Urgent Training Should Be Stepped Up; There Is No Need to Rush into Battle[1]

(January 11, 1947)

Chen and Su, Tan and Zhang:

Your telegram of the 10th received. The loss of Shuyang does not affect the overall situation and is advantageous for luring the enemy northward to do battle. However, for the present it seems advisable that the units under Tan and Zhang step up their replenishment and training and not rush into battle. Wait until the Yi-Zao Campaign[2] is concluded (the troops will also need a short period of rest and consolidation) and Ou Zhen’s[3] and other units have crossed the line from Shuyang to Donghai and are moving north. At that time, we may consider concentrating the maximum strength to annihilate the Ou Zhen group. As to what should actually be done, please decide in light of the real situation.

Central Military Commission

Zizhen

[1] This telegram was drafted by Mao Zedong for the Central Military Commission of the CPC Central Committee and addressed to Chen Yi, commander and political commissar of the Shandong Field Army; Su Yu, commander of the Central China Field Army; Tan Zhenlin, political commissar of the Central China Field Army; and Zhang Yuanshou, deputy chief of staff of the Central China Military Area Command.

[2] In January 1947, after annihilating the greater part of the Reorganized 26th Division and the 1st Rapid Column of the Kuomintang army, the Shandong Field Army and the Central China Field Army followed up the victory by attacking the Reorganized 51st Division and remnants of the 26th Division in Yixian (present-day Yicheng) and Zaozhuang, Shandong Province. Yixian was captured on January 11 and Zaozhuang on January 20.

[3] Ou Zhen was then commander of the Reorganized 19th Army of the Kuomintang army.