Bolster the Forces Blocking the Area
Southeast of Beiping
(December 15, 1948, 2:00 A.M.)
To Lin [Biao], Luo [Ronghuan], and Liu [Yalou]:1
We received the telegrams you sent on the 14th.2
	 1.	 It is very good that the Third and Tenth columns have inserted themselves
into the area south of Beiping and along the railway. How far has the Sixth
Column gotten by now? We think the Sixth Column should still be deployed
along the railway south of Beiping to bolster the forces blocking the area
southeast of Beiping. This will prevent the enemy forces in Beiping from
assembling all their forces (eighteen divisions), breaking out, and fleeing to
Tianjin.
	 2.	 The enemy forces in Wanping3 consist of two divisions from the 101st Army.
They are both composed of local public-security personnel and they are the
ones that withdrew from Baoding. Given that you have ordered the Fifth and
Eleventh columns to encircle these enemy forces, we think you should order
these two columns to swiftly annihilate these enemy forces and then shift to
the area southeast of Beiping to bolster our forces in that location. This will
enable us to release some of our forces from the area southeast of Beiping
when we attack Tianjin in the future. Please consider this point and do as you think fit. After Cheng [Zihua] and Huang [Zhiyong]4 annihilate the enemy
forces in Wanping, the Seventh Column of the North China Army can move
to the Wanping region and defend it. Please consider the circumstances in
acting on the above.
The Military Commission

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Notes

Our source for this text is Mao Zedong junshi wenji, Vol. 5, pp. 402–3, 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 was commander of the Northeast Field Army, Luo Ronghuan was political commissar of the Northeast Field Army, and Liu Yalou was chief-of-staff of the Northeast Field
Army.

2.  The first of two telegrams from Lin Biao et al. stated that the Northeast Field Army’s
Third and Tenth columns had arrived in the area south of Beiping and Tong county and
north of Langfang. The number of troops in the area between Beiping and Tianjin and
north of Langfang might increase to as many as five columns within a few days, and they
need food supplies. The second telegram said that since the Third and Tenth columns had
not found the enemy forces to be retreating, Lin et al. had ordered the Fifth and Eleventh
columns to lay siege to the enemy forces in Wanping.

3.  The county of Wanping was incorporated into Beijing in 1952.
DOI:  10.4324/9781315719436-214

4.  Cheng Zihua and Huang Zhiyong were commander and chief-of-staff, respectively,
of the Second Corps of the Northeast Field Army.