Request report on when the Zhoushan Islands operation is to be conducted[1]
(May 10, 1950)

Comrade Su Yu:
When do you plan to conduct the Zhoushan Islands operation[2], what is the state of the preparations, please inform.
Mao Zedong
May 10

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The Complete Works of Mao Zedong Volume Twenty-Eight
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Manuscript of Mao Zedong's telegram to Su Yu.
334

--- Notes

[1] This is a telegram from Mao Zedong to Su Yu, Deputy Commander of the Third Field Army of the People's Liberation Army and concurrently Deputy Commander of the East China Military Region.
[2] Refers to the operation to liberate the main island of the Zhoushan Islands. To strengthen the defense of Zhoushan, the Kuomintang army successively transferred the 52nd Army, the 19th Army, and others from Taiwan, Jinmen, and other places to reinforce Zhoushan, increasing the enemy forces defending Zhoushan to 5 armies comprising 16 divisions, totaling 120,000 personnel including navy, air force, and special forces. Based on this situation, the Front Committee of the Third Field Army of the People's Liberation Army decided to deploy additional main forces of the 21st Army, the 23rd Army, the 24th Army, and part of the artillery forces to participate in the cross-sea operation under the unified command of the 7th Corps, thereby increasing our participating forces from 4 divisions to 12 divisions plus 10 artillery regiments, giving the total strength a significant advantage. Meanwhile, elements of our newly formed navy and air force had deployed to Shanghai, Ningbo, and other locations. In May 1950, just as the preparations of our various units for the attack on Zhoushan were largely in order and the battle was about to be launched, the Kuomintang garrison forces on the Zhoushan Islands began to retreat starting from May 13. On May 19, our army completely occupied the Zhoushan Islands.