The Central Plains Army Has Played an
Enormous Strategic Role
 (May 28, 1947)
To Zheng [Weisan] and Li [Xiannian], and for transmission to all comrades in
the Central Plains Army; and for the information of Liu [Bocheng] and Deng
[Xiaoping], Xu [Xiangqian], Bo [Yibo], Teng [Daiyuan], and Wang [Hongkun],
and Chen [Geng], Xie [Fuzhi], Wang [Xinting], and Han [Jun]:1


To combat traitor Chiang Kaishek’s attacks, beginning in July of last year all
sections of our Central Plains forces carried out the strategic plans of the Central
Committee under extremely adverse conditions in southern Shaanxi, western
Henan, western, central, and eastern Hubei, and western Hunan. They persisted in
guerrilla warfare and pinned down more than thirty brigades of Chiang Kaishek’s
regular forces, enabling our main forces in North China and Central China to pull
through the most difficult period of Chiang Kaishek’s attacks, thereby playing an
enormous strategic role. To all of you officers and men who participated in this
valiant struggle and garnered the respect of the people of the entire nation, the
Central Committee hereby expresses our admiration and great esteem. All the
units that participated in this fight, although suffering considerable losses in their
arduous battle against superior enemy forces, kept their backbone fundamentally intact. The Central Committee hopes that under the leadership of comrades
[Zheng] Weisan and Li [Xiannian] you will step up your study and based on the
Central Committee’s political line make self-criticisms regarding your experience, unite as one, and prepare to fight hard in executing the new combat task.
The Central Committee


Our source for this text is Mao Zedong wenji, Vol. 4, pp. 250–51, where it is reproduced
from Mao’s handwritten manuscript.


1.  Zheng Weisan and Li Xiannian were first and second deputy secretaries of the Central China Bureau of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. Liu Bocheng
was commander of the Jin-Ji-Lu-Yu (Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan) Field Army, and
Deng Xiaoping was its political commissar. Xu Xiangqian (1901–1990, born in Wutai
county, Shanxi) was first deputy commander of the Jin-Ji-Lu-Yu Military Region, Bo Yibo
was first deputy political commissar, Teng Daiyuan was second deputy commander, and
Wang Hongkun was third deputy commander. Chen Geng was commander of the Fourth
Column of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Field Army, and Xie Fuzhi was its political commissar. Wang Xinting was commander of the Taiyue Military Region. Han Jun was deputy
commander of the Fourth Column of the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Field Army.
DOI:  10.4324/9781315719511-313