Wipe Out a Large Quantity of the Enemy
Forces in Extensive Mobile Actions
 (March 14, 1948)
To Yang [Dezhi], Luo [Ruiqing], Yang [Chengwu] and Geng [Biao], and for the
information of the Central Work Committee (where it is to be passed on to Peng
[Dehuai] and Nie [Rongzhen]), and also for the Shaanxi-Suiyuan Sub-bureau, Lin
[Biao], Luo [Ronghuan], and Liu [Yalou]:1
We received your telegram sent on the 10th at 3:00 P.M.2 Only when you wipe
out a large quantity of the enemy forces in extensive mobile actions, forcing them
to disperse their equipment, can you overcome the problem you encountered with
the enemy forces heavily concentrated and difficult for our troops to defeat. The
scope of your mobility is as follows: first, the entire [Bei]ping-Sui[yuan] railway,
including the entire province of Suiyuan;3 second, the Bei[ping]-[Ji]ning railway; third, the [Bei]ping-Cheng[de] railway; and fourth, the [Bei]ping-Bao[tou]
railway. The current orientation of singling out the [Bei]ping-Sui[yuan] railway should be pursued until the enemy forces are too heavily concentrated for our
troops to fight on that front. The next step of our main force may consist of going
to the Beiping-Baotou railway to fight a couple of battles, lure back the main force
of the enemy, and then again set off for the Beiping-Suiyuan railway. Your plan
of sending two columns to Suiyuan is very good. You should order these two
columns not to stay alone for too long after they take the area of Caigoubao, but
to quickly head for Suiyuan and make the entire Suiyuan region the field of their
operations. Whatever area your army occupies will be under your administrative
jurisdiction. Send more cadres as well as local armed forces to establish political
authority. The Shanxi-Suiyuan Sub-bureau should adopt a policy of providing
assistance. The main direction for the development of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Local
Bureau is the territory of Yan [Xishan]’s army4 along the [Da]tong-Pu[zhou] railway and to help the Northwest Bureau march toward the Shaanxi-Gansu-Sichuan
region. Your main force must establish a battle plan for the Hebei-Rehe-Chahar
Border Region5 and eastern Hebei. In addition, you must educate the officers and
soldiers of the entire force regarding the tactics and policy they will be working
with in the new regions. We are not sure if you have done this during your current rest and reorganization. If you have not, or if you have done it insufficiently,
you should make up for it during battle. This type of education is very important.
The Military Commission
---

Notes

Our source for this text is Mao Zedong wenji, Vol. 5, pp. 81–82, where it is reproduced
from Mao’s manuscript.

--- Notes

1.  Yang Dezhi was commander of the Jin-Cha-Ji (Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei) Field Army,
and Luo Ruiqing was first political commissar and Yang Chengwu was second political
commissar of the Jin-Cha-Ji Field Army. Geng Biao was chief-of-staff of the Jin-Cha-Ji
Field Army. Peng Dehuai was commander and political commissar of the Northwest Field
Army. Nie Rongzhen was commander and political commissar of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military
Region. Lin Biao was commander and political commissar of the Northeast Field Army,
and Luo Ronghuan was deputy political commissar and Liu Yalou was chief-of-staff of the
Northeast Field Army.

2.  The telegram from Yang Dezhi and Luo Ruiqing stated that the problem they had yet
to resolve was that when they concentrated their forces, the enemy also concentrated theirs,
and with troops piled on top of each other, they could not fight well. They therefore planned
to proceed to Pingsui using five columns to form two fists. If the First and Sixth columns
found the enemy’s main forces easy to fight, they would concentrate all their strength on
fighting them; otherwise, they would draw the enemy westward, where the main Communist forces could take advantage of their weak points. If the enemy’s main forces proved
difficult to attack in southern Chahar, the First and Sixth columns would press on toward
Suiyuan, wiping out any lone, scattered enemy units and cutting off the western section of
the Beiping-Suiyuan line.

3.  Suiyuan Province, abolished in 1954, governed parts of today’s Inner Mongolia,
such as Wulanchabumeng, Yikeshaomeng, the eastern part of Bayannaoermeng, and the
cities of Hohhot and Baotou.
DOI:  10.4324/9781315719436-103


4.  Yan Xishan was director of the Guomindang army’s Taiyuan Pacification Office.

5.  Rehe Province, abolished in 1955, governed parts of today’s northeastern Hebei,
southwestern Liaoning, and the southeastern part of Inner Mongolia. Chahar Province,
abolished in 1952, governed parts of today’s northwestern Hebei and Xilinguolemeng in
Inner Mongolia.