Deploy Multi-layered Blocking Forces to Prevent Wang Yaowu from Breaking Out and Fleeing[1]

(September 22, 1948)

Su, Chen, Tang, Zhang, and Xu, Tan, Wang,[2] and the East China Bureau:

In order to make advance preparations so that when our army attacks and enters the city, should Wang Yaowu[3] lead his diehard followers in a breakout and flee in separate directions, the entire enemy force may be annihilated without allowing any to slip through the net, you should deploy multi-layered blocking forces along their main escape routes and secondary escape routes, at both close range and long range. Apart from the regular forces, for which Xu, Tan, Wang and Su, Chen, Tang, Zhang shall be respectively responsible, the East China Bureau should immediately deploy local troops and militia along the various routes leading to Linyi, Zaozhuang, Qingdao, the Grand Canal, and southwestern Shandong to carry out step-by-step blocking. This is of the utmost importance.

The Military Commission

Yangchou

[1] This is a telegram drafted by Mao Zedong for the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China, addressed to Su Yu, acting commander and acting political commissar of the East China Field Army; Chen Shiju, chief of staff; Tang Liang, director of the political department; and Zhang Zhen, deputy chief of staff, among others.
[2] Xu, Tan, and Wang refer to Xu Shiyou, Tan Zhenlin, and Wang Jian’an, who were respectively commander, political commissar, and deputy commander of the Shandong Corps of the East China Field Army at the time.
[3] Wang Yaowu was then commander of the Second Pacification Zone of the Kuomintang army.