In Each Battle, Focus on Annihilating
Isolated and Dispersed Enemy Troops
(July 1, 1947)
To Zhu [De], Liu [Shaoqi], and Nie [Rongzhen], to be forwarded to Yang [Dezhi]
and Luo [Ruiqing], and for the information of Lin [Biao] and Luo [Ronghuan]:1
	 1.	 There is still some time before the rainy season, so you should rest and reorganize for a few days following the Caohe-Beihedian Campaign.2 If you can
fight a winning battle between Dingxing and Beiping, you should launch
an all-out attack on the weaker enemy forces in this sector. Otherwise, you
should move north of Yongdinghe, and advance and attack along the [Bei]
ping-Tian[jin] railway.
	 2.	 After each battle, if your losses are not too great, you should rest for up to ten
days before fighting a second battle. You should not plan on a full month’s
rest for the time being.
	 3.	 Each battle plan should focus on wiping out isolated and scattered enemy
troops. You should be fully prepared in advance to deal with enemy reinforcements, but the emphasis of your plan should not be on attacking reinforcements. This is because, under the current circumstances, the enemy
usually dreads sending reinforcements, and when it does make up its mind
to send them, it is in a concentration that makes it difficult for us to wipe
them out.
	 4.	 If the territory we have already occupied is easy to defend (such as the
Zheng[ding]-Tai[yuan] railway and Qing and Cang [counties]), use local
forces to defend it. If the territory cannot be defended, then do not hesitate to
Our source for this telegram is Mao Zedong junshi wenji, Vol. 4, pp. 117–18, where it is
abandon it. Let the enemy reoccupy it so as to give us an advantage to wipe
it out a second, third, and fourth time. In short, our army should absolutely
always maintain an advantage and never be at a disadvantage.
	 5.	 Order Yang and Luo to cable the Military Commission as soon as possible.
The Military Commission

reproduced from Mao’s handwritten manuscript preserved in the Central Archives.

--- Notes

1.  Mao Zedong drafted this telegram on behalf of the Central Military Commission.
Nie Rongzhen was commander and political commissar of the Jin-Cha-Ji (Shanxi-ChaharHebei) Military Region. Yang Dezhi and Luo Ruiqing were commander and first political
commissar, respectively, of the Jin-Cha-Ji Field Army. Lin Biao was general commander
and political commissar, and Luo Ronghuan was deputy political commissar of the Northeast Democratic Allied Army.

2.  This was also known as the Campaign North of Baoding. The Jin-Cha-Ji Field
Army’s offensive from June 25 to July 6, 1947, annihilated more than 8,200 Guomindang
troops.
DOI:  10.4324/9781315719436-2