Quickly Assemble the Main Force in Concealment and Prepare to Strike the Enemy Advancing Northward[1]

(September 4, 1946)

Chen and Xie:

Your telegram of September 3[2] received. The possibility of Chiang’s army advancing northward is extremely high. Your decision to concentrate the main force to deal resolute blows to the diehard enemy advancing northward is entirely correct. It is hoped that you will swiftly move the main force to mobile positions, assemble in concealment, and prepare for operations, with the objective of annihilating one brigade of the diehard enemy.

Military Commission

September 4

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[1] This is a telegram drafted by Mao Zedong for the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China to Chen Geng, commander of the Fourth Column of the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Field Army, and Xie Fuzhi, its political commissar. In mid-August 1946, when the Chen-Xie Column launched an offensive between Lingshi and Hongdong in Shanxi, Hu Zongnan, commander of the First War Zone of the Kuomintang army, hastily assembled the Reorganized 30th Division and the 1st Brigade of the Reorganized 1st Division, totaling four brigades, to advance northward along the Tongpu Railway and its eastern flank toward the Linfen-Yicheng area, attempting to coordinate with Yan Xishan’s forces moving south from Pingyao and Jiexiu to pincer-attack the Fourth Column in the Hongdong-Zhaocheng area. Acting on instructions from the CPC Central Military Commission, the Chen-Xie Column assembled in concealment in the Hongdong area and, from September 22 to 24, achieved victory by annihilating the 1st Brigade of the enemy’s Reorganized 1st Division.

[2] Refers to the telegram sent by Chen Geng, Xie Fuzhi, Han Jun, and Yang Qiqing on September 3, 1946, to the CPC Central Military Commission and Bo Yibo and Wang Hongkun. The telegram stated: It is estimated that the diehard enemy is now attempting to clear our forces from southern Shanxi and begin advancing northward. Apart from employing sub-district units to actively wage guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines to strike the enemy, we are preparing the main force to deliver resolute blows to the diehard enemy advancing northward.