Concentrate Forces to Smash One Column and the Overall Situation Will Improve[1]

(May 14, 1947)

Chen and Su, with copies to Liu and Deng[2]:

Your telegram of Yuan You[3] received. Using the 1st, 4th, 8th, and 9th Columns to annihilate the 74th Division is extremely correct. After this enemy force is wiped out, you should concentrate the columns not yet in use (the 2nd, 3rd, 6th, 7th, and 10th, except for small units used for pinning down the enemy), follow up the victory by attacking and destroying the 83rd and 25th Divisions, recover the line from Mengyin to Qingtuo, and achieve a breakthrough in the centre. For this purpose, the forces used to pin down the enemy on the eastern and western flanks (the 5th Army, the 11th Division, the 7th Division, etc.) should not exceed one column, or only local units

[1] This was a telegram drafted by Mao Zedong for the Military Commission of the CPC Central Committee to Chen Yi, Commander and Political Commissar of the East China Field Army, and Su Yu, Deputy Commander. In early May 1947, three enemy army groups comprising a total of 17 reorganized divisions advanced northward from the Linyi-Tai’an line in Shandong in three columns, attempting to force the East China Field Army to withdraw into the narrow Jiaodong area. On the 13th, the East China Field Army launched an attack on the enemy’s Reorganized 74th Division and completely encircled it in the Menglianggu mountain area southeast of Mengyin. At this point, Chiang Kai-shek hastily dispatched about 10 reorganized divisions as reinforcements in an attempt to lift the siege of Menglianggu, but all were blocked by the East China Field Army and failed to break through. After fierce fighting lasting until the 16th, the East China Field Army completely annihilated the enemy’s Reorganized 74th Division, totaling over 32,000 men.

[2] Liu and Deng refer to Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping, who were then respectively Commander and Political Commissar of the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Field Army.

[3] This refers to the telegram sent by Chen Yi and Su Yu at 17:00 on May 13, 1947, to the Military Commission of the CPC Central Committee with copies to Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping. The telegram stated: The enemy’s 74th Division began its attack on Tanbu on the 11th, the 83rd Division is advancing north of Qingtuo Temple, the 25th Division is its left-flank force southeast of Mengyin, and the Guangxi diehards are northeast of Linyi. We are assembling the 1st and 4th Columns and the 8th and 9th Columns tonight to strike at the 74th Division, will complete the encirclement by tomorrow morning, and the battle will take about two days. After the 74th Division is wiped out, we will then act according to circumstances to expand the results of the battle.

Concentrate Forces to Smash One Column and the Overall Situation Will Improve

should be used to pin them down, while the forces concentrated directly in your hands for use in the area near Tanbu should number at least eight columns. In short, concentrate all forces to smash one column, and the overall situation will improve.

Military Commission

Chen Han Hai