Annihilate Li Mi’s Corps by Bold and Swift Action[1]

(November 10, 1948)

Su and Zhang, Tan and Wang:

The enemy’s 7th and 13th Corps are both retreating toward Xuzhou. Have you encircled and attacked these two enemy forces and cut off their retreat? In particular, the 7th, 10th, and 13th Columns and the 11th Column of the Northern Jiangsu Army should take advantage of the hasty retreat of the enemy’s 13th Corps to annihilate it by bold and swift action. This is of the utmost importance and our most urgent hope.

The Military Commission
10 November, 1–3 a.m.

[1] This telegram was drafted by Mao Zedong for the Military Commission of the CPC Central Committee and addressed to Su Yu, acting commander and acting political commissar of the East China Field Army, Zhang Zhen, its deputy chief of staff, Tan Zhenlin, political commissar of its Shandong Army, and Wang Jian’an, its deputy commander.