Adopt the Policy of Encirclement Without Attack for the Enemy at Xinbaoan and Zhangjiakou[1]

(December 8, 1948)

Comrades Cheng and Huang, Yang, Luo, and Geng, Yang and Li[2]; and for the information of Comrades Lin, Luo, and Liu, and Nie and Bo[3]:

(1) According to two telegrams from Yang, Luo, and Geng at 0800 hours today,[4] the 35th Army has been pinned down by our forces in the Xinbaoan[1] area between Xuanhua and Huailai, and it is resolved to encircle this enemy force with three columns in full strength. (2) Now that the 35th Army has been pinned down, the enemy at Huailai may also decide not to flee, and there is a possibility that the 16th Army may send a part of its forces to reinforce Huailai. If that happens, it will be extremely favorable to the overall situation. (3) When Cheng and Huang, leading nine divisions of infantry and cavalry, approach the vicinity of Huailai, if the enemy at Huailai (two divisions of the 104th Army) has not fled, they shall swiftly encircle this enemy force. The method shall be to position one division, or at most two, west of Huailai to block the enemy’s westward escape, while seven or eight divisions must be used to capture the section of the railway line between Huailai and Nankou,[2] to hold the key points of Kangzhuang, Qinglongqiao, and Badaling,[3] and to rapidly construct several layers of blocking positions eastward, in preparation for repelling large-scale reinforcements from Fu’s[4] forces. Our troops positioned near Huailai shall construct siege positions and prepare to repulse breakout attacks by the enemy in the city. If the enemy attempts a breakout, concentrate forces to annihilate them; if the enemy holds fast, encircle them for a prolonged period. (4) If the enemy at Huailai has already fled, you should rest for several days in the Huailai area and then advance toward Nankou and Changping, seizing the opportunity to encircle part or all of the 16th Army, and complete the dispositions for encirclement and blocking reinforcements by the same method described above. (5) Yang, Luo, and Geng, regarding the enemy at Xinbaoan, and Yang and Li, regarding the enemy at Zhangyuan,[5] shall both adopt the policy of rapidly constructing multiple layers of encirclement positions, maintaining a prolonged and tight encirclement, and awaiting orders to attack. Yang, Luo, and Geng shall focus their dispositions on the eastern sector, and Yang and Li shall focus theirs on the northwestern and western sectors, ensuring in every case that the enemy forces cannot escape, so as to facilitate the successive entry of our main forces from the Northeast into the passes and the completion of dispositions against the enemy at Beiping, Tianjin, Tanggu, and Tangshan.[6]

The Military Commission

2000 hours, December 8

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[1] Xinbaoan, a town northwest of Huailai County, Hebei Province.
[2] Nankou, a town in western Changping County, Beijing.
[3] Kangzhuang, Qinglongqiao, and Badaling, all located in southern Yanqing County, Beijing.
[4] Fu, referring to Fu Zuoyi, then Commander-in-Chief of the Kuomintang’s “Bandit Suppression” General Headquarters in North China.
[5] Zhangyuan, i.e., Zhangjiakou, Hebei Province.
[6] Beiping, Tianjin, Tanggu, and Tangshan, Hebei Province.