It Is Advisable to Lure the Enemy Deep into Southern Shandong and Fight a Large-Scale Battle of Annihilation[1]

(January 31, 1947)

Chen, Rao, Su, Tan:

Chiang Kai-shek attempts to defeat our army before the Moscow Conference of the Three Foreign Ministers[2] in March. According to information from Nanjing, Chiang’s troops will launch an offensive within days, which seems highly advantageous for us to annihilate large numbers of the enemy in mobile warfare. Our army’s policy seems to make it advisable to lure the enemy deep. Not only should we refrain from striking first along the Longhai Railway, but even when the enemy reaches the Tanma[3] area, whether to engage immediately is still worth considering. It seems advisable to wait until they advance north of Tanma and then launch an all-out assault to wipe them out, thereby enabling us to fight several large-scale battles of annihilation in succession, placing ourselves in a completely active position without falling into passivity in the slightest (if we strike too early, there is the possibility of becoming locked in a stalemate and falling into passivity). How exactly to proceed, we hope you will decide based on the actual situation. In addition, rear-area organs must be relocated to safe locations, and preparations must be made for the possible loss of Linyi. The field army of Xu Shiyou and Wang Jian’an[4] must be formed immediately and dispatched to the area south of the Jiaoji Railway to await opportunities to annihilate the enemy, so as to counter Chiang’s north-south

[1] This is a telegram drafted by Mao Zedong for the Military Commission of the CPC Central Committee, addressed to Chen Yi, Commander of the East China Military Region; Rao Shushi, Political Commissar; Su Yu, Deputy Commander of the East China Field Army; and Tan Zhenlin, Deputy Political Commissar.

[2] This should be the Conference of the Four Foreign Ministers. From March 10 to April 24, 1947, the foreign ministers of the Soviet Union, the United States, Britain, and France held the Fourth Conference in Moscow on issues related to the handling of post-World War II matters. The main topic of the conference was the handling of the German question. However, there was also a proposal to discuss the implementation of the agreement on the China question reached at the Moscow Conference of the Three Foreign Ministers in December 1945.

[3] Tanma refers to Tancheng in Shandong and Matou Town, located northwest of Tancheng.

[4] Xu Shiyou was then Commander of the Jiaodong Military Sub-district. Wang Jian’an was then Commander of the Luzhong Military Sub-district. On January 25, 1947, the Military Commission of the CPC Central Committee approved a report from the East China Military Region, agreeing to form the Jiaoji Field Army with troops from Jiaodong and Luzhong, with Xu Shiyou as Commander and Wang Jian’an as Political Commissar, to serve as an assault corps along the Jiaoji Railway. Later, the units of Wang Jian’an and Xu Shiyou were respectively reorganized into the Eighth Column and the Ninth Column of the East China Field Army.

It Is Advisable to Lure the Enemy Deep into Southern Shandong and Fight a Large-Scale Battle of Annihilation

pincer-attack scheme. In short, this time Chiang’s army is staking everything on a single throw, and our army must have a comprehensive plan, preparing to annihilate about ten of its brigades through successive operations, thereby thoroughly smashing its offensive, and this is entirely within our grasp.

The Military Commission

Zishi