Boldly Insert Your Forces Between the Enemy’s Various Armies to Facilitate Their Destruction[1]

(December 4, 1948)

Su, Chen, and Zhang, and Tan, Wang, and Li,[2] and inform Wei and Ji:[3]

In this operation against Qiu, Li, and Sun,[4] each of our columns should boldly insert itself between the enemy’s various armies, separating them from one another to facilitate their destruction. This is the method used in the Northeast to strike the Liao Corps.[5] We must by all means prevent the enemy from massing into a single large group, which would prolong the fighting and make annihilation difficult.

The Military Commission

3:00 a.m., December 4

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[1] This telegram was drafted by Mao Zedong for the Military Commission of the CPC Central Committee and addressed to Su Yu, acting commander and acting political commissar of the East China Field Army; Chen Shiju, its chief of staff; and Zhang Zhen, its deputy chief of staff.

[2] Tan, Wang, and Li refer to Tan Zhenlin, Wang Jian’an, and Li Yingxi, who were then respectively political commissar, deputy commander, and chief of staff of the Shandong Corps of the East China Field Army.

[3] Wei and Ji refer to Wei Guoqing and Ji Luo (Ji Pengfei), who were then respectively commander and deputy political commissar of the North Jiangsu Corps of the East China Field Army.

[4] Qiu, Li, and Sun refer to Qiu Qingquan, Li Mi, and Sun Yuanliang, who were then respectively commanders of the Kuomintang’s 2nd, 13th, and 16th corps.

[5] The Liao Corps refers to the former Kuomintang 9th Corps, commanded by Liao Yaoxiang. During the second stage of the Liaoxi-Shenyang Campaign, the Northeast Field Army encircled the Liao Corps on October 26, 1948, in the Heishan, Dahushan, and Xinmin areas of Liaoning Province. While completing the encirclement and taking advantage of the enemy’s confusion and contraction, our forces carried out penetration and splitting operations. After two days of fierce fighting, the entire corps was annihilated, and more than 100,000 men were captured, including Corps Commander Liao Yaoxiang and Army Commanders Li Tao, Xiang Fengwu, and Zheng Tingji.