dawn of May 15 Duo Village, the last nationalist stronghold, had fallen to the 6th Column (with the help of the 1st Column). After fierce fighting in the Menglianggu and Lu (芦) Mountains, the communist 8th Column succeeded in taking Mt. Wanquan (万泉山), thus linking up with communist 1st Column and 6th Column. By the end of May 15 the communist 1st, 6th and 8th Columns had succeeded in achieving their objectives of completely cutting off the nationalist 74th Reorganized Division, which was now completely surrounded. Intentions revealed Although surprised that its 74th Reorganized Division was surrounded, the nationalists were not scared; in fact, they were joyful at first because this could present the opportunity they had been waiting for: a decisive battle in which their enemy would be annihilated by the numerically and technically superior nationalists attacking from both sides. The 74th Reorganized Division would be in the center surrounded by the communists, while another nine army-sized reorganized divisions would surround them in another siege. The nationalists believed that the 74th Reorganized Division was tough enough to withstand assaults and hold on until the final nationalist counterattack, in which they would attack from both sides of the communist forces and annihilate them. The nationalist high command therefore ordered the 74th Reorganized Division to take its position in the Menglianggu mountains and wait for reinforcements. The main peak of Menglianggu mountains extended northwestward toward Mount 540, which consisted of the eastern and western halves, and at the extreme northwestern end there was Mount 520. The region named Diaowo (雕窝) was located in the east and Lu Mountain was located in the southeast. The Wen (汶) River was to the north and Linyi – Mengfang (蒙防) Highway was located 4 km to the south. The mountain range was around 10 km in the east–west direction but there were no trees on it. There was not much grass, either, and water sources were nearly nonexistent. However, the nationalists believed these would not be a problem because reinforcements would arrive soon; little did they know that the development of battles in the latter stage of the campaign was totally different. To reinforce the besieged 74th Division, the nationalist high command ordered nearby units to rapidly close the distance between themselves and the Menglianggu mountains; these units included the 11th Reorganized Division from Xintai, the 65th Reorganized Division from Mengyin, the 25th Reorganized Division