Prevent the Enemy from Possibly Fleeing Westward from Zhangjiakou[1]

(December 5, 1948)

To Yang and Li, Li Jingquan[2], and for information to Yang, Luo, and Geng[3]:

(1) The enemy at Datong belongs to Yan Xishan. Yan recently plans to airlift them to Taiyuan; let them be transported. Our Beiyue Group[4] may move to the Xinghe-Zhangbei area to participate in the task of preventing the enemy at Zhangyuan[5] from possibly fleeing toward Xingji[6]. (2) What troops are still in the Xingji area, and where is Yao Zhe’s[7] Eighth Column? Request Jingquan to investigate and report. (3) Request Jingquan to deploy forces in the eastern Suiyuan[8] area to prevent the enemy at Zhangyuan from possibly fleeing westward. Should such a situation occur, coordinate with Yang-Luo-Geng and Yang-Li to annihilate the fleeing enemy.

The Military Commission

2000 hours, 5 December

[1] This telegram was drafted by Mao Zedong for the Military Commission of the CPC Central Committee and addressed to Yang Chengwu, commander of the Third Corps of the North China Military Area, and Li Tianhuan, its deputy political commissar and director of the Political Department.
[2] Li Jingquan was then political commissar of the Third Corps of the North China Military Area. Acting on instructions from the Military Commission of the CPC Central Committee, he remained in Suiyuan with Yao Zhe’s Eighth Column.
[3] Yang, Luo, and Geng: Yang Dezhi, Luo Ruiqing, and Geng Biao, who were then respectively commander, political commissar, and chief of staff of the Second Corps of the North China Military Area.
[4] Beiyue Group refers to the Beiyue Military Sub-district, whose commander was Wang Ping and political commissar was Zhao Zhensheng.
[5] Zhangyuan refers to Zhangjiakou, Hebei Province.
[6] Xingji refers to Xinghe and Jining in Inner Mongolia.
[7] Yao Zhe was then commander of the Suiyuan-Mongolia Military Sub-district and concurrently commander of the Eighth Column.
[8] Suiyuan was an old province covering the central part of today’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. It was abolished in 1954.