The Attack on Guisui May Be Slightly Postponed[1]

(October 29, 1948)

Comrades Yang, Li, and Li:

We have received your telegram of the 28th (you hour).[2] (1) The time for your attack on Guisui[3] may be slightly postponed. Wait until the troops attacking Gongmiao[4] return and assemble three columns, then launch the assault on Guisui. (2) The so-called three-pronged converging attack on you is impossible. (3) The 16th Army, 35th Army, 94th Army, 4th Cavalry Division, and 12th Cavalry Brigade are now advancing to attack Shijiazhuang. Our Yang-Luo-Geng[5] forces are moving south to deal with this enemy and will subsequently operate along the Beiping-Baoding line.[6] Our two columns, three independent divisions, and one cavalry

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[1] This telegram was drafted by Mao Zedong for the Military Commission of the CPC Central Committee and addressed to Yang Chengwu, commander of the 3rd Corps of the North China Military Area, Li Jingquan, its political commissar, and Li Tianhuan, its deputy political commissar and director of its political department.

[2] Refers to the telegram sent by Yang Chengwu, Li Jingquan, and Li Tianhuan to the Military Commission of the CPC Central Committee at 12:00 hours on October 28, 1948. The telegram stated: According to a telegram from He Long and Zhang Zongxun at 06:00 hours on the 27th, Chiang Kai-shek has ordered the enemy forces at Baotou, Suiyuan, and Yulin to complete preparations for a three-pronged converging attack on Yang’s forces and they are awaiting orders to move. In addition, according to prisoners, a portion of the Ningxia Ma cavalry has already reached west of the Wujia River. Our 1st Column and the 16th Brigade of the 6th Column are assembling in the Chasuqi area; the 2nd Column, with four infantry regiments and two cavalry regiments, is advancing westward today to strike and annihilate the enemy at Gongmiao, while two regiments remain at Baotou; the main force of the 6th Column is positioned in the Ergexun-Balagai area for mobile operations. We are currently near Sazhi. We are confident of capturing Guisui City on our own, but we lack the strength to strike enemy reinforcements. After the 2nd Corps moves south, the enemy’s reinforcement strength for Suiyuan could possibly exceed two armies.

[3] Guisui, former city name, now Hohhot, Inner Mongolia.

[4] Gongmiao, located in the eastern part of present-day Urad Front Banner, Inner Mongolia.

[5] Yang-Luo-Geng refers to Yang Dezhi, Luo Ruiqing, and Geng Biao, who were then respectively commander, political commissar, and chief of staff of the 2nd Corps of the North China Military Area.

[6] The Beiping-Baoding line refers to the railway between Beiping (now Beijing) and Baoding, i.e., a section of the present-day Beijing-Guangzhou line.

division from the Northeast will soon move out into eastern Hebei to threaten Beiping and Tianjin. Under these circumstances, it will be very difficult for the enemy to send two armies to reinforce Suiyuan.[1]

Military Commission

24:00 hours, October 29

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[1] Suiyuan, former province name, covering the central part of present-day Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, abolished in 1954.