Countermeasures to He Yingqin’s April 30 Deployment

zhou line, one army positioned outside the Zhuzhou–Hengzhou line, can send five armies to advance towards Chenzhou, coordinate with two armies on the western route to annihilate Bai Chongxi on the Hunan–Guangdong–Guangxi border, and prepare to advance towards the two Guang provinces. C. On the enemy’s right flank in the Jiangxi sector, it is reported that their most powerful units will coordinate operations with the Nanchang command post, with the objective of securing areas on both sides of the Gan River and shielding the safety of the Guangzhou–Hankou railway. From this it appears that on the Nanxun railway, the enemy seems unwilling to fight a hard battle with our forces; you may plan for the two armies designated to operate in Jiangxi to advance into that area. These two armies may be selected from among the armies with weaker combat strength, and avoid using those with stronger combat strength. If they encounter combat, they may request assistance from Chen Geng’s corps. Of the three armies positioned along the line from Wuhan to Hengyang, you may select two weaker and one stronger. The above opinions are offered for your consideration. Deploying in this way will allow our main forces to be used in a concentrated manner, and the seven armies advancing towards the Hunan–Guangdong–Guangxi border will not become scattered, which will be advantageous for seeking out and annihilating Bai’s main force. Yet there is one point worth studying: I recently heard that Bai’s 48th Army (one of the Guangxi clique’s main forces) and 46th Army (reconstituted after being entirely annihilated in the Laiwu Campaign two years ago, with weak combat strength; its 147th Division was recently wiped out by the Second Field Army in southern Anhui) are located on the Nanxun railway. These two armies may retreat towards the Dayu Mountains in the future. You may consider sending one army to follow this enemy along the Gan River in the direction of the Dayu Mountains. This army would then be positioned in the Dayu, Nanxiong, and Shixing area, coordinating with the Guangdong–Jiangxi–Hunan Border Region Guerrilla Column (Party Committee Secretary and Concurrent Column Commander Lin Ping) to operate in that area, and later coordinate with the main force to take Guangzhou. If the Guangxi clique’s main force is indeed dispersed (it seems that on the Guangzhou–Hankou railway only the 7th Army has tenacious combat effectiveness, while the rest are very weak or relatively weak), this deployment may be considered. In this case, three armies should be sent into Jiangxi, two of which would have the fixed mission of operating in Jiangxi, and one army would prepare to follow the enemy out to Nanxiong and Shixing. The forces advancing through Hunan towards the Hunan–Guangdong–Guangxi border to seek out and annihilate Bai’s main force would be six armies, not seven. In addition, in June you may already be able to occupy Yuezhou, Changde, Changsha, Zhuzhou, Pingxiang, Jiujiang, Nanchang, Ji’an, Yuanzhou,