Seize Hu Zongnan So That His Forces Cannot Be Transferred Elsewhere[1]

(December 1, 1948)

Peng and Zhang, and inform the Northwest Bureau:

(1) Congratulations on your great victory in annihilating over 20,000 enemy troops. (2) It is necessary for you to carry out consolidation and training, but do not propose a consolidation and training plan for the entire winter; only propose a one-month consolidation and training plan, dividing the one-month plan into two periods, with half a month as one period. After the two periods are completed, if there is an opportunity for combat, fight a battle; if there is no opportunity for combat, extend the consolidation and training time and make a third-period consolidation and training plan (half a month). Our aim is that you can both consolidate and train and not miss favorable combat opportunities, thereby pinning down Hu Zongnan[2] so that he cannot be transferred elsewhere. (3) What we must now strive with all our might to achieve is: first, as far as possible, prevent Fu Zuoyi’s[3] forces (forty divisions) from withdrawing south of the Yangtze River; therefore, our Northeast Army has been ordered to move out after only twenty days of rest, so as to seize the enemy in Beiping and Tianjin at an early date; second, we hope you will seize Hu Zongnan, so that his forces cannot be transferred to the Shanghai-Nanjing

[1] On November 15, 1948, the Northwest Field Army launched a winter offensive. On November 16, east of Heyang in Shaanxi, it annihilated the greater part of the Kuomintang’s 144th Division. On November 25, in the Yongfengzhen area of Pucheng, it launched an attack on the Kuomintang’s 76th Army, which had entered the predetermined battlefield; after fierce fighting until November 28, it completely annihilated this enemy force. In the Northwest Winter Offensive, a total of over 25,000 Kuomintang troops were annihilated, and Li Riji, commander of the 76th Army, was captured. This telegram was drafted by Mao Zedong for the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China and addressed to Peng Dehuai, commander and political commissar of the Northwest Field Army, and Zhang Zongxun, its deputy commander.

[2] Hu Zongnan, then director of the Kuomintang’s Xi’an Pacification Office.

[3] Fu Zuoyi, then commander-in-chief of the Kuomintang’s North China “Bandit Suppression” General Headquarters.

area. (4) In the operations of our Liu-Deng and Chen-Su armies[1] in the Xuzhou-Bengbu[2] area, besides having already annihilated eighteen enemy divisions, we have now encircled Huang Wei’s corps[3] of eleven divisions between Suxian and Mengcheng, which can probably be finished off within about a week. After this enemy is annihilated, we will proceed with operations against the three corps[4] (twenty-two divisions) of Qiu Qingquan, Li Mi, and Sun Yuanliang near Xuzhou. If all these enemies can be finished off by us, then south of Bengbu and Huaiyin and north of the Yangtze River, the remaining enemy forces will not be many, only the four forces of Li Yannian, Liu Ruming, Zhou Lu, and Xia Wei,[5] totaling about twenty-four divisions, and they are dispersed in several places, making them relatively easy to finish off. The Kuomintang’s rule south of the Yangtze River will then find it very difficult to stand, and the task of overthrowing the Kuomintang fundamentally (not meaning entirely) may possibly be shortened to completion within about one year.

Central Military Commission

1200 hours, 1st

[1] The Liu-Deng and Chen-Su armies refer to the Central Plains Field Army and the East China Field Army. The commander of the Central Plains Field Army was Liu Bocheng and its political commissar was Deng Xiaoping. The commander and political commissar of the East China Field Army was Chen Yi, and its acting commander and acting political commissar was Su Yu.

[2] Xu-Beng refers to Xuzhou in Jiangsu and Bengbu in Anhui.

[3] Huang Wei’s corps refers to the Kuomintang’s 12th Corps, whose corps commander was Huang Wei.

[4] The three corps of Qiu Qingquan, Li Mi, and Sun Yuanliang refer to the Kuomintang’s 2nd Corps, 13th Corps, and 16th Corps, whose corps commanders were Qiu Qingquan, Li Mi, and Sun Yuanliang respectively.

[5] Li Yannian, then commander of the Kuomintang’s 6th Corps. Liu Ruming, then commander of the Kuomintang’s 8th Corps. Zhou Lu, then commander of the Kuomintang’s 1st Pacification Zone. Xia Wei, then deputy commander-in-chief of the Kuomintang’s Central China “Bandit Suppression” General Headquarters and concurrently commander of the 8th Pacification Zone.