A THREE MONTHS’ SUMMARY* October !, !($^
1. The Central Committee’s directive of July 20 on the current situation 1 stated: “We can defeat Chiang Kai-shek. The whole Party should be fully confident of this.” The fighting in July, August and September has proved this judgement to be correct. 2. Apart from the fundamental political and economic contradictions which Chiang Kai-shek cannot resolve and which are the basic cause rendering our victory certain and Chiang’s defeat inevitable, a sharp contradiction has arisen in the military sphere between Chiang’s over-extended battle lines and his shortage of troops. That contradiction is bound to be the direct cause of our victory and Chiang Kai-shek’s defeat. 3. The total of Chiang Kai-shek’s regular troops attacking the Liberated Areas, not counting the puppet troops, the peace preservation corps and communications police corps, is more than 190 brigades. Besides this total, the most he can do is again to move part of his troops from the south to the north as reinforcements; but after that it will be hard for him to send any more reinforcements. Of the 190 odd brigades, 25 have been wiped out by our army in the past three months. This does not include the forces we wiped out in the Northeast from February to June this year. 4. Of Chiang Kai-shek’s more than 190 brigades, nearly half must perform garrison duties; only a little more than half can be put into the field. And when these field forces advance to certain regions, part or even a majority will have to switch over to garrison duty. The enemy’s field forces are bound to dwindle as the fighting goes on because, first, they will be continually wiped out by us and, second, many will have to perform garrison duties. 5. Of the 25 brigades we destroyed in the past three months, 7 were under the command of Tang En-po (previously under Li Mo-an), 113
