Ten Major Principles of Operation

Mao Zedong's guiding principles for military operations of the Chinese People's Liberation Army in the Chinese People's Liberation War.

From December 25 to 28, 1947, the CPC Central Committee held an enlarged meeting in Yangjiagou, Mizhi County, northern Shaanxi Province, at which Mao Zedong gave a report on “The Present Situation and Our Tasks”. In this report, Mao Zedong, based on his long practical experience in the Chinese Revolutionary War, especially in the early stage of the Liberation War, put forward ten military principles to guide the war against the enemy:

(1) Attack dispersed, isolated enemy forces first; attack concentrated, strong enemy forces later.

(2) Take small and medium cities and extensive rural areas first; take big cities later.

(3) Make wiping out the enemy's effective strength our main objective; do not make holding or seizing a city or place our main objective. Holding or seizing a city or place is the outcome of wiping out the enemy's effective strength, and often a city or place can be held or seized for good only after it has changed hands a number of times.

(4) In every battle, concentrate an absolutely superior force (two, three, four and sometimes even five or six times the enemy's strength), encircle the enemy forces completely, strive to wipe them out thoroughly and do not let any escape from the net. In special circumstances, use the method of dealing crushing blows to the enemy, that is, concentrate all our strength to make a frontal attack and also to attack one or both of his flanks, with the aim of wiping out one part and routing another so that our army can swiftly move its troops to smash other enemy forces. Strive to avoid battles of attrition in which we lose more than we gain or only break even. In this way, although we are inferior as a whole (in terms of numbers), we are absolutely superior in every part and every specific campaign, and this ensures victory in the campaign. As time goes on, we shall become superior as a whole and eventually wipe out all the enemy.

(5) Fight no battle unprepared, fight no battle you are not sure of winning; make every effort to be well prepared for each battle, make every effort to ensure victory in the given set of conditions as between the enemy and ourselves.

(6) Give full play to our style of fighting – courage in battle, no fear of sacrifice, no fear of fatigue, and continuous fighting (that is, fighting successive battles in a short time without rest).

(7) Strive to wipe out the enemy through mobile warfare. At the same time, pay attention to the tactics of positional attack and capture enemy fortified points and cities.

(8) With regard to attacking cities, resolutely seize all enemy fortified points and cities which are weakly defended. Seize at opportune moments all enemy fortified points and cities defended with moderate strength, provided circumstances permit. As for strongly defended enemy fortified points and cities, wait till conditions are ripe and then take them.

(9) Replenish our strength with all the arms and most of the personnel captured from the enemy. Our army's main sources of manpower and material are at the front.

(10) Make good use of the intervals between campaigns to rest, train and consolidate our troops. Periods of rest, training and consolidation should in general not be very long, and the enemy should so far as possible be permitted no breathing space.

Mao Zedong summarized the strategic and tactical principles of warfare for the People's Army under the leadership of the CPC in a very concise language, which is both easy to understand and easy to remember. From the "Sixteen-Characters Formula" in the Red Army period to the "Ten Military Principles" in the War of Liberation, it marked the perfection of the strategic and tactical theory of the People's Army.

"Ten Military Principles" was the product of the combination of Marxist military theory and the practice of the Chinese Revolutionary War, and they are the correct guiding principles of military operations tested by the long-term practice of the Chinese Revolutionary War, which are the main methods of the People's Army to defeat the enemy.