On the Issue of Unit Reorganization

A Letter to the Eighth Route Army Headquarters[1]

(June 27, 1940)

Peng, Liu, and for the information of the Eighth Route Army Headquarters, Chen Guang, Luo, and others:

Agree to the reorganization of Peng Xuefeng’s and Huang Kecheng’s units into the Fourth Column of the Eighth Route Army, with Peng Xuefeng as commander and Huang Kecheng as political commissar. They shall operate west of the Jinpu Railway and south of the Longhai Railway, with the central tasks of fighting the Japanese aggressors, consolidating the Henan-Anhui base area, and expanding and training the troops. Peng Xuefeng’s unit shall externally retain the designation of the Sixth Detachment of the New Fourth Army; Huang Kecheng’s unit need not change to the New Fourth Army. Request Chen Guang and Luo Ronghuan to order Peng Mingzhi’s and Zhu Dixin’s detachment to proceed southward east of Xuzhou and operate in the area east of the Jinpu Railway. Peng Xuefeng and Huang Kecheng should find ways to transfer a portion of their forces east of the Jinpu Railway to assist the development of northern Jiangsu. After the arrival of the Peng-Zhu detachment, the northern Jiangsu forces shall then be reorganized to form a column of the Eighth Route Army. A unified command headquarters should indeed be established in central China. For now, all central China forces are under the unified command of Liu Shaoqi. The columns in northern Jiangsu and northern Huai may be placed under the command of Peng Xuefeng and Huang Kecheng.

Mao, Zhu, Wang

The 27th

[1] This is a telegram from Mao Zedong, Zhu De, and Wang Jiaxiang to Peng Xuefeng and Liu Shaoqi, with information sent to the Eighth Route Army Headquarters, Chen Guang, Luo Ronghuan, and others, concerning the reorganization of various Eighth Route Army units.