Comments on Huang Kecheng’s Report on the Deployment for Annihilating the Landing Enemy Forces (July 17, 1953)

To Comrade Huang Kecheng,

The disposition [2] is very good.

Mao Zedong
5:00 AM, July 17

It is necessary to guard against the enemy landing another force elsewhere.

Printed according to the manuscript.

Notes:

[1] Huang Kecheng was then Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army.

[2] Refers to Huang Kecheng's report to Mao Zedong, Liu Shaoqi, Zhu De, and Zhou Enlai at 19:00 on July 16, 1953, regarding the deployment for annihilating the landing enemy forces. The report stated that at 4:50 AM this morning, two regiments of Chiang's troops, with a tank unit attached and under the cover of their navy, landed on Dongshan Island in southern Fujian. At the same time, 300 enemy paratroopers, under the cover of 30 aircraft, landed in the Houlin area of Dongshan Island. As of 12:30 PM, the two battalions (less one company) of the 80th Public Security Regiment defending the island had retreated to Dongshan and Wuliting Mountain in the northeast and northwest corners of the island, and were engaged in fierce fighting with the enemy. In order to crush the landing enemy forces, the Fujian Military Region had, at 5:00 AM this morning, dispatched the 22nd Regiment of the 31st Army stationed in the Zhangpu area to Dongshan as reinforcements (57 kilometers) according to the original plan. Its vanguard had arrived in Chendai by car at 10:00 AM this morning and immediately entered Dongshan Island. Currently, the key points in the northeast and northwest of the island are under our control. The paratroopers who landed in the Houlin area of Dongshan Island have been mostly annihilated by us. The 122nd Division of the 41st Army of the Central-South Military Region in the Chao-Shan area is also rushing to reinforce according to the original plan, and its vanguard regiment is expected to arrive in Meizhou at 19:00 today to reinforce the island, preparing to annihilate the landing enemy forces. In order to thwart the enemy's conspiracy, in addition to informing the intelligence departments to closely monitor changes in the enemy situation and ensuring that the communication departments reliably guarantee the smooth flow of military telephone lines between Central-South and East China, and issuing orders to all coastal defense units in Central-South and East China to be vigilant against possible enemy harassment, the 41st Army of Central-South and the 272nd Regiment of East China have also been informed that upon arrival, they should resolutely annihilate the landing enemy forces, so that they will not dare to act recklessly in the future.