Achieving Victories in the Battles at Siping
and Benxi Is Key at Present
 (April 6, 1946)
To Comrade Lin Biao, and for the information of Peng [Zhen]:1
	 1.	 As indicated in Lin’s telegram of the 4th from Siping, it is quite right to
amass six brigades to wipe out the enemy in Siping District. If there is even
the slightest hesitation within the Party, it must absolutely be overcome. We
hope that in the Siping area you will wipe out all or most of the northwardbound enemy forces in a series of hand-to-hand combats. Even if our forces
suffer thousands of casualties, we should not regret it. Liu [Bocheng] and
Deng [Xiaoping]2 won a great victory in the Handan Campaign3 last winter
after a dozen days of fighting and suffering 8,000 casualties. This should be
your example.
	 2.	 We also hope you can gather enough forces to wipe out one division of the
attacking enemy forces at Benxi.
	 3.	 The situation in the Northeast will take a turn for the better if you can win the
aforementioned campaigns. The Guomindang now has seven armies, including the Ninety-fourth Army and Jiang Pengfei4 puppet troops. These two
units are either incomplete or weak; the armies they plan to transfer here
will not be able to arrive for more than half a year. Besides, they include the

Yunnan troops of Long Yun5 and other second-class forces, which is a big
advantage. If we can organize many strong campaigns within three months
to half a year and wipe out six to nine divisions of the attacking enemy, we
will be able to train ourselves, set the enemy back, and open a bright future.
To achieve this objective, you must be prepared to suffer tens of thousands
of casualties. Only if you are willing to pay such a price will you be able to
create a new situation. But for the next few days, the key is to achieve victory
in Siping and Benxi.
	 4.	 Never let up on exterminating the bandits and mobilizing the masses in the
rear of every military region, and at the same time we hope you will closely
supervise this.
The Central Committee

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Notes

Our source for this telegram is Mao Zedong junshi wenji, Vol. 3, pp. 159–60. It can also
be found in a slightly less complete form in Mao Zedong junshi wenxuan. Neibuben, pp.
274–75 (with notes on p. 278).

--- Notes

1.  Mao Zedong drafted this telegram on behalf of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party to the commander-in-chief of the Northeast Democratic Allied
Army, Lin Biao, and for the information of the first political commissar of the Northeast
Democratic Allied Army, Peng Zhen.

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

3.  The Handan Campaign, also known as the Pinghan Campaign, occurring from late
October to early November 1945, resulted in the People’s Liberation Army eliminating
more than 20,000 Guomindang troops and capturing Ma Fawu, deputy commander of the
Eleventh Military Region and commander of the Fortieth Army.

4.  Jiang Pengfei (1907–1946, born in what is present-day Dalian) was commander of
the Guomindang’s New Twenty-seventh Army, which was reorganized from the puppet
“Iron Stone Troops.”
DOI:  10.4324/9781315719511-106

5.  Long Yun (1884–1962, Yi nationality, native of Yunnan) was a warlord and governor
of Yunnan Province until he was overthrown by Du Yuming in October 1945, as ordered
by Chiang Kaishek.