KMT Deployment
After Jinan, the provincial capital of Shandong province, fell in the fall of 1948 to the communists, Xuzhou became an exposed salient. The Huang (Huai) River in Shandong and Jiangsu provinces was close by as was the Longhai Railway. In order to counter PLA advances toward Xuzhou, the gateway toward Nanjing and Shanghai, Chiang Kai Shek gathered five of his best American-trained and American-armed armies, and deployed two more armies as reinforcements, occupying crucial railways. As Chiang ordered Shandong province to be abandoned to concentrate his troop strength, highly placed communist moles in the KMT Army leaked important intelligence to the PLA commanders.
Read more about this topic: Huaihai Campaign