Eliminate the Enemy Forces on the Tianjin–
Tanggu Railway and Then Establish Control
over the Seaport
(December 13, 1948, 4:30 A.M.)
To Lin [Biao], Luo [Ronghuan], and Liu [Yalou]:1
	 1.	 According to a report from the broadcasting station of the Tangshan
Railroad Bureau at 15:00 on the 12th, the armies garrisoned at Tangshan
have not yet completed their withdrawal, the Communist forces have not
yet entered the city, there is great chaos among the common people, and
so forth. We reckon that the enemy forces in Tangshan completed their
withdrawal yesterday (the 12th).
	 2.	 In addition to using one division to enter Tangshan and Kaiping2 to help
the municipal Party committee and the municipal government sent by the
Eastern Hebei Bureau to maintain order, you should have three columns
swiftly insert themselves between Tianjin and Tanggu. They should eliminate the enemy forces on the [Tian]jin–Tang[gu] railway,3 establish control
over that line, and cut off connections between Tianjin and Tanggu. After
that, they should annihilate the enemy forces in Tanggu at the appropriate
opportunity and establish control over the seaport.
The Military Commission
Our source for this text is Mao Zedong junshi wenji, Vol. 5, pp. 393–94, where it is
reproduced from Mao’s handwritten manuscript preserved in the Central Archives.

--- Notes

1.  Mao Zedong drafted this telegram on behalf of the Central Military Commission.
Lin Biao, Luo Ronghuan, and Liu Yalou were commander, political commissar, and chief-of-staff, respectively, of the Northeast Field Army.

2.  Kaiping is a town in northeastern Tangshan county, Hebei.

3.  The Tianjin-Tanggu railway is part of today’s Beijing-Harbin railway.
DOI:  10.4324/9781315719436-209