It Is More Advantageous for Su Yu’s Troops to Continue Operating in the Central Jiangsu Theatre for a Period[1]

(August 12, 1946)

Comrades Chen and Song:

The second victorious battle[2] fought by Su Yu’s army in Central Jiangsu a few days ago has not only plunged the Chiang Kai-shek troops in Central Jiangsu into great difficulties but will also make it impossible for the Fifth Army to be shifted north from Huainan. Su Yu’s troops are familiar with the local conditions and popular feeling in Central Jiangsu, can easily obtain supplies, and have the advantage of favourable terrain; besides, the enemy troops in Central Jiangsu are inferior in equipment to the Fifth Army and are therefore easier to defeat. If we transfer Su Yu’s troops to Huainan immediately, they may not necessarily succeed in cutting the Bengbu-Pukou railway,[3] because the enemy there is tough and the terrain is difficult. It would be better to let Su Yu’s troops continue to operate in the Central Jiangsu theatre for a period, fight one or two more victorious battles, force the Chiang Kai-shek troops in Central Jiangsu over to the defensive completely and preserve the Central Jiangsu Liberated Area. This will be of immense benefit to the situation as a whole. Such an arrangement will be more advantageous for coordinating operations on the Huaibei front.

The Military Commission of the Central Committee

Wei-wen

[1] This telegram was drafted by Mao Zedong for the Military Commission of the CPC Central Committee and addressed to Chen Yi, commander and concurrently political commissar of the Shandong Field Army, and Song Shilun, its chief of staff.
[2] This refers to the Libao battle in the Central Jiangsu campaign. On the night of August 10, 1946, under the command of Su Yu, commander of the Central China Field Army, its main force suddenly attacked Libao in Hai’an County, taking the enemy by surprise while the headquarters and one regiment of the Kuomintang’s reorganized 7th Brigade were changing garrisons with the headquarters and one regiment of the 105th Brigade. By the afternoon of August 11, the two brigade headquarters and the two regiments were completely wiped out. On the same day, another regiment of the reorganized 7th Brigade, which was on its way from Hai’an to Libao to take over the garrison, was also wiped out. In the Libao battle, over 9,000 enemy troops were wiped out.
[3] The Bengbu-Pukou railway, a section of the present Beijing-Shanghai line.