Chapter Fifty-two: Night Raid

  Shanghai Expeditionary Army Directly Subordinate: 5th Tank Regiment, 10th Heavy Artillery Regiment, Commander-in-Chief Isamu Imamiya

  The 3rd Division: Infantry 5th Brigade, Infantry 29th Brigade and Field Artillery 3rd Regiment etc., Division Commander Fujiwara Susumu

  The 11th Division: Infantry Brigades 10 and 22, Mountain Artillery Regiment 11, etc. Commander: General Yamamuro Munetake

  On July 18th, as the sun set in the west, Zhang Zhizhong, Lin Wei and I gathered together again with a sense of disappointment to watch the sunset. Soon, Zhou Zhirou also joined in, "The 12th artillery regiment can be said to have not had time to mobilize, but it's really a pity that the 8th and 9th battalions didn't take action."

  I also sighed: "Without the support of land-based aviation, without the cover of Pudong landing, the Japanese army rushed into the Huangpu River and landed directly in Puxi, and for more than half a day, they only occupied so little territory. What a good opportunity! Alas..."

  Lin Wei'an comforted: "A few of you don't have to be like this, at least we said that the chairman's investment in the 1st, 2nd, and 6th air force brigades, as well as the 8th, 10th, and 17th army corps, is enough to win a big victory!"

  "8th and 9th squadrons have a total of 30 tons of ammunition! Even if the 1st, 2nd, and 6th squadrons add a few more companies, it's still only over 30 tons! That's half less!" said Zhou Zhirou.

  "Victory is certain, but what a pity about the aircraft!"

  At 6:45 pm, when the sunlight was about to disappear from the ground, the 3rd and 11th Divisions, which had landed separately at Wusong Town and Zhanghua Bank in the morning, had expanded their landing areas to connect with each other. The 29th Brigade and some artillery and engineering units had already landed and deployed in the north, while the 10th Brigade and artillery and engineering units had also completed their deployment in the south. However, the landing progress had been greatly delayed, causing the lower reaches of the Huangpu River to be crowded with hundreds of various warships and transport ships of the Japanese army, leading to a chorus of condemnation from European powers, including Germany and Italy, Japan's allies, leaving Japan's diplomatic personnel scrambling to "put out fires" everywhere.

  The fire quickly came true, as the last batch of Japanese aircraft carriers returned to anchor in the Yangtze River estuary; just in the dim twilight, more than 80 light bombers of various types from the Chinese Air Force gathered and flew over the Japanese army, and in an instant, squadrons such as the Northrop, Douglas, and Fiat dropped more than 30 tons of revenge bombs on the unprepared Japanese army and navy. Several Japanese naval Type 90 seaplanes that were still circling at low altitude bravely charged towards the large group of bombers but were quickly shot down by a hail of bullets. When the bomber group had basically finished dropping their payload, the Japanese army and navy's anti-aircraft guns and machine guns began to fire back, but the ammunition ships loaded with explosives and the ammunition storage areas in the landing zone had already started exploding with a loud rumble. Ten minutes later, when the sun finally set completely, the coast from Wusong to Zhanghua was ablaze, along with the Huangpu River behind it, with explosions and fires of military supplies and oil everywhere, mixed with the cries of countless people and horses.

  The disaster of the Japanese army had not yet ended, and just as they were struggling to rescue themselves, the German-made and Japanese-made 150mm howitzer groups from the 8th, 10th, and 17th artillery regiments in the distance opened fire. Row after row of shells swept across the ground and water occupied by the Japanese army, thoroughly pounding them into a deep abyss! A few minutes later, the Japanese 10th Heavy Artillery Regiment returned fire with several newly landed heavy guns of the same caliber, while the light and heavy cruisers on the Huangpu River that still had combat power also fired their 140mm and 203mm main guns despite smoke and flames billowing everywhere. The Japanese cruiser had armor plating, but the heavy artillery also had freshly built concealed firing positions, only the targets were not each other. The Japanese heavy artillery raked the area around the concealed firing position once and again, while the concealed firing position also swept the landing zone once and again. Both sides suffered losses without hesitation, exchanging blows until the gun barrels glowed red at midnight before gradually falling silent.

  This battle resulted in heavy losses on both sides. The Chinese air force lost 4 bombers that failed to return, and over 10 were damaged; the army had 11 heavy artillery pieces destroyed, and over 30 suffered varying degrees of damage, with the nearby infantry units suffering a total loss of over 800 men. The Japanese side's losses are still being counted and are increasing. At 2:30 in the morning, there was a loud rumbling sound, followed by several explosions coming from the Huangpu River. Two lucky Japanese transport ships that had dodged bombs and shells were destroyed, and the Myoko heavy cruiser, which had been hit by many bombs and shells, was opened up with two large holes and sank directly to the bottom of the river. This was the result of the Chinese underwater special forces' attack.

  The sky was overcast, and despite our dissuasion, Ou Yang Ge ordered Li Yu Xian to lead the electric thunder fleet to launch a second attack on the Japanese fleet outside the mouth of the Huangpu River. The torpedo boats had not yet entered the full-speed zone when they encountered a Japanese destroyer on patrol duty. Qi Hong Zhang led the Yue Fei squadron's three German-made medium-sized torpedo boats to engage the enemy, with 162 tons against 1300 tons and 3 20-caliber guns against 4 120-caliber guns. However, the Yue squadron also had six German-made 533 torpedoes against the Japanese ship's six powerful but unlikely-to-hit-small-boat 610 torpedoes. The German torpedo boats continuously turned and curved in an S-shaped trajectory to approach the destroyer, which changed its course to avoid being hit by the torpedoes and continuously fired its main and secondary guns. Suddenly, a 120-caliber shell directly hit Yue 371, blowing it into pieces with a loud explosion; Yue 22 and Yue 253 recklessly charged forward, firing their torpedoes at a distance of less than 700 yards from the enemy ship, but unfortunately missed due to the agile destroyer's evasive maneuvers. On its return journey, Yue 22 was hit by the destroyer on its bow and barely managed to stay afloat before finally capsizing in the Yangtze River.

  The sacrifice of the Eagle Team was not in vain, as Shi Kefa, Wen Tianxiang, and Yan Gengying's three squadrons finally approached the Japanese naval fleet. The outer layer of Japanese destroyers immediately used their 120mm and 127mm main guns to intercept and attack, while the inner layer of battleships provided supporting fire with heavy artillery, especially the new dual-purpose 127mm gun that hit the distant torpedo boats at high speed. Shi's squadron was the first to be attacked, and ships 102 and 34 were sunk one after another.

  As the enemy's dense cannonballs came pouring in, Li Yuxian could only give the order to fire from a distance, targeting several of the largest Japanese warships in sight. Just as each boat launched its torpedoes, there was a loud explosion, and Shi 181 was hit by a heavy shell and became a ball of flames! But 16 British-made 457mm torpedoes had already been fired like arrows towards the large group of mostly stationary Japanese warships.

  Nine torpedo boats turned around at full speed, while the Japanese destroyers launched another wave of rapid-fire attacks. Two torpedo boats exploded immediately, and the remaining seven retreated at full speed, with the Japanese destroyers frantically chasing after them, or rather, hastily escaping the dense torpedo area.

  However, there were also loyal and brave warriors among the Japanese forces. Another two destroyers bravely crossed over to intercept the torpedoes, and several explosions hit the Japanese aircraft carriers Kaga and Ryūjō, but the torpedoes that hit the Japanese flagship Kongō did not have anyone to intercept them. 1 minute and 50 seconds later, two torpedoes hit the stationary Kongō on its right side, unfortunately only causing minor damage due to their small caliber.

  The bow of the Japanese cruiser Kitakami was also hit by a torpedo, which exploded and tore apart the weak bow section. One "lucky" torpedo miraculously hit an transport ship that was docked on the inner side of the fleet, causing a large explosion that created a hole in the ship's hull, and it eventually capsized 40 minutes later, but unfortunately, it was an empty ship that had already disembarked its troops.

  The sky had finally brightened, and the mouth of the Huangpu River was already a scene of utter devastation. Twenty or so transport ships and countless small boats were overturned and sunk in the murky waters, while on the surface, cruisers and destroyers, as well as some lucky transport ships, still smoked; half of the 68th and 44th regiments that had been waiting to land last night no longer existed, and most of the heavy artillery and shells of the 3rd, 11th, and 10th mountain artillery regiments that had not yet landed had sunk to the bottom of the river. From Wusong to Zhanghuabang, the landing site was littered with the remnants of the Japanese 3rd and 11th divisions, as well as destroyed weapons and equipment. Fujita Shinroku, who had just been appointed commander of the landing force and had narrowly escaped various disasters, sat on a charred wooden box, staring blankly at the scene before him.

  "Reporting to the commander, the 11th Division has just found General Yamashita's headquarters, and... and..." a staff officer rushed over to report in a timid manner.

  "What's wrong with him?"

  "He has already sacrificed for the country! No external injuries, cause of death is under investigation."

  "Where is the Chief of Staff?"

  "Wounded, under treatment!"

  "What about the commander of the 10th Brigade?"

  "Still searching!"

  Fujiwara's advance had lost momentum, and he listened gloomily to the reports of his staff officers: "The 18th Brigade has lost nearly half its strength, the 34th Brigade has lost a third, the 68th Brigade has lost more than half its personnel and almost all its equipment. The 3rd Field Artillery Regiment still has six guns left, but has lost 70% of its personnel... The losses of the 11th Division are even greater than ours... The 10th Heavy Artillery Regiment has suffered losses similar to those of the Field Artillery Regiment. We still have over a thousand naval and marine personnel in our controlled area... According to frontline observations, we estimate that the Chinese army will launch a large-scale counterattack around 8 o'clock."

  "Hahaha!" Fujita Shin, who had been silent all along, suddenly burst out laughing, and the staff officers were startled and retreated several steps, thinking that the division commander had gone mad.

  "I'm not crazy!" Fujita Makoto said with a smile: "Don't think that the Chinese army's current attack is a bad thing! In fact, it's a good thing! Although our losses seem significant and we have temporarily lost our attacking ability, our ground forces still have nearly half of their combat strength; although the naval forces on the river appear to be in shambles, they still retain more than half of their firepower. Moreover, we have the advantage of air cover, and there are fearless warships and two infantry regiments that can come to support us from the Yangtze River. We're not afraid of the Chinese army's attack at all! Their attacks will only damage their future defense capabilities! ... Fortunately, the Chinese army is not good at night battles, and there are minefields blocking them, so they didn't launch an attack in the second half of the night! Haha!"