Do Not Underestimate the Enemy Is Extremely Important[1]

(February 13, 1949)

Comrades Xiaoping and Chen Yi, and inform Rao, Kang, Zeng, Su, and Tan[2]:

(1) The report of February 6[3] has been received. It is excellent. Forward it immediately to all areas for study and to guide subordinate units in correcting similar deviations. We welcome such reports analyzing ideological trends within the Party. (2) The Central Plains Field Army and the Central Plains Party have just concluded their conference of over one hundred senior cadres; there is no need to convene another meeting. It seems appropriate for the East China Field Army to hold another senior cadres’ conference around February 18 to review the implementation of the previous meeting’s decisions, intensify preparations for crossing the Yangtze, and convey the directive emphasizing the focus on cities. After the meeting, you should come to attend the Second Plenary Session, arriving at the Central Committee by February 27 or 28. (3) The point about not underestimating the enemy is extremely important. We say that the Kuomintang has basically been overthrown and that in the future there may be no more large-scale operations on the scale of those in western Liaoning[4] and the Huaihai campaign. We absolutely must not allow this to lead to a mentality of underestimating the enemy. The enemy will still struggle, and we will still have to fight battles. However, future operations may not be on the scale of those in western Liaoning and the Huaihai campaign, where fifty to sixty thousand enemy troops were wiped out each time, and the possibility of partial peaceful resolutions has already increased. This point must be emphatically explained at the meeting to prevent any deviation from arising. Central Committee, Chouyuan