sentences:  After witnessing the separate enemy offensives at regions including Northern Ticket (Beipiao, 北票), Black Mountain (Heshan, 黑山), Greater Tiger Mountain, (大虎山), Tai'an (台安) in late December, 1947, and learning that the communist 1st column and the 2nd column remained at Zhangwu in the second stage of the Winter Offensive of 1947 in Northeast China, Chen Cheng believed that the communist force was no longer concentrated together and thus he had an opportunity to launch a counterattack.The five nationalist armies deployed at Shenyang, Xinmin and Tieling were ordered to attack westward from Shenyang, hoping to relieve Faku (法库) by destroying the communist 1st column, 6th column, and the 10th column.The nationalist push begun on January 1, 1948, in three fronts