An Order Regarding the Defense of Yan’an1
(March 16, 1947)
	 1.	 The enemy has been attacking Yan’an with five divisions and twelve brigades, a total of approximately 80,000 men, and after three days of fierce
attack it has broken through our first-line battlefield. Because of our army’s
firm and valiant resistance, the enemy suffered heavy casualties and heightened difficulties, so it is utterly exhausted, and this will intensify in the future.
	 2.	 Each of our border region army units has the duty to protect Yan’an resolutely. It is necessary to resist the attacks for another ten days to two weeks
(from the 16th to the 29th) south of the Sanshilipu-Songshuling line and
in the area around Ganquan, Nanniwan, and Jinpenwan before we receive
assistance from the exterior lines to smash the attempted attack on Yan’an
by Hu [Zongnan]’s2 forces. To accomplish this task, the various army units
are assigned the following defense duties:
	a.
The independent First Brigade and Eighth Brigade, and the Seventh
Guards Regiment, constitute the right-flank army unit under the command of Comrades Zhang Zongxun and Liao Hansheng.3 They are
to organize the defensive battle in the areas of Daozuopu, Ganquan,
Dalaoshan, Xiaolaoshan, Qingquangou, and Shanshenmiao, and to
resist any attack resolutely.
	b.
The Instructional Brigade and the Second Column (Wang Zhen’s4
troops) constitute the left-flank army unit under the command of
Comrades Wang Zhen and Luo Yuanfa.5 They will be commanded by
Comrade Luo Yuanfa before Wang Zhen’s arrival. The Instructional
Brigade is to organize the defensive battle in the areas of Nanniwan,
Jinpenwan, Linzhen, and Songshuling. It is to hold out in the aforementioned areas for at least seven days.
	c.
The New Fourth Brigade constitutes the Central Army unit, with a minimum troop strength of four battalions, and it is to organize the defensive battle around the areas of Miaoerliang, Chengzigou, and Sanshilipu
to firmly resist attacks by enemy forces advancing from Nanniwan to
Yan’an. The artillery troops under this brigade should strengthen the
position at Miaoerliang. The rest are reserve forces, stationed in Yan’an,
and they will prevent the enemy’s parachute troops from controlling the
airfield. The commander of this brigade also serves as commander of
the Yan’an garrison.
	 3.	 Each army unit involved in defense should take advantage of the topography,
organize brief but fierce barrages, use large quantities of grenades and land
mines to kill and wound the enemy, make good use of the reserve troops,
launch flexible counterattacks, and wipe out the enemy during night-time
attacks.
	 4.	 After exhausting and depleting the enemy in defensive battles, five brigades
or more can be amassed to fight mobile warfare and wipe out the enemy one
by one, thoroughly crushing the enemy’s offensive.
	 5.	 Beginning on March 17, all army units and border region troops mentioned above will be under the command of comrades Peng Dehuai and Xi
Zhongxun.6
Chairman of the Central Revolutionary
Military Commission, Mao Zedong
telegram as received.”

The source of this text is Mao Zedong junshi wenji, Vol. 4, pp. 9–10, where it is reproduced from the original document preserved in the Central Archives.

--- Notes

1.  On March 13, 1947, Guomindang forces launched an attack on northern Shaanxi.
After six days of intense battle, the Communist forces withdrew to Yan’an. Mao Zedong,
as chairman of the Central Military Commission, issued this order to all troops in the
Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region.

2.  Hu Zongnan was commander of the Guomindang army’s First War Zone.

3.  Zhang Zongxun and Liao Hansheng (1911–2006, Tujia nationality, native of Hunan)
were commander and political commissar, respectively, of the Northwest Field Army’s First
Column.

4.  Wang Zhen was commander and political commissar of the Northwest Field Army’s
Second Column.

5.  Luo Yuanfa (1910–2010, native of Fujian) was commander and political commissar
of the Northwest Field Army’s Instructional Brigade.
DOI:  10.4324/9781315719511-282

6.  The editors of the Junshi wenji indicate that point no. 5 was added “on a copy of the