Page 40 - SELECTED WORKS OF ZHU DE

36 ZHU DE

the river to the west bank to wait for the arrival of the Military Com-
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mission and cover its action. Chen and Song will be the commander
and political commissar, respectively, for the entire army during the
crossing. When the 5th Army Group arrives, the Cadres Regiment will
turn over to it the task of directing the crossing and providing cover.
The crossing will be completed between 04:00 and 05:00 hours
tomorrow morning. After crossing the river, our units will move 10
kilometres west, take cover for rest to the west of the Military Com-
mission, posting guards on the road west.
b. The 1st Army Group should finish its crossing between 18:00
and 22:00 hours today. After crossing the river, it should proceed 15
kilometres northwest in the direction of Hetaoba and take a rest under
cover, posting guards to the northwest and along the road to Erlang-
tan.
c. The Military Commission should complete its crossing between
22:00 and 24:00 hours today. After crossing, it should move 7.5 kilo-
metres westwards and rest under cover, assigning one battalion of the
Cadres Regiment to post guards to the west.
d. The 3rd Army Group should complete its crossing between
24:00 hours today and 04:00 hours tomorrow. After crossing, it should
move 15 kilometres southwest and rest under cover, posting guards to
the southwest.
e. The 5th Army Group should complete its crossing between
05:00 and 07:00 hours tomorrow. While advancing to Maotai for the
crossing, it will keep one battalion and a scout company in the vicinity
of Lianglukou and Yanjinhe, posting guards on the route to Guanyin-
chang until the 9th Army Group has passed Lianglukou. Then the two
units will rejoin their army group. The 5th Army Group should take
over the job of covering the crossing from the Cadres Regiment before
04:00 hours tomorrow and, once the 9th Army Group has crossed,
destroy the means of crossing at all ferry points and guard the west
bank.
f. The 9th Army Group should complete its crossing between
09:00 and 11:00 hours tomorrow, march five kilometres west and take
a rest under cover.
4. In accordance with the deadlines set above, all the army groups
should calculate when they are to set out from their present positions,
so that they can reach the vicinity of Maotai 30 minutes before the
fixed time for crossing, and send their chiefs of staff to the commander
in charge of the crossing to receive instructions.