Comments on Solving the Problem of Supplying Daily Necessities to Tunnel Troops of the Volunteer Army[1]
(December 28, 1952, and January 30, 1953)

Comrades Peng, Nie, Huang Kecheng, Yang Lisan, and Xiao Hua[2] to read, and to be kept by Comrade Xiao Xiangrong.[3]

It is of great importance to solve the problems of regular supplies of vegetables, tobacco, shelter from dampness, and recreational facilities for the ten to twenty thousand troops inside the tunnels, so as to enable them to fight with peace of mind. Peng is requested to discuss this at a routine meeting of the Military Commission and make appropriate decisions.

Mao Zedong
December 28

[1] The first part of this text is a comment written by Mao Zedong on a letter of December 19, 1952, from a cadre of the Quartermaster Department of the Logistics Department of the North China Military Region of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, addressed to Mao Zedong and Zhu De, proposing solutions to the supply problems of the Volunteer Army’s tunnel troops. The second part is a comment written by Mao Zedong on a report dated January 24, 1953, from Huang Kecheng, Deputy Chief of General Staff of the People’s Revolutionary Military Commission of the Central People’s Government and concurrently Minister of the General Logistics Department, and Vice Ministers Yang Lisan and Zhang Lingbin, concerning the supply situation of the Volunteer Army during the winter of 1952. This comment was addressed to Liu Shaoqi, Zhu De, Zhou Enlai, and others.

[2] Peng refers to Peng Dehuai, then Vice Chairman of the People’s Revolutionary Military Commission and Commander and Political Commissar of the Chinese People’s Volunteer Army. Nie refers to Nie Rongzhen, then Acting Chief of General Staff of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army. Xiao Hua was then Deputy Director of the General Political Department of the People’s Revolutionary Military Commission.

[3] Xiao Xiangrong was then Director of the General Office of the People’s Revolutionary Military Commission.

The Complete Works of Mao Zedong
Volume 32

Comrades Liu, Zhu, Zhou, Gao, and Xiaoping:[I]
This document may be read. The daily necessities of the Volunteer Army have been relatively well resolved.

Mao Zedong
January 30

[I] Gao refers to Gao Gang, then Vice Chairman of the Central People’s Government and Chairman of the State Planning Commission. Xiaoping refers to Deng Xiaoping, then Vice Premier of the Government Administration Council of the Central People’s Government.