Delay the General Assault on Nianzhuang to Lure the Enemy in Deep[1]

(November 16, 1948)

Su, Chen, Zhang, and inform Tan, Wang[2]:

Of the enemy at Nianzhuang[3], the 44th Army and the 100th Army have been wiped out, and parts of the 25th Army and the 64th Army have also been annihilated. It has been decided to launch the general assault on Nianzhuang on the night of the 16th. The time has now come to order the 7th Column, the 10th Column, and the Subei 11th Column[4] and other units to pull back to the rear, so as to allow the enemy to advance eastward. Moreover, it seems advisable to delay the general assault by one or two days in order to lure the enemy in deep. As to exactly how this should be done, we hope you will weigh the circumstances and act with decisiveness.

The Military Commission

16th, 3:00 hours

[1] This is a telegram drafted by Mao Zedong for the Military Commission of the CPC Central Committee to Su Yu, acting commander and acting political commissar of the East China Field Army; Chen Shiju, chief of staff; and Zhang Zhen, deputy chief of staff.

[2] Tan and Wang refer to Tan Zhenlin and Wang Jian’an, who were respectively political commissar and deputy commander of the Shandong Corps of the East China Field Army at the time.

[3] Nianzhuang, a town located in the western part of Pi County, Jiangsu Province.

[4] The Subei 11th Column refers to the 11th Column of the Subei Corps, with Hu Bingyun as column commander and Zhang Fan as political commissar.