Pin Down Ma Jiyuan’s Forces and Other Units to Wipe Out Hu Zongnan’s Troops[1]

(June 20, 1949)

Comrades Peng, Zhang, and Zhao:

(1) According to intelligence reports that Ma Jiyuan[2] is planning to attack Jingyang and Sanyuan, it appears that bandit Ma is unaware that our 19th Army will soon arrive at Sanyuan, and therefore he plans to smash our Army commanded by Xu first so as to remove the threat to his flank. When Ma Jiyuan attacks Jingyang, please keep a close watch on how bandit Hu[3] will act. We think bandit Hu has only two alternatives: either to go all out to pin down our armies south of the Weihe River and protect bandit Ma’s right flank, or to launch an offensive simultaneously with bandit Ma north of the Jinghe River and south of the Weihe River. Whichever plan bandit Hu adopts, it will give our army an opportunity to wipe him out first. We hope that, in line with the policy of striking at bandit Hu first, you will quickly concentrate the main forces of the two armies under Wang and Zhou,[4] and, when bandit Ma attacks Jingyang, suddenly launch an attack on bandit Hu’s forces with the aim of wiping out his 38th, 65th and 90th Armies. (2) When you are fighting bandit Hu’s three armies, Ma Jiyuan’s entire force and part of Ma Dunjing’s[5] force will not be able to come to his rescue because they will be under threat from our army under Xu. But you should send part of your force to make a feint from Xianyang in the direction of Ma Dunjing so that he will be totally unable to send reinforcements. (3) After you have succeeded in wiping out bandit Hu’s three armies, if our army has not suffered heavy losses and is still capable of pursuit, you should quickly move the main forces of the two armies under Wang and Zhou towards Fengxiang, Baoji, Qianyang and Longxian[6] in order to wipe out the remaining forces of bandit Hu and the army under Gansu’s Wang Zhiqi[7] and to occupy Fengxiang, Baoji, Qianyang and Longxian, thus facilitating subsequent operations in coordination with Xu and Yang[8] against the two Mas. (4) After the main force of bandit Hu (three armies) is wiped out west of Huxian, the two Mas will not dare to hang on and fight but will pull back to Changwu, Binxian and Pingliang to dig in and wait for another battle. Since our army under Yang cannot be concentrated at Sanyuan until the end of this month and will not be able to fight in coordination with the army under Xu until early next month at the soonest, it seems difficult, even impossible, for us to use the army under Xu alone to make a detour to Binxian and Yongshou, cut off the retreat of the two Mas and encircle them so as to facilitate the next operation, when the two armies under Wang and Zhou attack the main force of bandit Hu west of Huxian at the end of this month. Therefore, we maintain that after wiping out bandit Hu’s three armies, the main forces of the two armies under Wang and Zhou should continue to push westward to wipe out his remaining forces and occupy Fengxiang, Baoji, Qianyang and Longxian, thus strategically paving the way for the operation against Pingliang. As for the two Mas, it seems more advantageous to let them withdraw to Pingliang and then attack them there with all the twelve armies under Wang, Zhou, Xu and Yang. (5) Please consider whether the above suggestions are appropriate and cable us your reply.

Military Commission of the Central Committee

20 June

[1] This was a telegram drafted by Mao Zedong for the Military Commission of the CPC Central Committee and addressed to Peng Dehuai, commander and political commissar of the First Field Army, and Zhang Zongxun and Zhao Shoushan, its deputy commanders.

[2] Ma Jiyuan was then commander of the Longdong Army and concurrently commander of the 82nd Army of the Kuomintang army.

[3] Hu Zongnan was then director of the Xi’an Pacification Headquarters of the Kuomintang army.

[4] The two armies under Wang and Zhou refer to the 1st Army and the 18th Army of the First Field Army, whose commanders were Wang Zhen and Zhou Shidi respectively.

[5] Ma Dunjing was then commander of the Ningxia Army of the Kuomintang army.

[6] Fengxiang, Baoji, Qianyang and Longxian are all in Shaanxi Province.

[7] The army under Wang Zhiqi refers to the 119th Army under the Northwest Military and Administrative Office of the Kuomintang army, with Wang Zhiqi as its commander.

[8] Xu Guangda and Yang Dezhi, the latter being then commander of the 19th Army of the First Field Army.