Our Army Has Completely Shifted to a
Counteroffensive
(October 8, 1947, midnight)
To the East China Bureau for transmission to Xu [Shiyou] and Tan [Zhenlin], and
all columns:1
We have received your various telegrams. We celebrate your tremendous victory in recovering Ye county and annihilating several enemy military units.2 Since
you have shifted to a counteroffensive, our army has likewise made a complete
shift to a counteroffensive. The enemy already has no place where it can launch
another attack. The forty-eight brigades and approximately 400,000 troops of our
three armies under Liu [Bocheng] and Deng [Xiaoping], Chen [Yi] and Su [Yu],
and Chen [Geng] and Xie [Fuzhi]3 have already gained a firm foothold between
the Yangzi River and the Yellow River. Our army in the Northwest will attack
enemy territory in the near future. Our army in the Northeast has made great
progress in its offensive. The overall situation is to our advantage. We hope you
will continue to strive for victory under the correct leadership of the East China
Bureau.
The Central Committee


The source of our text is Mao Zedong junshi wenji, Vol. 4, pp. 288–89, where it is reproduced from Mao’s handwritten manuscript preserved in the Central Archives.


1.  Mao Zedong drafted this telegram on behalf of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. Xu Shiyou and Tan Zhenlin were commander and political commissar, respectively, of the Eastern Corps of the East China Field Army.


2.  Units of the East China Field Army launched the Jiaohe Campaign on October 2,
1947, and by October 8 they had wiped out more than 12,000 Guomindang troops and had
captured Ye county. Thereafter, the Eastern Corps shifted to a counteroffensive.


3.  Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping were commander and political commissar, respectively, of the Jin-Ji-Lu-Yu (Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan) Field Army. Chen Yi was
commander and political commissar of the East China Field Army, and Su Yu was deputy
commander of the East China Field Army. Chen Geng and Xie Fuzhi were secretary and
deputy secretary, respectively, of the Chen-Xie Group Front Committee of the Jin-Ji-Lu-Yu
Field Army.


DOI:  10.4324/9781315719436-41