Keep a Close Watch on the Movements of Hu Zongnan’s Troops[1]

(December 18, 1948)

Peng and Zhang, and inform Lin, Luo, and Liu[2]:

(1) Please keep a close watch on the movements of Hu[3]’s troops. There is a possibility that Chiang[4] may transfer Hu’s troops to reinforce Du Yuming[5]. (2) What is the state of your rest and consolidation? Is it possible to conduct an operation at the end of this month or the beginning of next month to wipe out a part of the enemy and thereby tie down Hu’s army? We await your considered report. (3) With Huang Wei[6] wiped out, Li Yannian[7] having withdrawn south of the Huai River, and one-third of Du Yuming’s troops annihilated, the situation on the Xuzhou-Bengbu[8] battlefield is excellent. However, our troops have fought for forty days straight, have wiped out thirty-five intact enemy divisions without resting, are extremely fatigued, and have suffered

[1] This is a telegram drafted by Mao Zedong for the Revolutionary Military Commission of the CPC Central Committee to Peng Dehuai, commander and political commissar of the Northwest Field Army, and Zhang Zongxun, its deputy commander.

[2] Lin, Luo, and Liu refer to Lin Biao, Luo Ronghuan, and Liu Yalou, who were then respectively commander, political commissar, and chief of staff of the Northeast Field Army.

[3] Hu refers to Hu Zongnan, then director of the Xi’an Pacification Headquarters of the Kuomintang army.

[4] Chiang refers to Chiang Kai-shek.

[5] Du Yuming was then deputy commander of the Kuomintang army’s Xuzhou “Bandit Suppression” General Headquarters and concurrently director of its Forward Command.

[6] Huang Wei, former commander of the Kuomintang’s 12th Army Corps. During the second stage of the Huai-Hai campaign, this army corps was completely wiped out by the Central Plains Field Army and a part of the East China Field Army near Shuangduiji in the southern part of Suixi County, Anhui Province, on December 15, 1948, and Huang Wei was captured.

[7] Li Yannian was then commander of the Kuomintang’s 6th Army Corps.

[8] Xuzhou-Bengbu refers to the area between Xuzhou in Jiangsu Province and Bengbu in Anhui Province.

heavy losses. At present, Du’s force still has nineteen incomplete divisions (including Qiu Qingquan[1]’s crack troops) holding out stubbornly in strongholds stretching over ten li from north to south and east to west northeast of Yongcheng. Our troops must rest and consolidate on the spot for ten days and then attack and wipe out this enemy. The decisive engagement will probably take place around the first ten days of next month. (4) As for the enemy reinforcements heading for Bengbu from various directions, apart from the three armies withdrawn from Huludao and Yingkou, three armies have recently been added from the Wuhan area. If the enemy forces in Xi’an and Tianjin do not send reinforcements to Bengbu within the next ten days or so, we will have full confidence in completely wiping out Du Yuming. Please pay attention to this point on both sides.

The Military Commission

15:00 hours, December 18

[1] Qiu Qingquan was then commander of the Kuomintang’s 2nd Army Corps.