Proposal that the Main Force of the Central China Field Army Move Immediately to Mobile Positions at Lianghuai[1]

(September 11, 1946)

Chen, Zhang, Deng, Su, Tan:

According to a telegram from Chen, the enemy is using three units—the 7th Army, the 74th Army, and the 28th Army—to attack southward toward Siyang and Lianghuai.[2] In addition to acting on the dispositions in Chen’s telegram, with Chen leading the 2nd, 7th, and 8th Divisions and the 9th Column to resolutely annihilate this enemy (be prepared to go through brutal combat), it is proposed: (1) Su and Tan lead the main force to move immediately to mobile positions at Lianghuai. After arriving, if the enemy advancing from the north to the south has already been annihilated, then rest and regroup at Lianghuai to await opportunities, or coordinate with the 2nd, 7th, and 8th Divisions to use full strength to open up the Huaihai situation, or attack southward to take the Yangtai[3] line, or move east of the Huainan Railway to annihilate the enemy. (2) The munitions factories in the rear area of Lianghuai are to be moved eastward immediately to prepare for any contingency.

Military Commission

Shenzhen

[1] This is a telegram drafted by Mao Zedong for the Military Commission of the CPC Central Committee, addressed to Chen Yi, Commander and Political Commissar of the Shandong Field Army; Zhang Dingcheng, Commander of the Central China Military Region; Deng Zihui, Political Commissar; and Su Yu, Commander, and Tan Zhenlin, Political Commissar of the Central China Field Army.

[2] Lianghuai refers to Huaiyin and Huai’an in Jiangsu Province.

[3] Yangtai refers to Yangzhou and Taizhou in Jiangsu Province.