Capture Huoxian and Lingshi and Wait for the Opportunity to Wipe Out Hu Zongnan’s Army[1]

(August 19, 1946)

Comrades Chen and Xie:

(1) We are very pleased to learn that you have captured Zhaocheng.[2] We hope that, in co-ordination with the 24th Brigade, you will quickly capture Huoxian and, when the opportunity arises, Lingshi. (2) The first step in Hu’s[3] northward advance is to open up the Wenxi-Linfen section. We should use one brigade to delay his movement so as to gain time to capture Huoxian and Lingshi and create a battlefield, and then, when Hu’s army continues its northward advance, wipe it out unit by unit.

The Military Commission of the Central Committee of the CPC

Weihao

[1] This telegram was drafted by Mao Zedong for the Military Commission of the CPC Central Committee and addressed to Chen Geng, commander of the 4th Column of the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Field Army, and Xie Fuzhi, its political commissar.

[2] Zhaocheng, formerly a county, was merged with Hongdong County in 1954 to form Hongzhao County, which was renamed Hongdong County in 1958. On August 17, 1946, the 4th Column of the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Field Army captured Zhaocheng.

[3] Hu Zongnan, then Commander of the 1st War Zone of the Kuomintang army.