Campaigns and Tactics Both Require
Concentrating the Fighting Forces to Ensure
Victory
(November 9, 1946)
To Xiao [Hua], Jiang [Hua], Cheng [Shicai], and Luo [Shunchu]; and for the
information of Lin [Biao]1 and Ximan and Dongman:2
The experience you gained from this campaign3 is very good.
	 1.	 The first time, when you assembled five regiments to strike the Twenty-fifth
Division, you were unable to succeed. The second time (from October 31 to
November 2), when you assembled eight regiments to strike this division,
you were victorious. During future campaigns, whenever you are going to
fight somewhat larger battles, always amass eight or ten regiments of troops;
ideally, you should be able to assemble twelve regiments to be assured of victory. Concentrating your fighting forces is imperative during the campaign.
	 2.	 Tactically you also need to concentrate your soldiers. You encircled the
Twenty-fifth Division on October 31 and launched nine attacks on November
1, but all were unsuccessful. At daybreak on November 2, you concentrated
your artillery fire and broke through a point at Nanbeishan, after which you
were able to expand your victory and entirely eliminate this division in half
a day. You should follow this approach in all future campaigns.
The Military Commission
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Notes

Our source for this text is Mao Zedong junshi wenji, Vol. 3, pp. 555–56, where it is
reproduced from Mao’s handwritten manuscript preserved in the Central Archives.
1.  Mao Zedong drafted this telegram on behalf of the Central Military Commission.
Xiao Hua was commander and political commissar of the Liaodong Military Region, and
Jiang Hua (1907–1999, native of Hunan) was deputy political commissar; Cheng Shicai
and Luo Shunchu were commander and political commissar, respectively, of the Third Column of the Liaoning Military Region. Lin Biao was commander-in-chief and political commissar of the Northeast Democratic Allied Army.
2.  Ximan and Dongman were military regions of the Northeast Democratic Allied
Army, under the command of Huang Kecheng and Zhou Baozhong, respectively.
3.  This refers to the Xinkailing Campaign of October 25–November 2, 1946, during
which the Northeast Democratic Allied Army’s Fourth Column in the Liaodong (Nanman)
Military Region annihilated 8,000 troops of the Twenty-fifth Division of the Guomindang’s
Fifty-second Army.
DOI:  10.4324/9781315719511-244