Dispatch Nine Regiments to the Three
Eastern Provinces1
(August 20, 1945)
To the Shandong Sub-bureau, Pingyuan Sub-bureau, Hebei-Shandong-Henan
(Ji-Lu-Yu) Sub-bureau, and for the information of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei (JinCha-Ji) Sub-bureau:
The Soviet Red Army currently occupies the Northeast, and the Guomindang
is attempting to take the Northeast. On our side, apart from three large regiments
under Li Yunchang,2 that are deep in Liaoning and the eastern Hebei and HebeiChahar areas, both of which have forces deep in Rehe,3 the Central Committee has
decided to move two regiments from Shandong (including the detachment commanded by Wan Yi4), one from Hebei-Shandong-Henan, and one from central
Henan. In all, four regiments will be put under Wan Yi’s command and will leave
for the Three Eastern Provinces.5 The two Shandong regiments should prepare to
complete preparations within ten days and set off immediately through Hebei to
meet up with the two regiments from Hebei-Shandong-Henan and central Hebei,
and then to advance to the Rehe border to await orders. Each regiment must have
no fewer than 1,500 personnel. The task of advancing toward the Three Eastern
Provinces must be explicitly announced (to take advantage of the period when
the Soviet army is occupying the Northeast and the Guomindang is attempting to
take the Northeast). We must deploy the necessary local cadres. It is hoped that
the northeastern cadres concentrated in the Three Areas will join with Wan Yi in
going [to the Northeast]. We must have excellent discipline. Please inform us of
the situation upon deployment and setting off. Furthermore, one regiment will be
deployed from the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region and three regiments
will be deployed from the Shanxi-Suiyuan [Jin-Sui] Military Region, and the central government will dispatch one regiment of cadres, for a total of five regiments that will advance toward the Three Eastern Provinces under the leadership
of Lü Zhengcao and Lin Feng.6 Inform Wan Yi of the above, but do not publish
this in the newspapers.
The Central Military Commission

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Notes

Our source for this text is Mao Zedong junshi wenji, Vol. 3, pp. 45–46, where it is reproduced from Mao’s handwritten manuscript in the Central Archives.

--- Notes

1.  Mao Zedong drafted this telegram on behalf of the Central Military Commission.

2.  Li Yunchang (1908–2008, native of Hebei) was commander and political commissar
of the Hebei-Rehe-Liaoning Eighth Route Army.

3.  Rehe Province encompassed what is now northeastern Hebei, southwestern Liaoning, and the southeastern portion of Inner Mongolia until it was dissolved in 1955.

4.  Wan Yi (1907–1997, native of Liaoning) was deputy commander of the Binhai Military Region and captain of the Binhai Detachment of the Eighth Route Army.

5.  Also known as the Three Northeastern Provinces, referring to Manchuria.
DOI:  10.4324/9781315719511-18

6.  Lü Zhengcao (1905–2009, native of Liaoning) was commander of the Eighth Route
Army in the Jin-Sui Military Region. Lin Feng (1906–1977, native of Heilongjiang) was
political commissar.