The East China Field Army Should Dispatch Two Columns to Block and Annihilate the Enemy Fleeing Westward[1]

(December 2, 1948)

Su, Chen, Zhang, Tan, Wang[2], and inform Liu, Chen, Deng[3]:

The enemy is fleeing westward. You should dispatch two columns to advance rapidly on the flanks by forced marches, racing ahead of the enemy to block them, so as to encircle and strike. Do not rely solely on tail pursuit.

The Military Commission

7:00, 2nd

[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; 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 the political commissar and deputy commander of the Shandong Corps of the East China Field Army at the time.
[3] Liu, Chen, and Deng refer to Liu Bocheng, Chen Yi, and Deng Xiaoping, who were respectively the commander, first deputy commander, and political commissar of the Central Plains Field Army at the time.