On the Warfare in Shandong and
Central China
 (October 22, 1945)
To Zhang [Yunyi], Rao [Shushi], and Lai [Chuanzhu], and for the information of
Luo [Ronghuan], Li [Zuopeng], Chen [Yi], and Li [Yu]:1
	 1.	 We received the telegram of October 20 from Chen Yi and Li Yu [which
informs us that] the Eighth Division of our army in Shandong has taken Zou
county, controls more than 40 li of the railway line, wiped out more than
2,000 of the diehard enemy and puppet troops, and is prepared to wipe out
the diehard troops that are continuing to advance. Apart from this, the Third
and Fourth divisions of our army in Shandong have taken Dawenkou 2 and
control 20 li of the railway line.
	 2.	 We hope that our New Fourth Field Army will expand its occupied area in
the region near the railway line between Bangfu and Xuzhou and concentrate
its main forces to wipe out the enemy.
	 3.	 So long as we control part of the railway line, the diehards are definitely
going to attack, and the campaign will become bigger and bigger as it goes
on. Our army must therefore first of all expand the occupied region both to
the north and to the south to create a battlefield that is advantageous for fighting a mobile war. Second, we must assemble large and powerful field armies.
Shandong and Central China must each have a field army of about 35,000
to 40,000, and they should also consider recruitment after continuous campaigns, and the mobilization of militiamen to assist the campaign. The local
Party and administrative institutions should volunteer to assist the campaign.
Shandong and Central China should each have the objective of wiping out
40,000 to 50,000 diehard troops. Third, for the purpose of amassing to wipe
out the diehard forces, Shandong and Central China should each have only
one principal line of attack, with the rest all being subordinate lines of attack.
Do not disperse your strength.
	 4.	 In the Shangdang Campaign in Shanxi, a main force of 31,000 assisted by
50,000 militiamen fighting several consecutive campaigns during forty days
eliminated 38,000 of the troops of diehard Yan. 3 Apart from the 4,000 or
so that escaped, more than 33,000 were wiped out and we captured a great
many; this may be considered a model campaign. At present, Liu [Bocheng]
and Deng [Xiaoping] 4 have assembled a field army of 60,000 and are ready
to wipe out 40,000 of the 80,000 enemy troops that are marching northward
from Xinxiang. Nie Rongzhen and He Long 5 have amassed a field army of
50,000 men and are wiping out most or all of the 50,000 diehard enemy
troops in eastern Suiyuan. If you can fight several excellent campaigns of
annihilation, it will have a great impact on the overall situation.

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Notes

Our source for this text is Mao Zedong junshi wenxuan. Neibuben, pp. 271–72; it also
appears in Mao Zedong junshi wenji, Vol. 3, pp. 67–68.

--- Notes

1.  Mao Zedong drafted this telegram on behalf of the Central Military Commission.
Zhang Yunyi was deputy commander of the New Fourth Army, Rao Shushi was political
commissar, and Lai Chuanzhu was chief-of-staff. Luo Ronghuan (1902–1963, native of
Hunan) was commander and political commissar of the Shandong Military Region, and
Li Zuopeng (1914–2009, native of Jiangxi) was chief-of-staff; at this time, they were preparing to go to Shandong. Chen Yi (1901–1972, born in Sichuan) was commander of the
New Fourth Army, and Li Yu (1906–1986, native of Guoxian, Shanxi) was commander and
deputy political commissar of the Shandong Military Region.

2.  Dawenkou is the name of a village south of Tai’an, Shandong Province.
DOI:  10.4324/9781315719511-52

3.  Diehard Yan is Yan Xishan, commander of the Guomindang’s Second War Zone.

4.  Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping were the commander and political commissar,
respectively, of the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Military Region.

5.  Nie Rongzhen was commander and political commissar of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei
Military Region. He Long (1896–1969, native of Hunan) was commander of the ShaanxiGansu-Ningxia-Suiyuan Joint Defense Force and field commander of the Shanxi-Suiyuan
Military Region.