Regarding the Situation and the Deployments
in the Tianjin Area
(December 11, 1948, 2:00 A.M.)
To Lin [Biao], Luo [Ronghuan], and Liu [Yalou]:1
We received the telegram you sent yesterday.
1. The enemy forces in Zhangjiakou and Xinbao’an2 have indeed been encircled.
Half of the Sixteenth Army has been wiped out. The enemy’s 104th Army in
Huailai has fled south, and Cheng [Zihua] and Huang [Zhiyong]’s3 forces are
in the process of pursuing and attacking it. If this enemy is eliminated, then
all of Cheng and Huang’s forces can be used to encircle the enemy forces in
Nankou4 and Changping, and to threaten Beiping from the west. Our forces
on the west side are certainly adequate for this purpose. Now, the Ninetyfourth Army, the Ninety-second Army, the Thirteenth Army, the Thirty-first
Army, and the other units in Fu [Zuoyi]’s5 system are amassed in the areas
surrounding Beiping. In all, there are only three armies and the Independent
Ninety-fifth Division in the Tianjin-Tanggu-Lutai6-Tangshan region, and
there is word that the enemy forces in Tangshan are preparing to withdraw.
Moreover, it is possible that the thirty-four divisions encircled in the area
southwest of Xuzhou by Liu [Bocheng] and Deng [Xiaoping]’s forces and
Chen [Yi] and Su [Yu]’s7 forces could be completely finished off in roughly ten days. If we finish off these enemy forces, the Chiang [Kaishek] bandits’
overall situation will be shaken, and they will certainly have to make new
deployments. There is a plan allowing for dozens of ships now assembled
and awaiting orders in Shanghai to suddenly head north to pick up the enemy
forces in Beiping, Tianjin, Tanggu, and Tangshan, at a time to be decided in
about ten days. Therefore, our suggestion in yesterday’s telegram that you
send two columns westward should be disregarded. We already told you in
the telegram sent at 20:00 on the 10th to halt the movement of those two
columns. After receiving this telegram, please immediately order those two
columns to rest and reorganize at their present locations and await orders.
They should also be prepared to encircle Tangshan swiftly once there are
signs that the enemy forces in Tangshan are indeed retreating. They should
grab an army from Chiang [Kaishek]’s system, making it difficult for other
troops in Chiang’s system to make the decision to retreat. If the enemy forces
in Tangshan do not retreat within ten days and you are able to assemble five
to six columns within ten days, then it will be best for you to act in concert.
You should use one unit to cut off connections between Tianjin and Tanggu;
have another unit encircle Tangshan; and use your main forces to wipe out
the enemy forces in Lutai and Tanggu and bring the seaport under our control. In this way, overall victory will be in sight. Please plan and prepare
everything in accordance with the above.
	 2.	 Fu Zuoyi’s representative is currently on his way from Zhuozhou to
Pingshan, and we should still negotiate with him according to the strategy
described earlier. We want him to keep a firm hold on all the armies of the
central system; this will facilitate our efforts to finish off the central system
first.
	 3.	 Fu Zuoyi’s commands have been rushed and confused in recent days; it may
not take too long for us to finish off the enemy forces in Beiping, Tianjin,
Tanggu, and Tangshan.
The Military Commission

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Notes

Our source for this text is Mao Zedong junshi wenji, Vol. 5, pp. 358–60, where it is
reproduced from Mao’s handwritten manuscript preserved in the Central Archives.
1. Mao Zedong drafted this telegram on behalf of the Central Military Commission.
Lin Biao, Luo Ronghuan, and Liu Yalou were the commander, political commissar, and
chief- of-staff, respectively, of the Northeast Field Army.
2. Xinbao’an is a town in northwestern Huailai county, Hebei.
3. Cheng Zihua and Huang Zhiyong were commander and chief-of-staff, respectively,
of the Second Corps of the Northeast Field Army.
4. Nankou is a town in western Changping county, Beijing.
5. Fu Zuoyi was commander-in-chief of the Guomindang army’s North China “Bandit
Suppression” Headquarters.
6. The town of Lutai is now Ninghe county, Tianjin.
7. Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping were commander and political commissar, respectively, of the Central Plains Field Army. Chen Yi was commander and political commissar
of the East China Field Army, and Su Yu was the acting commander and acting political
commissar of the East China Field Army.
DOI:  10.4324/9781315719436-203