湯恩伯
Tang Enbo requested Chiang Kai-shek for permission to send forth the 52nd Corps, which had been stationed at Boxian (). Chiang complied, and the 52nd moved eastward along the Longhai railway, passing Xuzhou and arriving at Tai’erzhuang, before advancing northwards past Yi County to attack Zaozhuang. The Chinese suffered heavy casualties here. For example, 2nd Division veteran Wang Jialin () recalled in an interview in 1995 that out of his entire company, only 10 soldiers survived.