Using the Methods of Recounting Bitterness and the Three Checks to Train and Consolidate the Troops Has Yielded Enormous Results[1]

(March 2, 1948)

Peng, Zhang, Zhao, and inform He, Xi, Xiangqian, Chen, Tang, Chen, Xie, Liu, Deng[2], and the Central Working Committee:

Your telegrams of Dongxu and Dongmao have been received. (1) Congratulations on your great victory in annihilating the 90th Division and the 27th Division. (2) We agree that the 1st and 4th Columns should take Zhongbu and Yijun, and when the opportunity arises take Tongguan[3]; that after capturing Yijun, the 3rd and 6th Columns should take Luochuan, Fuxian, and Ganquan, and control the mobile zone along the highway from Ganquan to Tongguan; and that the 2nd Column should take Chengcheng and Baishui and prepare to coordinate operations with the 1st and 4th Columns. After completing the above tasks, all units should rest and consolidate for half a month to one month, assimilate prisoners, and mobilize the masses. During the present two-and-a-half-month period of rest and consolidation, the combat effectiveness of the troops has been so enhanced that two of Hu Zongnan’s main divisions (four brigades) were wiped out in a single blow. This proves that using the methods of recounting bitterness and the three checks[4] to train and consolidate the troops, and developing democracy in the political, economic, and military fields, has yielded enormous results. Therefore, attention should be paid to the necessary training and consolidation between two campaigns. In the next few days, put the troops in order. If grain supplies permit, it is advisable to move around Yin Qi; if grain supplies are difficult, move earlier. (3) After a great victory, cadres are very prone to arrogance. It is hoped that earnest admonitions will be given, so as to facilitate the gradual expansion of victories. (4) It is suggested that prisoners should follow the troops in the rear and be fed along the way; captured officers of field rank and above should be sent to the rear; those of company rank and below should be released on the spot to various cities on the southwestern two fronts, so as to spread defeatist sentiment in the enemy army.

Military Commission

Yindong

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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 Peng Dehuai, Commander and Political Commissar of the Northwest Field Army, and Deputy Commanders Zhang Zongxun and Zhao Shoushan.

[2] He and Xi refer to He Long and Xi Zhongxun, who were then respectively Commander and Political Commissar of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia-Shanxi-Suiyuan Joint Defense Military Region. Xiangqian refers to Xu Xiangqian, who was then First Deputy Commander of the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Military Region. Chen and Tang refer to Chen Shiju and Tang Liang, who were then respectively Chief of Staff and Director of the Political Department of the East China Field Army. Chen and Xie refer 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. 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.

[3] Tongguan, name of an old county, now Tongchuan in Shaanxi Province.

[4] Recounting bitterness refers to recounting the sufferings inflicted on the laboring people by the old society and the reactionaries. The three checks refer to checking class origin, checking work, and checking fighting will. Recounting bitterness and the three checks were the main methods used in the new-type consolidation movement carried out by the People’s Liberation Army from November 1947 to the summer of 1948.