Telegram to Peng Dehuai and Others on Encouraging Morale to Strive for a Great Victory
(November 28, 1950)

Peng, Deng, Piao, Hong, and to be conveyed to Song, Tao, Gao, and He:

Your telegram to the various armies on the western front at noon on November 28 and your telegram to the 9th Army Corps at 1500 hours the same day are both very correct. This is an excellent opportunity for our army to destroy the enemy on a large scale and fundamentally resolve the Korean question. It is entirely possible to strive to annihilate five American and British divisions and four South Korean divisions on the western front, and to strive to annihilate two American divisions and one South Korean division on the eastern front. The entire campaign is prepared to last about twenty days, divided into many large and small engagements, with several short rest periods in between, each rest lasting as little as one or two days or as much as three or four days, to reorganize the formations before engaging again. In this way, overall, casualties will be comparatively fewer and resources used more economically. I hope you will encourage morale and strive for a great victory.

Mao Zedong
2400 hours, November 28

Song refers to Song Shilun, then Commander and concurrently Political Commissar of the 9th Army Corps of the Chinese People's Volunteers. Tao refers to Tao Yong, then Deputy Commander of the 9th Army Corps of the Chinese People's Volunteers.