Regarding Winter War Deployments in the
Northeast
(December 23, 1947, midnight)
To Lin [Biao], Luo [Ronghuan], and Liu [Yalou], and for the information of the
Northeast Bureau and the Central Work Committee:1
We received your telegram of the 12th some time ago.2 Our reply is as follows:
	 1.	 During the frozen period, it is entirely correct for you to concentrate all your
forces in fighting in the Shanhai Pass and Liao River region. Your plans for
building up the army next year are also correct.
	 2.	 More than three months remain before the ice melts. During this time, if our
army only takes a few short breaks between battles to rest and replenish its
ranks and does not carry out any large-scale rest and reorganization until the
spring, we estimate that it might be possible to use the winter months to wipe
out a large portion of the enemy. We might be able to take back all or most
of the small or medium-sized enemy footholds and enemy-controlled countryside between the large enemy strongholds of Shenyang, Tieling, Fushun,
Benxi, Jinzhou, Huludao, and Qinhuangdao. Furthermore, we might also
regain the areas west and north of Jinzhou. If we can accomplish this, all we
will have left to deal with is the question of the major strongholds.
	 3.	 Regardless of whether our victories this winter are large or small, after the
thaw dispatch the two Hebei-Rehe-Liaoning columns to fight in eastern
Hebei and use our main forces in Manchuria to attack the major strongholds.
	 4.	 Dispatch your two columns to eastern Hebei to join our Jin-Chi-Ji [Shanxi,
Chahar, and Hebei] forces during the coming spring and summer. You will
coordinate with them not only to occupy most of the [Tian]jin-Yu[lin] section
Our source for this text is Mao Zedong junshi wenji, Vol. 4, pp. 348–49, where it is
of the Bei[ping]-[Shenyang] railway but also to possibly create one or two
gaps in the enemy forces, thus opening a connection between the Northeast
and East China. Such a connection will allow us to transport artillery and
explosives from the Northeast to Central China, the Central Plains, and the
Northwest. This is a task of utmost importance.
	 5.	 Therefore, if you believe it is feasible after the ice melts to dispatch two
columns to eastern Hebei and to send artillery and explosives through the
[Shanhai] Pass, you should begin your preparations now.
	 6.	 As to whether it will be possible to send more than two columns, we should
wait and see what the situation is next spring and then reconsider the matter.
Mao Zedong

reproduced from a manuscript preserved in the Central Archives.

--- Notes

1.  Lin Biao was commander-in-chief and political commissar of the Northeast Democratic Allied Army, and Luo Ronghuan was deputy political commissar and Liu Yalou
(1910–1965, native of Fujian) was chief-of-staff of the Northeast Democratic Allied Army.

2.  The telegram from Lin Biao et al. stated that the rivers from Jinzhou to Shenyang
had already frozen over, and they planned to take advantage of the frozen period to engage
in battle between Jinzhou and Shenyang, concentrating on the major strongholds. They
expected to add a unit of 100 new recruits in April and May of the next year.
DOI:  10.4324/9781315719436-60