Regiment. It had managed to control all of the crossing points along the Dan River, including Xichuan (淅川), Stirrup Shop (Madeng Pu, 马蹬辅) and Official Li's Bridge (Li Guan Qiao, 李官桥). On July 13, 1946, the communist 359th Brigade launched its offensive to take these crossing points in heavy rains by besieging Xichuan (淅川) as the communist 13th Brigade besieged Stirrup Shop (Madeng Pu, 马蹬辅), while the rest of the communist force fought off the nationalists in pursuit. The local nationalist defenders fell to the tenacious and determined communist attackers, and after a few brief battles the nationalist forces were annihilated. On July 14, 1946, the entire communist Left Route Force successfully crossed the Dan River (Dan Jiang, 丹江) despite constant nationalist aerial attacks. This maneuver dashed the nationalist hope of eliminating the enemy on the eastern bank of the Dan River (Dan Jiang, 丹江) in the third trap. On July 15, 1946, when the communist 359th Brigade had reached Jingzi Pass (Jingzi Guang, 荆紫关), the nationalists in pursuit caught up with the communists. It was obvious that the communists were unable to take the Jingzi Pass (Jingzi Guang, 荆紫关) which was guarded by an overwhelming nationalist force and the communist 359th Brigade was in danger of being wiped out. Wang Zhen, the communist commander decided to turn south and cross the Dan River (Dan Jiang, 丹江) again, and then marched southwestward into the mountains. Wang Zhen's action was completely unexpected by the nationalists, and so forced the nationalists to redeploy their troops in an attempt to trap Wang Zhen's forces. With this move, valuable time was lost and this provided the communists the break they needed. As the nationalists scrambled their forces to follow Wang Zhen's communist force southwestward, Wang Zhen unexpectedly turned again toward Abalone Ridge (Baoyu Ling, 鲍鱼岭), south of Jingzi Pass (Jingzi Guang, 荆紫关). They defeated the nationalist 1st Brigade of the 1st Division that attempted to stop them in the region between Abalone Ridge (Baoyu Ling, 鲍鱼岭) and Nanhua Pound (Nan Hua Tang, 南化塘), and successfully entered the Jade Emperor Mountain (Yuhuang Shan, 玉皇山). The communist intention was clear by then: entering southern Shaanxi as they had originally planned, but via a different route unexpected by their nationalist adversary. As the nationalist gathered all available forces to attack the communist right column, it was obvious that the nationalists had run out time and troops, because