, Yan

[1] The Chen Detachment in Southern Jiangsu refers to the First Detachment of the New Fourth Army, with Commander Chen Yi. In November 1939, the First and Second Detachments of the New Fourth Army merged to form the Jiangnan Command, with Chen Yi serving as Commander of the Jiangnan Command.