After the Campaign of Juancheng Ends, We Should Strike Westward[1]

(November 1, 1946)

Liu and Deng:

(1) The annihilation of two of the four regiments that Liu Ruming[2] sent to attack Juancheng is very good and most gratifying. We hope you will continue to annihilate the remaining two regiments and basically finish off the 68th Division. After the campaign of Juancheng ends, rest and consolidate for about ten days, then strike westward. Use the method of destroying the enemy one by one to annihilate the bulk of the two groups under Sun Zhen[3] and Liu Ruming, isolate Qiu and Hu[4], and then finish off Qiu and Hu. (2) After their victory in the operation at Lianshui, our army under Su and Tan[5] has launched the operation south of Lianshui. They have already finished off the 192nd Brigade of the 28th Division and are now attacking the 74th Division.

Military Commission

Xudong

[1] This is a telegram drafted by Mao Zedong for the Military Commission of the CPC Central Committee, addressed to Commander Liu Bocheng and Political Commissar Deng Xiaoping of the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Field Army.

[2] Liu Ruming was then Commander of the Fourth Pacification Zone of the Kuomintang army.

[3] Sun Zhen was then Commander of the Fifth Pacification Zone of the Kuomintang army.

[4] Qiu refers to Qiu Qingquan, then Commander of the Fifth Army of the Kuomintang army. Hu refers to Hu Lian, then Commander of the Reorganized 11th Division of the Kuomintang army.

[5] Su and Tan refer to Su Yu and Tan Zhenlin, then Commander and Political Commissar of the Central China Field Army, respectively.