Do Not Position Yourselves at the Point Where the Enemy’s Multiple Routes Converge for a Joint Strike[1]

(January 22, 1947)

Chen, Xie:

Where are you currently engaged in operations against Yan[2]’s troops? According to your incoming telegram, you are adopting a defensive policy rather than an offensive policy, that is, concentrating absolutely superior forces to strike one of the enemy’s multiple routes and swiftly resolve it. Do not position yourselves at the point where the enemy’s multiple routes converge for a joint strike, but rather position yourselves on one of the enemy’s flanks. Report further on how the situation develops.

Military Commission

22nd, 0100 hours

[1] This is a telegram drafted by Mao Zedong for the Military Commission of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, addressed to Chen Geng, commander of the Fourth Column of the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Field Army, and Xie Fuzhi, its political commissar.

[2] Yan refers to Yan Xishan, then commander of the Second War Zone of the Kuomintang army.