The Northwest Field Army Has the Task of Coordinating with the Chen Geng Corps to Strive for a Strategic Victory[1]

(September 18, 1947)

Deputy Commander Peng, and to be relayed to Wang Zhen[2] and the chiefs of all columns and brigades:

(1) Our Chen Geng Corps,[3] comprising ten brigades with a total of seventy thousand men, has already captured nine counties, including Yiyang, Songxian, Yiyang,[4] Xin’an, Mianchi, Lingbao, Wenxiang,[5] Luoning, and Lushi, annihilating over ten thousand enemy troops. At present, the Qin Jiwei Column[6] of this corps is advancing to attack Linru, Jiaxian, Xiangcheng, Yexian, Baofeng, Lushan, and Nanzhao counties. Chen and Xie, leading the main force of six brigades, have decided to begin advancing toward the direction of Xi’an on the twentieth. Their plan is first to seize ten counties—Tongguan, Huayin, Huaxian, Weinan, Lintong, Lantian, Shangxian, Luonan, Shangnan, and Shanyang—and establish a base area in southeastern Shaanxi. (2) Our entire Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Field Army, with eight brigades, plus Wang Shitai’s[7] two brigades, has the task of coordinating with the Chen Geng Corps in operations

[1] This is a telegram drafted by Mao Zedong for the Military Commission of the CPC Central Committee, addressed to Peng Dehuai, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the People’s Liberation Army and Commander and Political Commissar of the Northwest Field Army.
[2] Wang Zhen, then serving as Commander and Political Commissar of the Second Column of the Northwest Field Army.
[3] The Chen Geng Corps refers to the operational group composed of the Fourth Column and Ninth Column of the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Field Army, the Thirty-eighth Army of the Northwest Democratic Allied Army, and the Twenty-second Brigade of the Taiyue Military District.
[4] Yiyang, former county name, present-day Ruyang County, Henan Province.
[5] Wenxiang, former county name, merged into Lingbao County, Henan Province, in 1954.
[6] The Qin Jiwei Column refers to the Ninth Column of the Chen-Xie Group of the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Field Army, with Qin Jiwei serving as Column Commander.
[7] Wang Shitai, then serving as Commander of the Fourth Column of the Northwest Field Army.

The Northwest Field Army Has the Task of Coordinating with the Chen Geng Corps to Strive for a Strategic Victory

to strive for a strategic victory. The methods are as follows: A. The two brigades of Wang Zhen’s column, sparing no fatigue and fearing no sacrifice, shall set out immediately, traveling day and night at double speed, to seize and hold the line of Da Xiaolao Mountain, Xiao Xiaolao Mountain, and Ganquan. Ahead of the enemy’s main forces—the 90th Division and the 1st Division—they shall block the enemy’s southward withdrawal step by step from the front. This is of the utmost, utmost importance. The enemy must be held in the Da Xiaolao Mountain, Xiao Xiaolao Mountain, and Ganquan area for at least one week. B. The main force shall rest and regroup in place for five days. In accordance with Peng’s telegram of the seventeenth, they shall advance rapidly southward on the twenty-third, seizing opportunities to capture eight counties—Yichuan, Pucheng, Baishui, Hancheng, Chengcheng, Pingmin, Chaoyi, and Dali—thereby compelling the southward-retreating enemy to divide their forces to attend to both the Weinan and Weibei sectors, so that they can only assume a defensive posture and cannot take the offensive. This will ensure that our forces in both the north and the south accomplish their strategic tasks. This is our most earnest hope.

The Military Commission

0400 hours, the 18th