Plan for the Capture of Guisui[1]

(November 14, 1945)

Nie and He:

Guisui[2] has withstood our prolonged siege. Our forces should use a part of their strength to keep Guisui under surveillance, while the main force swiftly advances westward to capture Baotou, Wuyuan, and Linhe, thereby isolating the diehard forces of Fu[3] in Guisui. When their food supplies are exhausted and all hope of relief is gone, they will inevitably try to break out. We can then wipe them out in the field and finally capture Guisui. Let us know your views.

Military Commission of the Central Committee

Hanxu

[1] This telegram was drafted by Mao Zedong for the Military Commission of the CPC Central Committee and addressed to Nie Rongzhen, commander and concurrently political commissar of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Area, and He Long, commander of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Military Area.

[2] Guisui was a city in the former Suiyuan Province. It is now Hohhot, Inner Mongolia.

[3] Fu Tso-yi, then Commander of the 12th War Zone of the Kuomintang army.