ers and men in the various war zones. Your order to us reads, “All units of the
Eighteenth Army Group should stay where they are, pending further orders.” In
addition, it talks about things such as the order forbidding us to take over the arms
of the enemy. Your order to the officers and men in the various war zones was
reported as follows in the Central News Agency dispatch from Chongqing, dated
August 11: “Today, the Supreme Command sent telegrams to the officers and men
in the various war zones, ordering them to step up the war effort in accordance
with the existing plans,2 and orders actively pushing forward without the slightest let-up.” We find these two orders contradictory. According to the first, our
units should “stay where they are, pending further orders,” and should no longer
attack or fight. Why do you tell us not to fight at this moment when the Japanese
Our source for this telegram is Mao Zedong ji. Bujuan, Vol. 8, pp. 53–54, where it is
from the introductory note and the signatures at the end, the variants between this version
and that in Xuanji are trivial and are not indicated here.
Peng [Dehuai] [1898–1974, born in Xiangtan] Resolutely Rejecting Chiang Kaishek’s
Erroneous Order → Telegram from the commander-in-chief of the Eighteenth Army Group
to Chiang Kaishek
aggressors have not yet actually surrendered, when on every hour and at every
minute they are killing Chinese people and fighting Chinese troops as well as
Soviet, U.S., and British troops, and when the Soviet, U.S., and British troops in
turn are fighting the Japanese aggressors on every hour and at every minute? As
to the second order, we consider it very good. “Step up the war effort and actively
push forward without the slightest let-up”—that’s more like it! But what a pity
that you have given this order only to your own troops and not to us, and that you
have given us something quite different. Zhu De issued an order on August 10 to
all anti-Japanese armed forces in China’s Liberated Areas to the effect precisely
that they should “step up the war effort.” His order further said that while stepping up their war effort, they must order that the Japanese aggressors surrender
to them and they must take over the arms and other equipment of the enemy and
the puppet troops. Isn’t this very good? Undoubtedly it is very good; undoubtedly
it is in the interests of the Chinese nation. But to “stay where they are, pending
further orders” is definitely not in the national interest. We feel you have given an
erroneous order, one so wrong that we have to inform you that we firmly reject it.
Your order to us is not only unjust but also runs counter to China’s national interests and only benefits the Japanese aggressors and the traitors to the motherland.
Commander-in-Chief of the Eighteenth Army Group, Zhu De
Deputy Commander-in-Chief, Peng Dehuai

reproduced from Jiefang ribao, August 14, 1945. According to Xuanji (1960) and Nianpu,
Vol. 3, Mao Zedong drafted this telegram on behalf of Zhu De and Peng Dehuai. Apart
# Telegram from Commander-in-Chief Zhu [De] and Deputy Commander-in-Chief Peng [Dehuai] Resolutely Rejects Chiang Kaishek's Erroneous Order
# Date: 1945-08-13
# Source: en:MRP
Telegram from Commander-in-Chief Zhu
[De] and Deputy Commander-in-Chief Peng
[Dehuai] Resolutely Rejects Chiang Kaishek’s
Erroneous Order1
(August 13, 1945)
(Xinhua News Agency Dispatch, Yan’an, August 14, 9:00 A.M.) Commander-in-Chief Zhu [De] and Deputy Commander-in-Chief Peng [Dehuai] have just
sent a telegram to Chiang Kaishek, resolutely rejecting his erroneous, unreasonable order, which goes against the interests of the nation. The telegram reads as
follows:
For the perusal of the honorable Chairman Chiang Kaishek.
We received two Central News Agency dispatches through Chongqing radio,
one carrying the order you sent us and the other carrying your order to the offic

2.  plans, → military plans,
DOI:  10.4324/9781315719511-12

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1.  Telegram from Commander-in-Chief Zhu [De] and Deputy Commander-in-Chief

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