Chapter 41: Attack

  At 6:50 on July 14, at the mouth of the Yangtze River. The remnants of the Second Squadron of the First Expeditionary Fleet were completing their evacuation work in a miserable state, with only the light cruiser Longtan remaining, escorted by four small destroyers, one of which was towing another heavily damaged small destroyer, as well as an oil tanker, four cargo ships and a passenger-cargo ship, heading out to sea at around 10 knots in a southeast direction.

  Suddenly, the jing alarm soldiers on the Ryūjō beat the jing bell, "Dang Dang Dang Dang"; immediately after, the jing bell on the destroyer also rang out, "Five o'clock direction, enemy aircraft, medium altitude incoming!"

  In the sound of the flute, the artillerymen on each ship made every effort to quickly turn all available high-explosive guns and high-explosive machine guns towards the right rear direction of the fleet.

  This was the second largest squadron of the Air Force, with 16 Northrop light bombers from the 11th and 14th squadrons, approaching under the cover of 9 Hawker fighters from the 24th squadron of the Fifth Squadron. The Japanese warships had only a few 76mm high-angle guns that fired first; as soon as the Japanese ships opened fire, our planes took advantage of the situation and divided into three groups, with the left and right groups diving down on both sides, while the middle group maintained its position in mid-air, rapidly closing in on the Japanese warships. As they approached, the high-angle machine guns on the Japanese warships also opened fire, with bursts of gunfire shooting straight up into the sky, but apparently the 65mm machine gun firepower was too weak, and not a single Chinese plane was hit.

  Fighter planes swooped down, one by one 100-pound and 250-pound bombs whizzing down, cruisers and destroyers hastily dodging at high speed. The destroyer towing a friendly ship even cut off the tow rope; but found that all the bombs were hitting those slow-moving merchant ships. "Boom", "boom", 48 bombs fell in succession, and six merchant ships were not spared. After the planes finished bombing, they quickly left, leaving behind five thick smoke columns rising straight into the sky, and a munitions ship had already exploded into pieces.

  The fortifications around the Huangpu Wharf were still intact, the ammunition was still sufficient, and the more than 2,000 naval and land officers and soldiers who were on guard duty were also unscathed. However, their high morale had vanished into thin air because right behind them was the flagship Outen, which had capsized in the Huangpu River! On the wharf were thousands of tearful Chinese refugees and some former crew members of the Outen.

  At 8:30, after completing the encirclement and deployment of troops, the mountain artillery battalion of the 36th Division fired first. The Bohler rapid-fire mountain gun fired shells into the Japanese defensive circle at an astonishing rate, causing chaos among the crowd on the dock. First, smoke filled the front line, and then the cannon fire extended to the dock, with shell fragments sweeping away a large number of people on the dock, causing the rest to flee into buildings to avoid the artillery fire; just as the Japanese troops were preparing to fight, the 2nd battalion of the 3rd air defense artillery regiment attached to the 36th Division and the 24 guns of the 37 high-explosive dual-purpose cannon of the 36th Division's high-altitude artillery company opened fire in a flat state, with more than 30 heavy machine guns cooperating at the forefront. With a faster firing rate than the Bohler mountain gun, they swept away the exposed Japanese positions and shelters with 37 high-explosive shells and 79 bullets. Since most of the Japanese fortifications could not withstand the single or continuous hits of the 37 high-explosive shells, they were hit and destroyed along with their personnel; occasionally, Japanese soldiers who tried to counterattack were immediately killed by light and heavy machine guns and snipers.

  At 8:45, the 36th Division's mountain artillery battalion, which had already fired over 800 rounds of shells, continued to bombard the enemy's depth. "Advance!" The three assault groups formed by the 36th Division launched a charge towards the Huishan Pier from three sides after firing a batch of special shells. Suddenly, smoke filled the air between the positions; the remaining Japanese troops, especially those in the reinforced concrete buildings, immediately began to fire, and a large number of bullets and some infantry shells swept across the charging soldiers. Fortunately, there were smoke bombs to cover them, although many soldiers were knocked down, but more soldiers still charged through the streets and into the Japanese positions; The Japanese troops outside the building had been greatly reduced after the previous artillery bombardment, but the remaining Japanese soldiers continued to detonate themselves to buy time for their main force. The explosion of hand grenades caused many soldiers of the 36th Division who had charged into the enemy's position to fall down, but more soldiers continued to charge in and rushed into the first floor of the building. The Japanese troops apparently did not prepare any fortifications on the first floor, and the rapid entry and fierce fighting by the assault group led to many non-combat personnel and civilians hiding from the fire being injured or killed in the chaos. After both sides suffered heavy casualties, most of the first floor of the building was controlled by the 36th Division, while there were still Japanese troops holding out on the upper floors; The brave soldiers who charged into the enemy's depth were killed by the Japanese troops who were sandwiched between them, causing the battle to become stuck for a time.

  "What should we do now, Master?"

  Song Xi looked at Peng Kuang, then turned his head to look northwest, "It's tough! We don't have direct heavy artillery, we can only fight room by room, building by building with the enemy! I hope the 88th Division can quickly resolve the enemy command center and allocate some heavy artillery over here."

  At 10:00, with the rì army's comprehensive contraction 'cooperation', the 88th Division, led by Sun Yuanliang, completed a four-sided encirclement of the Shanghai Special Land Warfare Brigade. However, this encirclement was very unstable. Relying on thick and heavy overall steel-reinforced concrete fortifications, the rì army launched fierce artillery attacks against the surrounding troops, causing continuous casualties among the 88th Division; while the latter hesitated in front of the rì army's solid defense, only a few snipers had occasional scattered results. However, the situation changed quickly. At 11:20, the 5th Company of the 40th Artillery Regiment, which had built good cover, first entered the battle on the west side. The powerful 88mm cannon fired its first shot at the rì army's fortifications 600 meters away! With a loud "boom", the first hole appeared on the enemy's building; then four 88mm cannons fired in succession, and the rì army counterattacked with curved artillery fire. Although there were buildings blocking the way and smoke covering them, accurate shells still hit the cover repeatedly, but fortunately, the power was too small, and no one was injured. As the 88mm cannon continued to fire, more and more holes appeared on the enemy's building, eventually forming a large area, and a wall "crashed" down. The soldiers cheered, but Sun Yuanliang and Peng Hengying only smiled wryly at this result, "I'm afraid it's still not enough, how long will it take to fight like this? Besides, do we have so many shells?"

  Fortunately, however, there were still more! At 11:40, the southern side of the encirclement, the 1st Battalion, 2nd Company of the 10th Artillery Regiment took position, and the 4 100mm cannons with even greater firepower began to bombard. After a simultaneous barrage, one entire side of the enemy fortress collapsed; shortly afterwards, the 1st and 3rd Companies of the 1st Battalion of the 10th Artillery Regiment successively constructed shelters and joined the bombardment. The Japanese fortresses continued to collapse, accompanied by the cries of the Japanese soldiers who were hit by shrapnel.

  I heard this report and finally put my mind at ease, "Brother Wenbai, the Hui Mountain Wharf is not as solid as here, anyway, the 88 cannons are of no use here, why don't we withdraw ahead of time and transfer there?"

  "Don't worry about the child, I've already withdrawn the 88 cannons, but I've ordered them to switch to anti-aircraft deployment. The enemy bombers will be here soon!" Zhang Zhong replied calmly.

  "Ah!" I suddenly realized, indeed it's a matter of experience! As an amateur player, I can only feel inferior! While thinking wildly, I suddenly remembered that the 1st Battalion of the 10th Artillery Regiment also participated in the battle, why didn't they break through any of the three major strongholds? When I have time, I should ask Wen Bai why.

  Suddenly, applause broke out, "Bravo!"

  Zhang Zhizhong stepped out of the bunker and looked up at the sky, I followed him out, feeling a bit embarrassed. Zhang smiled and said to me: "Zi'an, this should be a group of twin-engine medium bombers flying from Taiwan. Now both armies are intertwined, and to the south is the International Settlement, it's not good to bomb with high altitude!"

  Looking at the blue sky, the enemy bomber formation flew in vain for a while in the middle and high altitude, then divided into two teams to slowly descend and circle, apparently preparing for low-level bombing.

  As the enemy planes flew lower and lower, Zhang Zhizhong continued to smile at me and said: "The enemy plane is flying low, it's really playing with its life! There are 17 aircraft in total, 9 of them came to bomb around the enemy headquarters, and 8 went to the Hui Shan Pier. Zian, I let you miss a good show on the water this morning, now I'll make up for it and let you see an aerial performance!"

  Only saw the enemy plane circling around and flying lower, our side only had sporadic high-altitude artillery firing at the air, and it didn't seem like the 37 high-altitude artillery I was familiar with? I looked suspiciously at Zhang Zhong.

  Zhang Zhizhong smiled, "Younger brother is right, these are the old German-made 20 high-explosive shells that each division had to lure enemy planes."

  Sure, here is the translation:

  "Indeed, a sudden change in the situation occurred just as the enemy planes descended to several hundred meters low altitude preparing to drop bombs. "Boom boom boom boom boom" dozens of hidden 37 high-caliber guns fired into the air at once, five rounds in succession, dozens of fire snakes shot straight up into the sky! One enemy plane exploded directly in mid-air with a loud "roar", followed immediately by another explosion and another plane disintegrating in mid-air. The enemy planes scattered and climbed away, several still trailing thick smoke as they slid to the ground in all directions. The high-caliber guns continued to fire in pursuit; suddenly, the massive sound of artillery fire nearby shook me!"

  "That was just after 88 high school students had retreated, still observing the horizon with binoculars."

  With a loud explosion in the high sky, a climbing bomber also turned into a fireball.

  I excitedly asked those around me: "Did you see them shoot down a few planes?"

  An air force staff officer excitedly shouted: "Five have been shot down! Five of them are bombers!"

  Zhang Zhizhong put down his binoculars and laughed, saying: "The good show is still on, unfortunately it's too far away to see clearly! Did Zi'an guess correctly?"

  I thought for a moment and suddenly saw that air force staff officer, and I immediately thought: "Is our fighter plane chasing down the enemy plane?"

  "Indeed, it's Zi An's divine calculation! Hahaha!"

  Before I could respond, a burst of gunfire erupted near the enemy command center. "Does the enemy want to fight to the death?"

  "It should be! But it's just sending someone to their death."