Wang Chen’s Unit Should Resolutely Disperse on the Spot and Fight the Enemy in Small Circles[1]

(August 11, 1946)

Wang Chen:

(1) Because the Liu-Deng Army has launched an offensive on the Longhai Line[2] (preparing to cross the new Yellow River), it has forced Liu Zhi[3] to transfer two brigades from southern and western Henan to Kaifeng. Henan is now empty, and the enemy’s 3rd Division has also been transferred from southern Shaanxi to Kaifeng, reducing enemy pressure along the Dan River[4]. (2) After Li Wen Ren’s[5] various units dispersed on the basis of battalions, the enemy became helpless. (3) Your unit should resolutely disperse on the spot and fight the enemy in small circles; as long as it is a small force, it can pass back and forth through the gaps in the enemy lines. Act according to the situation.

Military Commission

2400 hours, 11th

[1] This is a telegram drafted by Mao Zedong for the Central Military Commission of the CPC Central Committee, addressed to Wang Chen, Deputy Commander and Chief of Staff of the Central Plains Military Region.

[2] This refers to the offensive on the Longhai Line launched on August 10, 1946, by the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Field Army under the command of Commander Liu Bocheng and Political Commissar Deng Xiaoping.

[3] Liu Zhi was then Director of the Kuomintang’s Zhengzhou Pacification Headquarters.

[4] The Dan River refers to the Danjiang River in southeastern Shaanxi.

[5] Li Wen Ren refers to Li Xiannian, Wen Jianwu, and Ren Zhibin, who were then respectively Commander of the Central Plains Military Region, Commander of the 2nd Column, and Political Commissar.