Great Victory in the Battle of Self-Defense by
Our Forces in Southern Hebei1
(November 4, 1945)
(Xinhua News Agency urgent dispatch from Hebei-Shandong-Henan) More than
100,000 Guomindang troops advanced northward along the [Bei]ping-[Wu]
han railway and occupied our Liberated Areas in northern Henan and southern Hebei. The units that invaded our Ci county and Handan areas are the
Thirtieth Army, the Fortieth Army, and the eight divisions of the New Eighth
Army, totaling approximately 70,000 troops. Our forces and people in that
region, proceeding from a position of self-defense, carried out a counterattack and won a great victory. Among the invading forces, the New Eighth
Army is opposed to civil war and staged an uprising on the battlefield, rendering powerful assistance to our battle of self-defense.
From mid-September onward, following secret instructions from He
Yingqin, Hu Zongnan, commander-in-chief of the Guomindang’s First War
Zone, transferred troops from various places to engage in fierce attacks on our
Liberated Areas in northern Henan. One after another, he took the seven cities
of Fengqiu, Yanjing, Yuanwu, Wushi, Huojia, Huixian, and Tangyin, as well as
many towns and broad areas of the countryside in our Liberated Areas in northern
Henan. Everywhere they went, they engaged in “clean-up operations,” destroying popularly elected governments, slaughtering cadres who resisted Japan, and
family members of soldiers who participated in combat against Japanese forces,
seizing and pillaging people’s property and raping women. The people have
been subjected to great suffering and cannot contain their anger. Nonetheless,
our Eighth Route Army, for the sake of the great design of peace and unity, continued to make one concession after another, and in the end withdrew north of
the Zhanghe River. Under these circumstances, the Guomindang authorities still believed that their various units were advancing too slowly. They
ordered Hu Zongnan to secretly fly to Zhengzhou, distribute the Handbook
on Bandit Suppression, “eliminate bandits” resolutely, and compel Mr. Sun
Lianzhong, commander-in-chief of the Eleventh War Zone, to order all his
Our source for this document is Mao Zedong xinwen gongzuo wenxuan, pp. 345–47. It
is from a section of the volume containing texts issued in the name of Xinhua News Agency
that were revised by Mao. We have followed the pattern of the Chinese edition by using
bold type for passages added or substantially altered by Mao.
DOI:  10.4324/9781315719511-73

units to attack within a specified time limit. On October 21, Gao Shuxun’s
New Eighth Army, Ma Fawu’s Fortieth Army, and the Thirtieth Army of Lu
Chongyi [1898–1994, native of Shandong], under strict orders and supervision, crossed the Anyang River (the Zhanghe River) and advanced northward in
separate columns. On the 23rd, they occupied our Ci county. On the 24th, they
occupied our Matouzhen and advanced to attack Wu’an and Handan. It was only
from this time on that our forces and people in southern Hebei began to rise up
in self-defense. On October 25, our forces staged a counterattack, recovered Ci
county, and surrounded the various invading units. At the same time, our forces
tried to persuade the officers and men of the various invading units to put an
emphasis on domestic peace, democracy, and unity, requesting that they immediately refuse to carry out orders to engage in civil war. On October 30, General
Gao Shuxun, deputy commander-in-chief of the Eleventh War Zone, deeply
conscious of the righteousness of this cause, responded to the appeal made by
our forces and people. He led all the officers and men of the New Eighth Army
directly under his command (including two divisions, the Temporary Twentyninth Division and the New Sixth Division) to carry out an uprising, reject the
order of the Guomindang reactionaries to “suppress bandits,” end the civil war,
and come over to the side of the Chinese people. But the commanders of some
units of the Fortieth and Thirtieth armies who had not yet been awakened
continued to attack us. In the evening of the 30th, our forces were compelled to
launch a general counteroffensive. After one day of an intense battle, by the 31st
both armies were defeated in succession. By this time, most of the officers and
men in these two armies were willing to lay down their weapons and only a
few of their troops, numbering around 2,000 to 3,000 men, fled southward. The
high-ranking officers who laid down their arms include, among others, Ma
Fawu, deputy commander of the Eleventh War Zone; Song Kentang, chief-of-staff of the Eleventh War Zone; Si Guangkai (sic.) [Si Yuankai], commander
of the Thirty-ninth Division of the Fortieth Army; Li Zhenqing, commander of the
106th Division; Wang Zhen, commander of the Thirtieth Division of the Thirtieth
Army; and Li Xuezheng, commander of the Sixty-seventh Division. The people
of our Liberated Areas in southern Hebei are now rewarding General Gao
Shuxun as well as all other officers and men in his forces who oppose civil war
and have come over to the side of the people. Regarding these high-ranking
officers as well as all other officers and men of the Thirtieth and Fortieth
armies who laid down their arms, they will also be treated well. Many among
them state that the Guomindang authorities, particularly He Yingqin and
Hu Zongnan, have been using the pretext of restoring transportation routes
to carry out the policy of “suppressing bandits” and to invade the Liberated
Areas. They say that this in fact goes counter to the wishes of the majority of
the people. They are willing to recount in detail how they were forced to stage
the invasion and from now on they will be on the side of peace and democracy. All three divisions of the Thirtieth Army are equipped with U.S. arms

and are known to be combat-hardened. The Fortieth Army is also renowned
for its skill in combat. Like the New Eighth Army, they both played a significant role in the War of Resistance Against Japan. In no way can they be
compared to those corrupt forces that took to their heels without firing a
shot or those who sat there waiting for victory. This time, they were forced
to engage in the effort to “suppress the bandits” and prosecute the civil war.
They advanced reluctantly under strict orders and supervision. But because
this went counter to the wishes of the majority of officers and men, no sooner
had the battle begun, they were routed. Even though they were armed with
American weapons, they still could not win. Among the weapons captured
by our forces are many anti-aircraft guns and rocket launchers. Many of
the documents on “suppressing bandits” issued to them by the Guomindang
have also been seized and are now being processed.