Send One Regiment with Cadres to
Develop Guerrilla Warfare in the
Zhongtiao Mountains
(August 17, 1941)

Comrade [Peng] Dehuai:

Since there are only enemy and puppet troops and no friendly armies at all in the
ten xian in the Zhongtiao mountains, it is quite correct to send one regiment with
cadres there to develop guerrilla warfare. If necessary a considerable number more
may be sent, as long as it does not reach the point where Wei [Lihuang]1 would
feel threatened. Yan Xishan has a lot of conflicts with Chiang and is trying to come
closer to us. Wang Jingguo’s2 troops are moving eastward with the goal of occupying territory so as to be able to eat; we should let him occupy some of the territory
and avoid friction with him.

Mao Zedong

Our source for this order is Mao Zedong junshi wenji, Vol. 2, pp. 659–60, where it is
reproduced from a copy in the Central Archives.
1. Wei Lihuang was then chief commanding officer of the Guomindang Army’s First
War Zone.
2. Wang Jingguo was then commander-in-chief of the Thirteenth Army Group of the
Guomindang Army’s Second War Zone.