Chapter 40: Ambush

  July 14th, 3:50 AM, Pudong, Huangpu River. "Departure!" Next to the Lujiazui and Xiapu Road piers, 10 divers successively dove into the Huangpu River, disappearing into the night with a faint propeller sound. Under the murky waters of the Huangpu River, the divers struggled to maneuver 5 American-made midget submarines downstream; at 1200 meters, 800 meters, 500 meters, and 300 meters, the divers made their final directional adjustments through the periscope, as the massive Izumo and Niitaka occupied their entire field of vision. Dive! At around 4:00 AM, with several faint metallic collision sounds underwater, the "pig head" mines were successively attached to the bottom of the Japanese warships. At 4:30 AM, a sailor on patrol near the Niitaka on the Hoten (also known as Hiei) river gunboat detected some noise, but found nothing after turning on the searchlight, and turned it off at 4:37 AM.

  At the same time, the 88th and 87th Divisions, along with their attached heavy artillery, advanced towards Hongkou under the guidance of the Military Unity Party's guides. The continuous sounds awakened the nearby residents, although many officers tried to stop them, the cheers still grew louder, gradually awakening the darkness before dawn.

  The third squadron of Hawk III fighter planes, the second squadron of Northrop light bombers in Guangde are preparing to take off in the dark.

  The Chongming Island East Bank, from the vicinity of Baigang, the electric thunder fleet set out to discover the target on the Yangtze River and began to accelerate its voyage. At 4:48, it quietly advanced to within 4000 yards (about 1 yard is approximately 0.9 meters) of the Japanese warship, and the tactical commander Li 'Yu' Xi gave a low voice order: "Shi team attack the nearest enemy No. 1 warship, Wen team follow me to attack the enemy No. 2 warship, Yan team attack the farthest enemy No. 3 and 4 warships. Tell Hu Jia brothers (Hu Jingrui, Hu Jiaheng), full speed ahead, vow to sink the enemy ship!" Immediately, 11 British-made small wooden torpedo boats launched a charge at the Japanese fleet at a maximum speed of nearly 60 km/h! "Hehe, Qi Hongzhang (Yue team commander, because the German-made torpedo boat was a medium-sized boat, larger in size, not suitable for sneak attacks, did not participate in the battle) lost big this time!"

  At 4:50, the flagship of the Japanese Navy's First Expeditionary Fleet's Second Squadron, Nisshin, which was temporarily anchored at the mouth of the Yangtze River, first discovered a group of high-speed boats rapidly approaching from the northeast. An emergency alarm sounded immediately, but by this time the distance between the two sides was less than 1,500 yards (about 0.9 meters). In the chaos, only one anti-aircraft machine gun on Nisshin began firing alone, and after a tragic shot of bullets, it stopped. Hundreds of Japanese sailors who ran out of their dreams were shocked to see four torpedo boats launching torpedoes in unison at a distance of less than 1,000 yards, with eight torpedoes rushing towards Nisshin. After that, the Wen Tianxiang squadron made a beautiful turn and left, "Boom", "Boom", "Boom"! In the continuous explosion, Nisshin was hit by 5 to 6 torpedoes and disappeared in a series of explosions. Only 13 surviving sailors were found later, including the stern lookout who first discovered the enemy ship.

  The Tenryū was sunk by the destroyers of Task Force 67, led by Captain T. E. Chandler, USN, in a night action off Santa Cruz Island on December 18, 1942. The American destroyers were deployed in a scouting line and had been tracking the Japanese force for some time when they made contact with Tenryū at about 23:00. The destroyer USS Drayton (DD-366) illuminated the target with star shells and the other three destroyers opened fire, quickly scoring hits on Tenryū.

  The more distant No. 3 and No. 4 ships were also small destroyers produced during World War I, the Yang Geng's squadron fired eight torpedoes in succession, five of which hit their targets, and both ships sank one after another.

  Nouryoku, seaplane tender and fleet replenishment ship, completed as a fleet oiler in 1920, converted to seaplane tender in 1934, 12,786 tons, 12 knots, 2 x 120mm guns, 2 x 76mm AA guns, several AA machine guns, could carry 8 seaplanes.

  Tenryū, Tatsuta, Tenryū-class light cruisers 1 and 2, completed in 1919, (after modernization in the 1930s) 3948 tons, 33 knots, 4 x 140mm main guns, 2 x twin 25mm AA guns, 2 x machine guns, 2 x triple 533mm torpedo tubes.

  At 5 o'clock sharp, just as the Electric Storm Brigade withdrew without a scratch; on the Huangpu River, a deafening explosion, like several overlapping earth-shaking roars, awakened the entire city of Shanghai from its slumber!

  Just a few kilometers away from the Huangpu River, everyone was shocked. I, who had accompanied Zhang Zhong to the frontline command post, smiled regretfully and said: "Don't worry, it's a good thing. It's just that I finally managed to sneak from Nanjing to Shanghai, but Wenbai dragged me here, and I still didn't get to see this great show! All I heard was the sound!"

  Zhang Zhizhong didn't even have time to respond, when the intense gunfire from the front lines drowned out all other sounds, and the army's frontal assault began!

  The Shanghai Special Marine 'Mixed' Battalion, which was on guard at the Bayi Bridge, was suddenly destroyed by an explosion that wiped out a heavy machine gun squad. Some plainclothes men appeared at close range and opened fire with short guns against long guns, accompanied by hand grenade exchanges. Both sides suffered heavy casualties, and another heavy machine gun squad was also destroyed in the melee. However, the elite Special Marine Battalion quickly forced the plainclothes troops organized by the Military Unity back.

  Meanwhile, the 88th Division had already appeared on the front line and launched an attack on the Japanese defenders of Bayi Bridge. The two light machine guns that were hastily deployed only fired a few rounds before being blown to pieces by a pile of hand grenades at close range. A large number of Nationalist troops then charged across the bridge, with dozens of Special Marines led by their company commander launching a counterattack. Bullets and bayonets clashed at close range, resulting in over a hundred casualties on both sides.

  As the main force of the 88th Division crossed the bridge and advanced forward, hundreds of reinforcements from the Naval Marine Corps headquarters arrived due to previous exposure during the advance. The two sides became entangled in a fierce battle on the streets before dawn, with hand grenade explosions filling the air. Although the Special Marines were elite troops, the 88th Division was also an elite unit. When the follow-up forces of the 88th Division outflanked from both sides, the Japanese reinforcements, who had already lost more than half their strength, could only retreat, leaving behind several machine gun squads hiding in buildings along the street for cover.

  However, this led to a large number of Nationalist casualties due to blind charges. These machine gun squads were quickly eliminated by the arriving Nationalist mortar teams. The 88th Division then launched a direct assault on the Japanese Naval Marine Corps headquarters under the command of Huang Mei-xing.

  In contrast, the 87th Division's Shen Fa-rou Brigade's attack on the north side encountered trouble. The Japanese troops resisted in small groups from room to room, while the 87th Division responded with a "break house" tactic, advancing steadily. Although neither side suffered heavy losses, the attacking troops of the 87th Division were entangled by these few Japanese troops among various houses.

  Unlike the historical facts, under my proposal, the main force of the 36th Division, which was recalled from Central Plains ahead of time, entered the battlefield at the first time and set out from North Station to directly 'insert' into the terminal - Hui Shan Pier! At this time, the main force of the Japanese Shanghai Special Landing Force was still fighting fiercely on the west, north, and 88th and 87th divisions. The domestically assembled special landing forces that were urgently transported to Shanghai were gathered at the Gongda Textile Factory in the east, unaware of where to reinforce. Except for Hui Shan Pier, which was garrisoned by sailors drawn from various warships on the Huangpu River (the Japanese became 'landing troops') and port detachments, the rest of the area was a blank slate, with only a small number of police, rural soldiers, and Japanese 'ronin'. The main force of the 36th Division, led by Song Xilian in person, quickly broke through these weak support points and scattered soldiers along the way. At 6:40, Song Xilian's phone call came: "Report to the commander-in-chief, I have seen the Huangpu River! The Izumo was sunk! Long live the Navy! Long live the Republic of China!"

  Izumo armoured cruiser (downgraded to coast defence ship, flagship of the 1st Expeditionary Fleet), commissioned in 1900, 9200 tons, 21 knots, 2 twin 200mm main guns, 14 x 150mm guns, 12 x 76mm guns, 8 x 47mm guns, 4 x 457mm torpedo tubes.

  Song Xilian's thunderous shout of "Victory!" made Zhang Zhizhong move the telephone receiver so that everyone could hear, and the front-line command post was suddenly filled with jubilation!

  As planned, the 36th Division's Chen Ruihe Brigade launched a surprise attack on the northwest of the Japanese Marine Corps headquarters, while the rest of the troops advanced in an orderly manner, sweeping away the remaining enemy forces on the outskirts and waiting for the heavy artillery units to join the battle.

  "Report, Liu Anqi's traveling report, the enemy ship on the Huangpu River has too much firepower, and our attack on Jiang University was unsuccessful! The troops suffered heavy losses!"

  "What?" Zhang Zhizhong was startled.

  Shen Zui, who had changed into casual clothes, suddenly appeared from somewhere, "Two generals! The Military Intelligence Bureau reports that the Yoshino cruiser, which was anchored outside Fuxing Island, has sunk due to damage at its stern and is now stranded on the riverbank. However, the forward and mid-ship artillery are still firing at our troops! In addition, there are also 3 destroyers and several small warships participating in the bombardment."

  Yura, 4th of the Nagara-class light cruisers, completed in 1924, 5170 tons, 36 knots, 7 x 140mm main guns, 2 x 76mm high-angle guns, 2 x machine guns, 4 x twin 610mm torpedo tubes, capable of carrying 1 seaplane.

  "No wonder! The night dive attack wasn't entirely successful! The 2 torpedoes prepared to blow up the Yoshino may have only hit with one!"

  Zhang Zhizhong did not hesitate either, "I order, immediately mobilize the reserve team to dispatch Fang Jing's troops from the west to join the attack on Shanghai University! Return King Jingjiu to command."

  "Please think thrice, Brother Wenbai!" I hastily stopped him. "Our army's heavy artillery is limited, the 98th Division doesn't even have mountain guns. Going up now would be a waste and just give the enemy something to shoot at! I suggest we temporarily pin down the enemy on the east and south sides, just like before, and wait for our main force to take out the enemy command center and the Hui Shan dock with artillery support, then we can attack the Jiang University and Gong Da textile mill!"

  "Is there still time?"

  "Time is not a problem, with the naval and air forces defending the Yangtze River, the Japanese army won't be able to land within 10 days, we have enough time! I suggest that the Fang Jing brigade should still move out, but not to attack the enemy on the east front, instead, along the Yangshupu (friends from Shanghai, here 'Yangshupu' does not refer to the current east-west Yangshupu Road, but the small river in the middle of south-north direction) go southwest and straight to the riverbank; clear out the remaining enemies on the west side, the main force will be on high alert along the river, preventing the enemy from reinforcing the commander's headquarters or the Hui Shan dock."

  "Zi An is right! Let's just fight like this!"

  Ninth Army Zhang Zhizhong directly under the independent brigade Zhong Song

  The 36th Division under Song Xilian's jurisdiction included the 106th Brigade under Chen Ruihe and the 108th Brigade under Peng Jiguang.

  The 87th Division under Wang Jingjiu's jurisdiction included the 259th Brigade under Shen Fazhou and the 261st Brigade under Liu Anqi.

  The 88th Division's Sun Yuanliang commanded the 262nd Brigade Peng Hengying and the 264th Brigade Huang Meixing.

  The 98th Division summer Chu Zhong jurisdiction 292 Brigade Lv Guoquan, 294 Brigade Fang Jing...