Route and Method for Su Yu’s Troops to Cross the Yangtze[1]

(February 1, 1948)

Su Yu, and for the information of Liu and Deng, Rao Shushi, and Deng Zihui[2]:

Your telegram of shi-wu[3] received. (1) We fully agree with the first plan. The three columns under Ye, Wang, and Tao[4] shall immediately move to the vicinity of the Longhai Railway for further rest and reorganization for one and a half months, and set out in late March. Of the 30,000 new recruits, 20,000 shall be used to replenish the three columns under Ye, Wang, and Tao. The route for crossing the Yangtze shall strive to be between Hukou and Dangtu, or between Nanjing and Jiangyin. The method for crossing the Yangtze shall adopt covert crossings on a broad front in separate routes or by echelon. It is hoped that arrangements for work on the water and on both banks will be intensified. (2) The four columns, namely the 3rd, 8th, 10th, and 11th, shall concentrate to coordinate with the two armies under Liu-Deng and Chen-Xie[1], under the unified command of Liu and Deng, employing the tactic of sudden concentration and sudden dispersal to maneuver and annihilate the enemy. (3) The Party Committee of the Henan-Anhui-Jiangsu Border Region and the local forces shall remain unchanged according to the original arrangements. Zihui shall lead the organs of the Central China Sub-bureau to that region in the chou month. The 11th Column shall still belong to the Qu-Tang Field Army[2]. Chen[3] will set out to return east in the next few days. (4) Request Shushi and Zihui to assist Su Yu in resolving various issues related to the southward advance.

The Military Commission

Chou-dong-hai

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[1] This is a telegram drafted by Mao Zedong for the Military Commission of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, addressed to Su Yu, Deputy Commander of the East China Field Army and concurrently Commander and Political Commissar of the 1st Corps. In late January 1948, the Military Commission decided to transfer the 1st, 4th, and 6th Columns of the East China Field Army back to the Puyang area north of the Yellow River for rest and reorganization, forming the 1st Corps. Led by Su Yu, this corps was to cross the Yangtze River southward, advance into the provinces of Fujian, Zhejiang, and Jiangxi to carry out wide-ranging mobile warfare tasks, create new liberated areas, and thereby attract 20 to 30 enemy brigades back to defend the south of the Yangtze, forcing the enemy into a more passive position. On April 18, Su Yu proposed to the Military Commission to postpone the Yangtze crossing and concentrate forces to annihilate the enemy in the Jiangsu-Huai Plain. On April 30, the Secretariat of the Central Committee convened a special meeting to study this and agreed with Su Yu's proposal, deciding that the three columns of the East China Field Army would not move south of the Yangtze for the time being and would concentrate their forces to fight in the Central Plains within the next 4 to 8 months.

[2] Liu and Deng refer to Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping, who were then respectively Commander and Political Commissar of the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Field Army. Rao Shushi was then Secretary of the East China Bureau of the Central Committee of the CPC and Political Commissar of the East China Military Region. Deng Zihui was then Deputy Secretary of the East China Bureau of the Central Committee of the CPC.

[3] Refers to Su Yu's telegram to the Military Commission of the Central Committee of the CPC at wu hour on January 31, 1948. The telegram stated that, given the current state of the East China Field Army, it would be relatively difficult to immediately set out and cross the Yangtze to advance south. Therefore, two plans were proposed: first, to transfer the columns under Ye, Wang, and Tao to the vicinity of the Longhai Railway to continue rest and reorganization for one and a half months, setting out in late March; second, for the columns under Ye, Wang, and Tao to still move south according to the current deployment to participate in one or two campaigns, then begin rest and reorganization for one and a half or two months from mid-March, setting out in mid-May.

[4] The three columns under Ye, Wang, and Tao refer to the 1st, 6th, and 4th Columns of the 1st Corps of the East China Field Army. The column commanders were Ye Fei, Wang Bicheng, and Tao Yong respectively.

[1] Chen-Xie refers to Chen Geng and Xie Fuzhi, who were then respectively Secretary and Deputy Secretary of the Front Committee of the Chen-Xie Group of the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Field Army.

[2] The Qu-Tang Field Army refers to the 3rd, 8th, and 10th Columns of the East China Field Army led by Chen Shiju, Chief of Staff of the East China Field Army, and Tang Liang, Director of the Political Department.

[3] Chen refers to Chen Yi, who was then Commander and Political Commissar of the East China Field Army. He was at Yangjiagou, Mizhi County, Shaanxi, reporting on work to the Central Committee of the CPC.