Prepare to Wipe Out Enemy Reinforcements When Attacking Lincheng[1]

(January 14, 1947)

Comrades Chen Yi, Chen Shiju, and Su Yu:

We have received your telegram of the 12th.[2] Your plan is very good. The victory in southern Shandong has opened up the situation. We have seized the initiative and the enemy has been thrown into passivity. Several enemy units are being moved to the vicinity of Xuzhou. If we capture Lincheng,[3] it is possible that some more enemy units will be transferred north, which will facilitate our wiping them out one by one with southern Shandong as our base. When you attack Lincheng, you must still concentrate a superior force and be prepared to wipe out the reinforcements of the 64th Division. After the operation at Lincheng, if the enemy troops to the south do not move, it will be extremely necessary for the whole army to rest and consolidate for two or three weeks. Is there any way to replenish your units with new soldiers? Can you put large numbers of prisoners of war into your units, training them after incorporation, so as to achieve quick results?

The Military Commission

14th, 21-23 hours

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

[2] A reference to the telegram sent by Chen Yi and Chen Shiju to the Military Commission of the CPC Central Committee at 15:00 hours on January 12, 1947. The telegram stated: “We now plan to continue operations along the Lincheng-Zaozhuang line in order to draw Xue Yue’s forces, which he is concentrating at Xuzhou. After taking Zaozhuang, we shall, as the opportunity arises, strike at the three regiments of the Sichuan army at Lincheng. If the Reorganized 11th Division, Feng Zhi’an’s troops, or the Reorganized 64th Division come to reinforce them, we shall wipe them out on the spot; if they do not, we shall train and consolidate our forces on the spot and prepare for a major battle.”

[3] Lincheng is the present-day Xuecheng, Zaozhuang City, Shandong Province.