Resist the Chiang Army Landing at Yingkou and Huludao to Compel Its Slow Advance[1]

(October 31, 1945)

Peng Zhen:

(1) Your telegram of 04:00 on the 31st [2] received. Time is extremely pressing, and even if there are troops, it is too late; the fact that Liu Zhuanlian and Yang Guofu [3] have only just begun to arrive is proof. (2) Please strictly urge all units that have already reached eastern Hebei and crossed the sea from Shandong to be certain to pass the line of Haicheng and Jinzhou before November 12. Huang Kecheng [4] will not reach Yutian until November 10, and in the future will have no choice but to make a detour to Taonan [5]. (3) The Chiang army landing at Yingkou and Huludao

must be resisted; it may be possible to compel the Chiang army to slow its advance, and we can gain time. (4) Chiang [1] has only two armies entering Manchuria, which have just now begun shipping from Haiphong [2] and Guangzhou; the force currently planning to land at Huludao appears to be a small unit coming from Tianjin. If we can have 100,000 troops capable of fighting, it may be possible to annihilate them in field operations, and we must determine this policy and deploy according to this policy. (5) Urge Liu Qiren and Wen Niansheng [3] to speedily proceed to Shenyang and not go to Rehe [4]. Huang Kecheng will pass the Beiping-Tianjin line in a few days.

Mao

18:00, 31st

--- Notes

[1] This is a telegram from Mao Zedong to Peng Zhen, Secretary of the Northeast Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and First Political Commissar of the Northeast People’s Self-Defense Army. On the same day, the CPC Central Committee decided that the troops entering the Northeast be organized as the Northeast People’s Self-Defense Army, with Lin Biao as Commander-in-Chief, Lü Zhengcao and Li Yunchang as First and Second Deputy Commanders respectively, Xiao Jinguang as Third Deputy Commander and Chief of Staff, Peng Zhen and Luo Ronghuan as First and Second Political Commissars respectively, and Cheng Zihua as Deputy Political Commissar.


[1] Chiang, refers to Chiang Kai-shek.


[2] Refers to the telegram from Peng Zhen to Lin Biao, Xiao Jinguang, and the CPC Central Committee on October 31, 1945. The telegram stated: (1) The Soviet army has permitted the Chiang army to land at Yingkou on October 30; the Chiang army will advance to the Shenyang-Fuxin line by November 20, and the Soviet army will completely withdraw; request Lin and Xiao to come quickly to Shenyang to discuss deployment. (2) To deal with the Chiang army landing, it is planned to organize and dispatch two brigades to undertake operations in the Jinzhou sector, and three brigades to undertake operations in the Yingkou sector. If agreed, please order the relevant units to rush to Shenyang overnight; time is pressing and cannot be further delayed.


[2] Haiphong, a port city in northeastern Vietnam. At that time, a portion of the Kuomintang army, after accepting the surrender of the Japanese army invading Vietnam, was being shipped to the Northeast via this route.


[3] Liu Zhuanlian, then serving as Commander of the Second Guerrilla Detachment of the Eighth Route Army. Yang Guofu, then serving as Commander of the Seventh Division of the Shandong Military Region. They were leading their troops to the Northeast.


[3] Liu Qiren, then serving as Deputy Political Commissar of the Bohai Military Region of the Eighth Route Army, was leading three regiments of the Bohai Military Region in an advance toward Rehe. Wen Niansheng, then serving as Commander of the Third Guerrilla Detachment of the Eighth Route Army, was being transferred to Rehe.


[4] Huang Kecheng, then serving as Commander and concurrently Political Commissar of the Third Division of the New Fourth Army.


[4] Rehe, former province name, encompassing the northeastern part of present-day Hebei Province, the southwestern part of Liaoning Province, and the southeastern part of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region; abolished in 1955.

[5] Taonan, former county name, merged with Baicheng County in 1958 to form Taonan County, Jilin Province.