Chapter 68 Learn Chen Geng's [1] department's combat method of concentrating the main force to wipe out the enemy [2]

(July 16, 1946) All bureaus and military regions are transferred to the heads of all divisions and verticals: According to Chen Geng's telegram on the 14th, the main force of our column defeated the right wing of the stubborn army that was attacking me from Wenxi's side last night (13th). After five hours of night fighting, two regiments of the stubborn eleventh brigade were eliminated.According to incomplete statistics, I seized four mountain cannons, seven mortars, eight heavy machine guns, more than 500 rifles, and more than 30 light machine guns, and captured more than a thousand prisoners. I suffered very few casualties.The second step of the battle is now underway, continue to annihilate the stubborn.According to Chen Geng’s telegram on the 15th, Wenxi’s second battle took place on the 14th day and night, and he fought fiercely all night. As a result, I captured six mountain cannons, two flat-firing cannons, eleven mortars, two small cannons, Eight machine guns, dozens of light machine guns, more than 500 rifles, and more than 700 prisoners. The morale of our army is high and we are ready to continue fighting.This time Yan [3] had more than 10,000 troops, and Hu Zongnan's [4] first and twenty-seventh armies had more than 50,000 troops to attack our liberated area in southern Shanxi.Our Chen Geng column has now started fighting, adopting the policy of concentrating the main force on one part of the enemy and defeating each one, and has won two victories.This method should also be adopted in our various operations. Each time we concentrate on attacking one enemy, the ratio should be three to one, preferably four to one.It is of utmost importance that generals above the regiment level be educated on this method of warfare.

Military Commission Printed from prints kept at the Central Archives. -------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ note [1] Chen Geng, then commander of the fourth column of the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Field Army. [2] This is a telegram drafted by Mao Zedong for the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China to the bureaus and military regions of the Central Committee. [3] Yan, referring to Yan Xishan, who was then the commander-in-chief of the Second Theater of the Kuomintang Army. [4] Hu Zongnan, then the commander-in-chief of the first theater of the Kuomintang army.