Deployment for Actions on the Beiping-Gubeikou Line and in the Eastern Rehe Region[1]

(May 19, 1946)

Nie and Liu, and for the information of Ye and Luo, He and Li, Xiao and Cheng[2]:

Your telegram of 17:00 on the 17th[3] noted. (1) The two columns under Guo Tianmin and Yang Chengwu[4] should halt at their present positions and take no action. The Beiping-Gubeikou line[5] and the front at Nankou should be kept quiet, and the Beiping-Hankou Railway[6] should not be damaged or destroyed. (2) Toward Fu Zuoyi[7] we should maintain calm and strengthen liaison. (3) The destruction of railways in eastern Rehe is because the other side has broken the agreement by transferring large numbers of troops to the Northeast to expand the civil war (the 5th Division was transferred from Rehe to attack Yingkou and Haicheng, and the 195th Division was transferred from Rehe to attack Sipingjie[8]). We should retaliate for this and prevent

[1] This was a telegram drafted by Mao Zedong for the Military Commission of the CPC Central Committee to Nie Rongzhen, Commander and Political Commissar of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region, and Liu Lantao, Deputy Political Commissar.

[2] Ye and Luo refer to Ye Jianying and Luo Ruiqing, who were then, respectively, the CPC member and the CPC chief of staff at the Executive Headquarters of the Peiping Military Mediation Commission. He and Li refer to He Long and Li Jingquan, who were then, respectively, Commander and Political Commissar of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Military Region. Xiao and Cheng refer to Xiao Ke and Cheng Zihua, who were then, respectively, Commander and Political Commissar of the Hebei-Rehe-Liaoning Military Region.

[3] This apparently refers to the telegram sent by Nie Rongzhen, Liu Lantao, Tang Yanjie, and Zeng Yongquan at 11:00 on May 17, 1946, to the Military Commission of the CPC Central Committee and to Ye Jianying and Luo Ruiqing concerning the eastward incursion of Fu Zuoyi’s Kuomintang forces and our army’s operations on the Beiping-Suiyuan and Beiping-Hankou Railways.

[4] Guo Tianmin was then Commander of the Hebei-Chahar Column of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region. Yang Chengwu was then Commander of the Central Hebei Column of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region.

[5] The Beiping-Gubeikou line refers to the railway from Beiping (present-day Beijing) to Gubeikou.

[6] The Beiping-Hankou Railway refers to the railway from Beiping (present-day Beijing) to Hankou, i.e., a section of the present-day Beijing-Guangzhou line.

[7] Fu Zuoyi was then Commander of the 12th War Zone of the Kuomintang.

[8] Sipingjie, the old city name, refers to present-day Siping, Jilin Province.

further transfers by them. (4) In eastern Rehe, emphasis should be placed on destroying the railways, especially the two sections between Chaoyang and Lingyuan and between Lingyuan and Pingquan. The roadbeds should be dug up and all bridges blown up to make repairs difficult for the diehards, and a section should be brought under our control if possible. In addition, emphasis should be placed on recovering the Jianping area.