Telegram to Deng Xiaoping and Others[1]

(November 11, 1943)

The enemy is intensifying efforts to induce China to surrender, and Chiang has still not relaxed his military preparations against the Border Region. In order to delay civil war and persist in the War of Resistance behind enemy lines, it is absolutely necessary to station as many troops as possible in northern Shaanxi. It is hoped that a complement of 7,500 men will be made up from six regiments, with Yang Dezhi[2] leading a main force of 5,000 men to set out for Yan'an by the end of this year or at the beginning of the first month of next year.

[1] This is the main content of a telegram from Mao Zedong, Zhu De, and Peng Dehuai to Deng Xiaoping, Teng Daiyuan, and others.

[2] Yang Dezhi was then serving as Commander of the Hebei-Shandong-Henan Military Region of the Eighth Route Army.