Concentrate Forces to Annihilate the 118th Brigade and the 11th Brigade[1]

(August 19, 1946)

Comrades Liu and Deng:

Regarding the matter of the lost order[2], there is as yet no direct reaction. However, the enemy’s 118th Brigade and 11th Brigade have already launched an offensive against you, and you should now concentrate your forces to annihilate this enemy[3]. You must prepare to employ the method of destroying the enemy one by one, wiping out one brigade at a time, and only by winning several consecutive victories can the problem be resolved. When attacking one brigade, you must concentrate your main force to first annihilate one of its regiments, and then proceed to annihilate the other regiment.

Military Commission
Wei Hao You

[1] This telegram was drafted by Mao Zedong for the Military Commission of the CPC Central Committee and addressed to Commander Liu Bocheng and Political Commissar Deng Xiaoping of the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Field Army.
[2] On August 17, 1946, Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping reported to the Military Commission of the CPC Central Committee that the Kuomintang troops at Kaocheng had raided the 6th Column of the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Field Army, and among the documents lost by the column’s Political Department was a written order for the second phase of the Field Army’s operation in the campaign along the Lanzhou-Lianyungang Railway.
[3] In another telegram drafted by Mao Zedong for the Military Commission of the CPC Central Committee to Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping on August 19, 1946, it was stated: “The degree of concentration of our forces should preferably be four to one, or at least three to one.”