Chapter Fifty-Three Counterattack

  At the same time that the Japanese military strategists thought Tōjō had gone mad, I would have thought Old Chiang had also gone mad if it weren't for the fact that he came from a later era!

  After a night of worry, excitement, regret, madness, and again regret, the old Chiang, under the push and encouragement of a group of high-ranking officials, ordered an attack despite our opposition. If it weren't for Chen Cheng being relatively clear-headed, knowing that an attack requires time to clear minefields, assemble attacking troops, prepare supporting artillery, contact air forces, etc., according to Old Chiang's thinking, the attack had already begun!

  At 7:50 on July 19, just as I received the report that the Thunder Fleet had sunk a destroyer and a merchant ship at the cost of losing 9 boats, severely damaging a cruiser and a destroyer, and slightly damaging a battleship, Chen Cheng's ground offensive also began!

  With the remaining 20+ 150mm howitzers from Battalions 8, 10 and 17 as the core, the main force of Artillery Regiment 2's 30+ Bofors mountain guns, Artillery Battalion 16's nearly 30 Type 38 field guns, and each division's old-fashioned mountain and field guns and new-style 120mm mortars all opened fire together. Countless shells rained down on the enemy-controlled area; The enemy also immediately counterattacked, with the main force of the light and heavy cruisers' 140mm and 203mm main guns as the core, the secondary guns on the cruisers, the main guns on the destroyers, and the remaining army mountain and field howitzers all opening fire together. Both sides immediately entered a steel-on-steel collision! Soon, the enemy's remaining land artillery was suppressed; On the Pudong side, Artillery Battalion 2's 1st Battalion's 12 Bofors mountain guns and dozens of 120mm mortars joined the battle with an astonishing speed, even the naval guns on the broken warships on the Huangpu River couldn't withstand it! Although lacking direct-fire armor-piercing shells made it difficult to penetrate the cruisers' armor, the large number of shrapnel flying everywhere also caused heavy casualties among the naval gunners. Just when it seemed that the artillery battle had become a stalemate, the enemy's carrier-based aircraft arrived on the battlefield, dozens of 94-style carrier-based bombers swooped down, dropping bombs on each artillery position! The pre-set 37mm and 20mm high-angle guns, as well as numerous 'professional' and 'amateur' high-angle machine guns also opened fire together. Both sides destroyed and consumed each other's heavy weapons, with many large cannons and warplanes exploding simultaneously, spreading the thick smoke from the enemy-occupied area to the national-controlled area.

  At 8:15, after the enemy's two waves of naval gunfire and bombing were finished, they temporarily left the battlefield. The Chinese side launched another attack; the Bohai Mountain artillery, heavy howitzers, and even the front-line troops' 81 and 82 mm mortars joined in the bombardment, turning the Japanese army's positions into a sea of flames!

  At 8:23, after an 8-minute intense artillery bombardment, over a hundred 82mm mortars finally fired a batch of smoke bombs; at the same time, the assault teams from the 67th, 11th, and 14th Divisions on the Wusong Town side, and the 61st, 98th, and 6th Divisions on the Zhang Huabin side, jumped out of their positions and charged towards the Japanese army! The light and heavy machine guns on the Japanese army's position immediately spat out hundreds of fire snakes, mixed with a large number of rifles and grenade launchers, piercing through the sparse smoke, knocking down batch after batch of soldiers; the heavy machine guns and mortars were immediately used to suppress, and the Japanese army also counterattacked with their remaining infantry guns, rapid-fire guns, and mortars. Bullets and shells swept over like a storm, but the distance between the two sides was too close, and although the smoke bombs had little effect, they still caused some obstacles; as batch after batch of soldiers fell or were blown away, more and more soldiers rushed into the front line, only to be beaten back by the Japanese army. But even more soldiers charged in again. Just when Chen Cheng and Luo Zhuoying thought there was hope, a deafening explosion came from the north, and the 6th Fleet of the Japanese Navy, with a squadron of destroyers covering its left flank, broke into the Huangpu River, and the heavy cruisers Aoba, Kinugasa, Furutaka, and Kako sailed in, firing their 24 203mm main guns at a rate of 72 rounds per minute, instantly turning the northernmost wing of the 67th Division's position and the attacking area into a sea of fire! At the same time, the secondary guns of the cruisers and the covering destroyers' 120mm and 127mm guns also invaded Pudong like a storm, continuously hitting hidden artillery groups and infantry, blowing them to pieces; later, the firepower of the 6th Fleet moved south along the Huangpu River, shifting to the front of the 11th Division, then to the 14th Division...

  "Report! The 67th Division has lost contact!"

  "Report! The 11th Division's Commander Peng requests permission to retreat!"

  "Report! The 14th Division's Huo Quanpeng..."

  "Retreat! Full retreat!" Chen Cheng slumped down in despair.

  Soon after, Old Chiang, who had been pacing back and forth in the conference room at the official residence since past 7 o'clock, also collapsed onto a chair.

  Facing the solemn and dignified officials, Lin Wei continued to report with a bitter smile: "The Northern China rì army has marched south and entered Changxin Store, advancing all the way to Shahe. The 29th Army continues to retreat... The rì army announced its occupation of Beiping."

  Everyone adjusted their emotions, and Old Chiang began to comfort himself by saying: "Yesterday evening to this morning's counterattack was generally successful. We eliminated more than 20,000 enemy troops, destroyed over 50 ships and 40 aircraft; although our army also suffered significant losses, they were completely within our acceptable range." Seeing that everyone still looked unenthusiastic, he asked: "Jian Sheng is a military expert, do you have any ideas to share with us for discussion?"

  When Chiang Kai-shek called on him, Bai Chongxi had to stand up. "Bai Chongxi was inexperienced and had only one immature suggestion. I think that passive defense will inevitably lead to more and more enemy landings, and in the long run, our army will be unable to cope; therefore, counterattack is correct, but the enemy's naval firepower is too strong, and daytime counterattacks are obviously impossible. Our army should adopt a night attack strategy and solve the landing enemy through night battles and close combat."

  "But our army lacks night battle training and experience?"

  "So I suggest that the night counterattack be led by the Guangxi troops who are skilled in night battles! The 48th Army can enter the battlefield on the evening of the 21st, and the 7th Army will arrive during the day on the 22nd. We can launch a counterattack on the evening of the 22nd!"

  "22nd? Today is only 19th, within 4 days the Japanese army can land another 2-3 divisions, what counterattack are you talking about?"

  "Guizhou troops can't make it, Hunan troops are willing to take over. We Hunan troops can also fight at night!" Cheng Qian interjected. "Hunan troops have arrived in Songhu with 5-6 divisions, enough to take the lead tonight."

  "Good!" Old Chiang saw that there was a stairway down, looked at the map and hastily said: "I order the 8th, 16th, 18th, and 19th Divisions to form the main assault force, under the command of Xie Jue. Tonight, we will launch a night attack on the Japanese army that landed! Tao Guang has already been deployed in Pudong, so there is no need to adjust again."

  Seeing Old Chiang's decisive move, all the high-ranking officials were speechless, only Cheng Pao was proud and arrogant. Ha! Is this the great commander?

  "Now the Hebei and Shandong fronts are under the responsibility of the First War Zone led by Huan Zhang, while the Shanxi and Suiyuan fronts are under the Second War Zone led by Bai Chuan. The Shanghai front has established a Third War Zone, with me as the commander-in-chief." Old Jiang looked around, "Mo San is appointed as the deputy commander-in-chief, responsible for both flanks; let Xiu repair the air force to command the main attack direction... The war of resistance will be long-term, although we are at a disadvantage, but since the start of the war, whether on the southern or northern front, the overall situation has been mostly victorious..." Ugh, another round of nonsense! I fell asleep directly.

  In the afternoon of the 19th, both sides did their best to deploy troops and generals, and the army either pulled or blasted or collided, barely opening up part of the waterway downstream of the Huangpu River, transporting several ground forces that had not landed from the Yangtze River to the landing area, and organizing thousands of 'Marine Corps' to join the ground defense. The fortifications were repaired again and again; also transported away thousands of wounded soldiers, and directly pushed the broken copper and iron into the Huangpu River. Then slowly moved up the 4 divisions of the Xiang Army, replacing the core troops of the Tumu system, transporting down large numbers of wounded personnel and damaged equipment. The planes in the sky were still fierce, but due to the huge losses and ammunition consumption yesterday and this morning, the bombing scale was not large, mainly harassing; the large number of enemy ships on the Huangpu River obviously had no intention of implementing a high-intensity long-range attack; the overall battlefield was calm.

  At 6:45 pm, the sound of warplanes was heard again, and another wave of planes flew in from northwest, southwest, and south directions, each dropping a squadron to attack the Japanese army.

  Lu Zhuoying, who was preparing for a night battle, looked at Chen Cheng with suspicious eyes. Chen Cheng smiled slightly: "Zi An's trick."

  Indeed, several 90-type reconnaissance seaplanes hovering above the enemy's position were unscathed; while from the direction of the Yangtze River estuary, dozens of 96-type carrier-based fighter jets swiftly closed in. The three routes of enemy aircraft turned back and retreated as soon as they saw our planes, and our military fighter jets also quickly split into three routes to pursue them. The enemy planes rapidly descended to a lower altitude, and our planes also descended to give chase; but very soon, the enemy planes dispersed and fled in pairs at high speed close to the ground, while our planes also blindly pursued and attacked in a scattered manner due to lack of communication. Although the enemy planes had an advantage in terms of speed, it was clear that they were not fighter jets, as the rear-seat machine guns continuously fired and caused trouble for our pursuing planes; as the sun set, except for a few unfortunate ones that were shot down, most of the enemy planes vanished into thin air; after searching in vain, our planes could only climb to high altitude and return by flying westward under the remaining sunlight.

  At the same time as the Japanese planes began their pursuit, two more squadrons of fighter jets, one high and one low, charged into the Yangtze River estuary above the main force of the Japanese fleet. Although the Japanese had patrol boats that detected the enemy planes in advance, they were unable to take off again to fight back! Dozens of Japanese warships sounded their alarms, with twin 127mm anti-aircraft guns and numerous twin and single 25mm anti-aircraft guns on the Kongō-class battleships, aircraft carriers, and fleet destroyers quickly pointing towards the sky. The Chinese Air Force's only heavy bomber squadron, the 8th Heavy Bomber Squadron, finally took to the stage, with 10 heavy bombers and 6 medium bombers entering from an altitude of over 5,000 meters, rendering hundreds of 25mm anti-aircraft guns on Japanese warships useless, while the twin 127mm anti-aircraft guns fired fiercely but had no effect. Over 100 500-pound bombs descended upon the main force of the Japanese fleet with a roar. Although it was a high-altitude level bombing, the targets were large Japanese warships in a stationary state, resulting in a significant increase in hit rate. Boom! Ten or more smoke and fire columns erupted on the Japanese warships at once!

  Just as the anti-aircraft guns on the Japanese warship were firing into the sky, the 9th squadron swooped in from an altitude of less than 100 meters and attacked with 20 Seagull attack aircraft. The remaining light of day broke through the Japanese warships and suddenly rose high, dropping 4 tons of 250-pound and 100-pound bombs into the midst of the Japanese transport fleet. Meanwhile, the 25 anti-aircraft guns on the outer Japanese destroyers barely had time to add a few strings of shell holes to their own merchant ships.

  When the large batch of 96 aircraft returned to the fleet, although the rì aircraft opened its searchlights as planned, the fighter planes could no longer find a deck to land on! Because the flight decks of three aircraft carriers that received **special care were hit by heavy bombs! Only a few pilots with the most jīng湛 skills managed to land their fighter planes on the Ryūjō, which only had its forward deck damaged; In the end, dozens of 96 aircraft completed forced water landings and sank into the Yangtze River, but the pilots were all rescued.

  The night is dark and deep, **the counterattack on the ground has begun!