December 17, 1948

[This broadcast message was written by Comrade Mao Tse-tung for the Headquarters
of the Central Plains and the Eastern China People's Liberation Armies.]


General Tu Yu-ming, General Chiu Ching-chuan, General Li Mi and all corps,
division and regiment commanders of the two armies under Generals Chiu
Ching-chuan and Li Mi:

You are now at the end of your rope. Huang Wei's army was completely wiped
out on the night of the 15th, Li Yen-nien's army has taken to its heels and
fled south, and it is hopeless for you to think of joining them. Are you
hoping to break through? How can you break through when the People's Liberation
Army is all around? During the last few days you have tried to break through,
but what came of it? Your planes and tanks, too, are useless. We have more
planes and tanks than you, that is, artillery and explosives which people
call our home-made planes and tanks. Aren't they ten times more formidable
than your foreign-made planes and tanks? Your army under Sun Yuan-liang is
finished, and more than half the men in your two remaining armies have been
wounded or captured. You have brought many miscellaneous and idle personnel
of various organizations and many young students from Hsuchow and forced
them into your army, but how can these people fight? For more than ten days,
you have been surrounded ring upon ring and received blow upon blow, and
your position has shrunk greatly. You have such a tiny place, only a little
more than ten li square, and so many people are crowded together
that a single shell from us can kill a lot of you. Your wounded soldiers
and the families who have followed the army are complaining to high heaven.
Your soldiers and many of your officers have no stomach for any more fighting.
You, as deputy commander-in-chief, as commanders of armies, corps, divisions
and regiments, should understand and sympathize with the feelings of your
subordinates and families, hold their lives dear, find a way out for them
as early as possible and stop sending them to a senseless death.

Now that Huang Wei's army has been completely wiped out and Li Yen-nien's
army has fled towards Pengpu, we are able to concentrate an attacking force
several times your strength. This time we have fought for only forty days,
and you have already lost 10 divisions under Huang Po-tao, 11 under Huang
Wei, 4 under Sun Yuan-liang, 4 under Feng Chih-an, 2 under Sun Liang-cheng,
1 under Liu Ju-ming, 1 division in Suhsien and another in Lingpi -- altogether
you have lost 34 whole divisions. Of these, 27 divisions were completely
wiped out by our army; the only exceptions were the 3 divisions led by Ho
Chi-feng and Chang Ke-hsia and 1 division led by Liao Yun-chou, which revolted
and came over to our side, and 1 division led by Sun Liang-cheng and the
2 half-divisions led by Chao Pi-kuang and Huang Tse-hua, which
surrendered.[1] You have seen with your own eyes the fate
of the 3 armies under Huang Po-tao, Huang Wei and Sun Yuan-liang. You should
learn from the example of General Cheng Tung-kuo in
Changchun[2] and from the current example of corps commander
Sun Liang-cheng and division commanders Chao Pi-kuang and Huang Tse-hua and
immediately order all your troops to lay down their arms and cease resistance.
Our army will guarantee life and safety to you, high-ranking officers, and
to all officers and men. This is your only way out. Think it over! If you
feel this is right, then do it. If you still want to fight another round,
you can have it, but you will be finished off anyway.[3]

Headquarters of the Central Plains

People's Liberation Army

Headquarters of the Eastern China People's Liberation Army

NOTES


1. Ho Chi-feng and Chang Ke-hsia, Deputy Commanders of
the Kuomintang's 3rd Pacification Zone, revolted against the Kuomintang in
the Chiawang sector, northeast of Hsuchow, on November 8, 1948, during the
first stage of the Huai-Hai campaign, and came over to the People's Liberation
Army with 1 corps headquarters, 3 divisions and 1 regiment, totalling more
than 20,000 men. Liao Yun-chou, Commander of the 110th Division of the
Kuomintang's 85th Corps, revolted against the Kuomintang at Lochi, southwest
of Suhsien, Anhwei Province, on November 27, 1948, during the second stage
of the Huai-Hai campaign, and came over to the People's Liberation Army with
his division headquarters and 2 full regiments, totalling 5,500 men. Sun
Liang-cheng, Deputy Commander of the Kuomintang's 1st Pacification Zone and
Commander of the 107th Corps, came over to the People's Liberation Army with
his corps headquarters and 1 division, totalling 5,800 men, northwest of
Suining, Kiangsu Province, on November 13, 1948, during the first stage of
the Huai-Hai campaign. Chao Pi-kuang, Commander of the 150th Division of
the Kuomintang's 44th Corps, came over to the People's Liberation Army with
over 2,000 of his remaining troops in the Nienchuang sector, east of Hsuchow,
Kiangsu Province, on November 18, 1948, during the first stage of the Huai-Hai
campaign. Huang Tse-hua, Commander of the 23rd Division of the Kuomintang's
85th Corps, came over to the People's Liberation Army with his division
headquarters and the remnants of 2 regiments at Shuangtuichi, northeast of
Mengcheng, Anhwei Province, in December 1948, during the second stage of
the Huai-Hai campaign.

2. Changchun had been besieged by the Northeast People's
Liberation Army since the winter of 1947. After the capture of Chinchow by
our army, when all the enemy troops in the Northeast were in a shaky position,
Cheng Tung-kuo, Kuomintang commander in Changchun and Deputy Commander-in-Chief
of the Kuomintang's Northeast "Bandit Suppression" Headquarters, led the
army troops of the 1st Army and the officers and men of the New 7th Corps
to surrender on October 19, 1948.

3. After receiving this message, Tu Yu-ming, Deputy
Commander-in-Chief of the Kuomintang's Hsuchow "Bandit Suppression" Headquarters,
Chiu Ching-chuan, Commander of the Kuomintang's 2nd Army, and Li Mi, Commander
of the Kuomintang's 13th Army, continued to resist desperately with the result
that all their troops were wiped out by our army's powerful offensive. Tu
Yu-ming was captured, Chiu Ching-chuan was killed and only Li Mi managed
to escape.

Transcription by the Maoist Documentation Project.