Must Use Every Method to Destroy the Enemy on the Southern Front[1]

(June 11, 1946)

Zhang, Su, Deng, Tan, and inform Chen[2]:

Your telegram of the 6th[3] noted. (1) The Kuomintang has attacked the area east of the Huainan Railway[4] and is now also attacking the area west of the railway and the Nantong district. Our taking the initiative in attacking a certain Kuomintang area poses no political problem. (2) Militarily, whether or not to attack Yiling and Baita should be decided by you based on the actual situation. (3) We must use every method to destroy the enemy on the southern front and defend the various districts on the southern front with a population of nine million.

Central Committee

Yizhen

[1] This was a telegram drafted by Mao Zedong for the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, addressed to Zhang Dingcheng, Commander of the Central China Military Region; Su Yu, Deputy Commander; Deng Zihui, Political Commissar; and Tan Zhenlin, Deputy Political Commissar and Director of the Political Department.

[2] Chen refers to Chen Yi, then Commander of the New Fourth Army and concurrently Commander of the Shandong Military Region.

[3] Refers to the telegram sent by the Central China Military Region on June 6, 1946, to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the Headquarters of the New Fourth Army, and for the information of the Huaibei and Huainan Military Regions. The telegram stated: It is highly probable that four main armies of the Kuomintang, using Taizhou as their base of operations, will attack and capture Xinghua, Dongtai, and Gaoyou. If we lose Dongtai and Xinghua, we will be unable to hold the prosperous area of central Jiangsu with its population of nine million. To reverse this unfavorable situation, our army is determined to concentrate its forces to attack Yiling and Baita on the Yangzhou-Taizhou line, drawing out the main forces of the Kuomintang for a decisive battle, seeking to fight two or three major engagements there, destroy two to three enemy divisions, and seize the opportunity to capture Taizhou, thereby consolidating the southern front. It is suggested that a portion of the Shandong troops launch an early attack on Haizhou to deter the Kuomintang troops from moving south.

[4] The area east of the Huainan Railway refers to the area east of the Tianjin-Pukou Railway (now the Tianjin-Pukou section of the Beijing-Shanghai line) under the jurisdiction of the Huainan Military Region of Central China.