On September 15, 1946, the Nationalist Reorganized 74th Division attacked the pier on the eastern bank of the Grand Canal of China, and by the evening, had successfully driven the defenders consisted of the Communist 9th Column and the Communist 13th Brigade from the positions, taking the pier and adjacent Yang's Family's Village (Yang Zhuang, 杨庄). Pi Dingjun (皮定均), the Communist commander of the 13th Brigade, gravely underestimated the Nationalists when he reached Huaiyin with the 1st Regiment of the Communist 13th Brigade, and ordered each of three regiment of the 13th Brigade would have two of their battalions sent out to counterattack the Nationalists. The idea was strongly opposed by the Communist commander of the 2nd Regiment of the 13th Brigade, Zhong Fasheng (钟发生), who reached the city earlier and fought with the Nationalists and thus was well aware their adversary's potent capability. Zhong Fasheng claimed that the 1st Regiment reached the city by noon and was aware of the situation and geography while the 3rd Regiment just got to the city, so it would be better for the Communist 1st Regiment and the 2nd Regiment to fight and the 3rd Regiment would act as reserve, but his suggestion was rejected by Pi Dingjun. As a result, the Communist 13th Brigade launched a total of nine assaults on the Nationalist Reorganized 74th Division which had crossed the Grand Canal of China, but all were beaten back, suffering over 600 casualties, the heaviest ever for the 13th Brigade. A total of four Nationalist brigades from the Reorganized 74th Division and the Reorganized 28th Division attacked the city in two waves under the cover of air bombardment and artillery shelling, while the Communist reinforcements from Shandong were successfully checked by the Nationalist 7th Army. In the riverine region in the south, the Communist reinforcements were completely stopped due to the heavy rain and lack of boats.