We Should Transfer Many of Our Forces
Northward to Defend Changchun and
Chahar
 (April 21, 1946)
To Lin [Biao] and Peng [Zhen]:1
In the past, Chiang’s army focused its fighting on the south. This assumed
that the Soviet troops stationed in Changchun and Harbin would not withdraw
rapidly. Now the center of warfare by the Chiang army has shifted to the north,
with the aim of taking Changchun and Harbin. Hence, many of our forces in
southern Manchuria2 should be transferred to the north. In addition, they should
advance on the double so we can amass superior forces, annihilate large numbers
of the enemy (at least three or four divisions), and defend Changchun and Harbin.
Everything will be decided by victory on the battlefield. Do not place any hope
on the negotiations.
The Central Committee
Our source for this text is Mao Zedong junshi wenji, Vol. 3, pp. 180–81, where it is
reproduced from Mao’s handwritten manuscript preserved in the Central Archives. It can

--- Notes

1.  Mao Zedong drafted this telegram on behalf of the Central Committee of the Chi
nese Communist Party. Lin Biao was commander-in-chief of the Northeast Democratic
Allied Army, and Peng Zhen was first political commissar of the Northeast Democratic
Allied Army.
2.  Southern Manchuria refers to the central Liaoning area east of the Shenyang-Dalian
section of the Chinese Changchun railway, which encompassed Andong (today’s Dandong),
Zhuanghe, Tonghua, Linjiang, Qingyuan, and southeastern Shenyang.
DOI:  10.4324/9781315719511-121