Arrangements for Action Following
Elimination of the Third Division
(September 4, 1946)
To Liu [Bocheng] and Deng [Xiaoping]:1
	 1.	 If you still have enough reserve forces that have not been used, or if the
main forces did not suffer major casualties, you can fight another campaign.
After wiping out the Third Division, immediately move your forces to the
Dongming area and eliminate the two regiments2 of the Sichuan army near
Dongming. Make sure that we have Dongming in hand; this will be very
beneficial.
	 2.	 If you do not have enough reserve troops, or if the main forces suffered
heavy casualties and are not suitable for continued fighting, it would be beneficial for you to rest and reorganize for a few days and wait for the right
opportunity to resume fighting.
	 3.	 Xue Yue’s3 main direction of attack is in the east. It seems that the task of
the Eleventh Division (one brigade), Fifth Division (two brigades), and other
units now along the Feng county-Dangshan-Xiayi line under Xue Yue’s
command is to assist in the attack rather than be involved in the main attack.
The main attack forces facing you are the seven brigades of Sun Zhen’s4
group.
The Military Commission

Our source for this text is Mao Zedong junshi wenji, Vol. 3, pp. 457–58, where it is
reproduced from Mao’s handwritten manuscript preserved in the Central Archives.

--- Notes

1.  Mao Zedong drafted this telegram on behalf of the Central Military Commission.
Liu Bocheng was commander and Deng Xiaoping was political commissar, respectively, of
the Jin-Ji-Lu-Yu (Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan) Field Army.

2.  This refers to the 311th Regiment of the Guomindang’s Reorganized Forty-first Division and the 374th Regiment of the Guomindang’s Reorganized Forty-seventh Division.

3.  Xue Yue was director of the Guomindang’s Xuzhou Pacification Office.

4.  Sun Zhen was deputy director of the Guomindang’s Zhengzhou Pacification Office
and commander of the Fifth Pacification Zone.
DOI:  10.4324/9781315719511-222