Speedily complete preparations for the occupation of Shanghai[1]

(April 30, 1949)

Su Yu and Zhang Zhen, and the General Front Committee:

Your telegram of the morning of the 29th[2] has been received. (1) We are very pleased to learn of the annihilation of the enemy forces. (2) Your dispositions are quite appropriate. If you can complete these dispositions and the political and military preparations for the attack and occupation of Shanghai within one week, you will be able to take the initiative. (3) In addition to directly leading the work in Nanjing, the General Front Committee is requested to speedily complete the preparations for the occupation of Shanghai, so that if Tang Enbo[3] flees from Shanghai by sea after one week, you can take the initiative and take over Shanghai in an orderly manner.

The Military Commission

April 30

[1] This telegram was drafted by Mao Zedong for the Military Commission of the CPC Central Committee and addressed to Su Yu, Deputy Commander and concurrently Second Deputy Political Commissar of the Third Field Army, Zhang Zhen, its Chief of Staff, and the General Front Committee.

[2] This refers to the telegram of the morning of April 29, 1949 from Su Yu and Zhang Zhen to all the armies and the General Front Committee and the Military Commission of the CPC Central Committee. The telegram stated that the enemy forces fleeing toward Hangzhou and driven into the mountainous areas by our army had been mostly annihilated, with only the remnants of the 54th Army still fleeing. The 9th and 10th Army Groups of the Third Field Army were responsible for mopping up the remnants. The telegram also laid down concrete arrangements for the operations of the 9th, 10th, 7th and 8th Army Groups after the mopping-up operations and pointed out the necessity of making preparations for taking over the cities.

[3] Tang Enbo was then Commander-in-Chief of the Nanjing-Shanghai-Hangzhou Garrison Headquarters of the Kuomintang army.