It Is Advisable to Concentrate the Main Force in Southern Shandong to Annihilate the 26th Division[1]

(December 24, 1946)

Comrades Chen, Su, and Tan; Comrades Zhang and Deng[2]; and for the information of Comrades Zhang and Li[3]:

Your telegram of the 24th[4] has been received. It seems inadvisable to disperse the main force. If we give up attacking the 74th Division, it would appear more advantageous to concentrate a force of about twenty-five regiments (including the 4th Division, the 9th Division, the 10th Column[5], and the Garrison Brigade) in the southern Shandong area to annihilate the 26th Division, force Feng Zhian’s[6] troops to retreat, and then, as the opportunity arises, move into the area north of the Huai River. What do you think? Please act according to the actual situation.

The Military Commission

24:00 hours, 24 December

[1] This telegram was drafted by Mao Zedong for the Military Commission of the CPC Central Committee and addressed to Chen Yi, commander and concurrently political commissar of the Shandong Field Army, Su Yu, commander of the Central China Field Army, Tan Zhenlin, its political commissar, and others.

[2] Zhang and Deng: Zhang Dingcheng and Deng Zihui, who were then respectively commander and political commissar of the Central China Military Area.

[3] Zhang and Li: Zhang Yunyi and Li Yu, who were then respectively deputy commander and deputy political commissar of the Shandong Military Area.

[4] This refers to the telegram of December 24, 1946 from Chen Yi, Su Yu, Tan Zhenlin, Zhang Dingcheng and Deng Zihui to Zhang Yunyi, Li Yu, Chen Shiju and Tang Liang, with a copy to the CPC Central Committee, Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping. The telegram stated: Since the 74th Division is slow in coming to the rescue, we have decided to give up attacking it and to leave some troops to contain it while moving the main force back to southern Shandong and, as the opportunity arises, to recover the area north of the Huai River. The 1st Column will move north tonight, and the 1st and 6th Divisions will continue to move west. Chen Yi, Zhang Dingcheng and Deng Zihui will return north to Linyi tonight. Zhang Yunyi and Li Yu are requested to order the 10th Column and other units to resolutely block the enemy’s 26th Division and defend Linyi. After Chen Shiju and Tang Liang arrive at Xin’an, they will immediately plan to concentrate the 1st Column and the 8th Division to attack the intruding troops of the 59th Division. In this way, we can coordinate our operations with those of Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping and create a situation threatening Xuzhou.

[5] The 10th Column should be the 10th Division.

[6] Feng Zhian was then commander of the 3rd Pacification Zone of the Kuomintang and concurrently commander of the Reorganized 33rd Army.