Arrangements for Forming Mobile Field
Armies and Fighting Dispersed Battles
(October 20, 1947, 12:00 P.M.)
To Chen [Yi] and Su [Yu]:1
We received the telegram you sent between 7:00 and 9:00 A.M. on the 16th.2
We are relieved to learn of your successive victories.
	 1.	 In light of the substantial depletion of Ye [Fei]’s and Tao [Yong]’s columns3
and Wang Bingzhang’s column,4 these three columns may extend their
period of rest and reorganization by a week or two.
	 2.	 Except for those engaged in rest and reorganization, all your troops should
maintain the status quo of dispersed fighting and work in October and
November. Starting in early December, you should assemble six to nine brigades to form a first-class mobile field warfare corps that can fight medium sized battles; the others should continue with dispersed fighting and work.
After January of next year, depending on the circumstances, form one or two more second- or third-class mobile field warfare units of four to six brigades
each, and have the remainder of your forces continue with dispersed fighting and work. You cannot transform all twenty regular brigades into field
warfare units until the civil corps, local security organs, bandits, and small
enemy units are mostly wiped out, the distribution of grain, assets, and land
among the masses is largely completed, and the people’s armed forces are
developed, and you will still have to divide them into two or three field warfare corps, of which the largest should not exceed nine brigades for at least
half a year. The enemy forces have already been forced to scatter and will
become even more scattered in the future. If we assemble too large of a fighting force, it will scare the enemy off, and we will be unable to fight mobile
battles. If we assemble fighting forces that are neither too large nor too small,
however, we will be able to wipe out large numbers of enemy troops with
weak or medium defenses while also being able to compel the enemy to
fight mobile battles. We hope you will arrange your forces and your work in
accordance with the above aims.
Mao Zedong

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Notes

Our source for this telegram is Mao Zedong wenji, Vol. 4, pp. 310–11, where it is
reprinted from Mao’s handwritten manuscript.
1.  Chen Yi was commander and political commissar and Su Yu was deputy commander
of the East China Field Army.
2.  The telegram from Chen Yi and Su Yu reported that the First and Fourth columns of
the East China Field Army had arrived in the Dingtao area for rest and reorganization. The
Third Column remained active in the areas east of Woyang and Mengcheng. All but one
brigade of the Sixth Column was active south of Haoxian, Woyang, and Mengcheng, and
north of the Huai River. The Eighth Column was active east of the Beiping-Hankou railway
and south of Zhengzhou and Kaifeng. The Twelfth Column planned to advance to the area
south of Shahe. Ye Fei’s and Tao Yong’s columns had reached the area north of the railway
for rest and supplies and planned to march south half a month later. Half a month’s rest had
been authorized for the Eleventh Column of the Jin-Ji-Lu-Yu (Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan) Field Army of Wang Bingzhang (1914–2005, born in Anyang, Henan) that would
then march south with Ye Fei’s and Tao Yong’s columns. Chen and Su planned to disperse
the activities of the main forces and carry out mass work, while also reorganizing two regiments to help develop the local armed forces.
3.  Ye Fei and Tao Yong were the commanders of the First and the Fourth columns,
respectively, of the East China Field Army.
4.  Wang Bingzhang (1914–2005), native of Henan, was commander of the Eleventh
Column of the Jin-Ji-Lu-Yu (Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan) Field Army, which at this
time was under the command of the East China Field Army.
DOI:  10.4324/9781315719436-48