7th Column and the bulk of the communist 13th Column were tasked with the major responsibility for attacking eastward from the west, with emphasis on the Old Western Gate () and the New Western Gate (). The communist units of the Central Shandong Military District and a portion of the communist 13th Column were deployed to the northeast and east of the town to assist the main attacking force. At 5:00 p.m. on July 12, 1948, the assault on the city began. The intense fire destroyed the city wall along the Old and New Western Gates sections, and associated defensive positions. Under the cover of the shelling of mountain guns, the attacking infantry breached the defense and penetrated into the city at 8:30 p.m. After a failed attempt to breakout to the east, the nationalist garrison was completely annihilated, with the nationalist commander-in-chief of the region and the commander of the Reorganized 12th Army, Huo Shouyi (霍守义), captured alive. The town was declared secured by the communist forces at 6:00 p.m. on July 13, 1948, after the mop up operation was completed. As Yanzhou was besieged once again, the nationalist Reorganized 84th Division and the 2nd Division went out to reinforce their comrades-in-arms, but due to the fear of being ambushed, their progress was extremely slow. When the advanced guard of the nationalist reinforcement had cross the Wen (汶) River and reached the town of Taiping () on July 13, 1948, the news of the fall of Yanzhou had reached the nationalists, who immediately withdrew northward. However, the retreating nationalists were caught up by the pursuing communist forces and the nationalist Reorganized 84th Division was badly mauled by the communist 9th Column, losing over 10,000 troops, including most of its 161st Brigade. This last battle concluded the campaign. Outcome The nationalists suffered more than 63,000 casualties in their defeat, and a dozen cities / towns including Qufu, Jining, Tai'an, Zou (邹) County, and Yanzhou had fallen into the enemy hands. The nationalist garrison in Jinan was further isolated and the enemy succeeded in combining the previously separated communist bases in central and southern Shandong and western Shandong into a new one of much greater size. The fall of the strategically important railroad junction Yanzhou also meant that both Xuzhou in the south and Jinan in the north controlled by the nationalists were threatened by the enemy, and communist victory also