Short answers, pulled from the story.
Japanese commander Itagaki Seishiro ordered the Fifth Division and Chahar Expeditionary Force to begin their assault on the Chinese defense line along the inner Great Wall in Shanxi. He led 50,000 Japanese troops in a major assault against Xinkou on October 13.
The military commission of the Chinese Nationalist government ordered the 14th Group Army commanded by Wei Lihuang to fight the Japanese at Xinkou on the 1st of October 1937. This location was flanked by Wutaishan and Yunzhonshan mountains creating a natural gateway to Taiyuan.
General Hao Mengling of the 9th Army became the first Chinese army general killed in action during the Second Sino-Japanese War when Chinese defenders launched a counter-attack to take high grounds at Nanhuahua on October 16. Commanders Chen Zhangjie of the 61st Army and Wang Jingguo of the 19th Army continued leading defenses successfully despite his death.
On the evening of October 19, the 769th Regiment of the 120th Division attacked Yangmingbao airbase and successfully destroyed 24 Japanese airplanes on the ground. These operations disrupted Japanese supply lines and communications while drawing attention away from the main defensive positions.
General Li Mo'an later stated that the only weapon Chinese infantry had against Japanese tanks was Molotov cocktails because they lacked anti-tank capabilities. The ill-equipped 8th route army suffered particularly severe disadvantages compared to Japanese mechanized superiority throughout the engagement.