It is advisable to first annihilate Huang Baitao’s command post[1]

(November 1, 1948)

Su:

Telegram of the morning of the 31st[2] noted. Intelligence reports indicate that the 100th Army has moved to Xuebu, Niushan, and Daliuwei[3]; the 64th Army is at Chengtou; the 7th Corps command post, with an attached howitzer battalion, is near Chengtou; Huang[4] himself appears to be at that location; the 25th Army is at Ahu; the 63rd Army is at Huanghuabu and Xin’anzhen. This situation is favorable for your forces to divide, encircle, and annihilate them. It would seem advisable for you to first annihilate Huang Baitao’s command post.

The Military Commission

1st day, 2:00 hours

[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.

[2] Refers to the telegram sent by Su Yu to the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China and to Chen Yi, Deng Xiaoping, and others in the early morning of October 31, 1948. The telegram stated: “1. I have returned to the front. Comrades Zhenlin and Jian’an will arrive south from Jinan this evening and will thereafter move with the command of the Eastern Corps. Political Commissar Rao and Comrade Kang Sheng still have three to five days of work in Jinan before they can return to the East China Bureau. 2. The Huaihai Campaign will, as ordered, commence combat operations simultaneously on the evening of the 8th. However, it is unknown whether the forces under Commander Chen and Political Commissar Deng can commence combat operations on the evening of the 8th. Request instructions from Chen and Deng. 3. The scale of this campaign is very large. Request Commander Chen and Political Commissar Deng to exercise unified command.”

[3] Niushan, a town name, now the county seat of Donghai County, Jiangsu Province. Xuebu and Daliuwei, village names, both located within the borders of Donghai County, Jiangsu Province.

[4] Huang refers to Huang Baitao, then Commander of the 7th Corps of the Kuomintang Army.