After two weeks of careful scouting and intelligence gathering by small patrols General Itagaki Seishiro launched his offensive on 14 Mar 1938. The Japanese 10th Division consisted of about 10,000 men, 20 artillery pieces, 20 medium and light tanks, and 20 aircraft. The Japanese troops clashed with the Chinese 125th and 127th Divisions near Tengxian. The 125th and 127th Divisions were recently transferred from Sichuan Province, undermanned and exhausted, but fought back ferociously. On 15 Mar, the Japanese utilized their advantage of mobility and attacked Chinese forces on multiple fronts, drawing Chinese reserves nearly empty. General Li Zongren, commanding from Tai'erzhuang to the southeast, had to rush in troops to reinforce Tengxian. By 15 Mar, barely 2,000 soldiers from the 122nd Division bolstered by the 364th Brigade defended Tengxian; even if the field commander there drafted the local police and militia, the total strength still did not exceed 3,000. Their only hope was that elements of the 85th Army were on their way. Wang Mingzhang, the commanding officer at Tengxian, asked his men to hold for four hours to give the reinforcement time to get there, and the men swore to do their best. Wang then ordered the north and south gates of the town sealed shut, and all supplies hauled into the city to prepare for a siege.
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