Mobilize All Forces to Annihilate the Enemy
Forces That May Advance on and Attack
Shijiazhuang1
(October 26, 1948)
(Xinhua News Agency dispatch on the October 26)
To promptly mobilize all forces to coordinate with the People’s Liberation
Army to annihilate Chiang [Kaishek] and Fu [Zuoyi]’s armies2 that may advance
on and attack the region around Shijiazhuang, all leading cadres in the Party,
Politburo, and armies here have delivered this command to every county in the
region surrounding the Bao[ding]-Shi[jiazhuang] railway. Within three days, we
must mobilize all militia and local military forces and prepare all available ammunition for battle. You should focus especially on how to fight with cavalry units. It
is said that the armies of Chiang and Fu that will advance on and attack the region
around Shijiazhuang include not only the Ninety-fourth Army but also the New
Fourth Cavalry Division and the Twelfth Cavalry Brigade and their subsidiary
demolition team and a fleet of hundreds of motor vehicles. They want to destroy
our bureaus, storehouses, factories, schools, power plants, and buildings in the
rear area. It is said that these enemies will assemble at Baoding on the 27th and
advance southward on the 28th. The commanders of the advancing army units are
Zheng Tingfeng [1906–1961, native of Guangdong], commander of the Ninetyfourth Army, Liu Chunfang [1910–1989, born in Qian’an, Hebei], commander of
the New Fourth Cavalry Division, and E Yousan [1911–1950, born in Baotou, in
Suiyuan, or today’s Inner Mongolia], commander of the Twelfth Cavalry Brigade
(the unit that attacked Hejian this spring). The cadres here direct that local civilians
in all sectors should not be alarmed. If you make ample preparations in advance,
we have ways of avoiding their sabotage and luring them in deep and annihilating
them with our concentrated forces. This spring when the enemy forces attacked
Hejian, because our preparations were inadequate, we lost some troops and some
enemies also escaped. This time, we must mobilize all the people to fight the
enemy, and we must not let even one enemy soldier embarking on this venture
return to his den. In May of this year, Yan [Xishan]3 and Fu [Zuoyi] planned a
joint assault on Shijiazhuang. We mobilized people in every county along the
Bao[ding]-Shi[jiazhuang] railway and the Zheng[ding]-Tai[yuan] railway at that
time. Later, a division of Yan [Xishan]’s army was annihilated in Meng county, so
Fu [Zuoyi]’s forces remained in place for fear of being annihilated. But the people
along the Bao[ding]-Shi[jiazhuang] railway gained some mobilization experience
from that incident. This time, Fu Zuoyi will dare not stay in place because Chiang
Kaishek is in Beiping monitoring the situation. The North China Military Region
has told each county: do not think that because they did not come last time, they
will not come this time, and then fail to prepare and suffer losses because of it.
Even if the enemy does not come for fear of being annihilated, there is no harm
and only benefit in preparing for it.
3.  Yan Xishan was director of the Guomindang’s Taiyuan Pacification Office.


--- Notes

Our source for this text is Mao Zedong wenji, Vol. 5, pp. 178–79, where it is reproduced
from Mao’s handwritten manuscript.
1.  Mao drafted this news report for Xinhua News Agency. It was published in Renmin
Ribao on October 28, 1948.
2.  Fu Zuoyi was commander of the Guomindang’s North China “Bandit Suppression”
Headquarters. In January 1949, he led his troops to accept a truce.
DOI:  10.4324/9781315719436-169