Chapter Fifty-Four: The Wolf Pack

  July 19th evening, East China Sea central sea surface.

  Contrary to my expectations, under Chen Shaokuan's acquiescence, the Chinese Navy's only 4 Type-2 submarines gathered together after half a day of contact and surface maneuvering, as each vessel's captain wanted to try out the wolf pack tactics learned from Germany. The target was the rì military transport fleet that had been spotted in the afternoon and was now located directly ahead on the shipping lane; however, given the sinking of Fengxiang by submarines and the importance of this convoy carrying an entire 9th Division, it was escorted by 2 fleet destroyers and 6 old destroyers.

  At 18:00, each boat sailed to the predetermined attack formation; at 18:25, Nie Zheng and Zhuan Zhu, in the middle, took their positions; at 18:42, Jing Ke and Yao Li, on both sides, began to dive.

  Only under the cover of dusk, a fleet of 9 large and medium-sized transport ships was heading southwest; The last surface observation on the Jingke, "Enemy fleet at 1 o'clock direction, double column formation, horizontal distance 500 meters, interval 800 meters, course 250 degrees, speed 1. A destroyer is sailing in the same direction as our ship at a distance of 800 meters from the right side of the fleet. The lead destroyer is located at 2 o'clock direction, 5500 meters away from our ship."

  "Dive to periscope depth. Periscope up, 'Enemy fleet bearing 110 degrees, one destroyer acting as 'sweeper' about 2000 meters ahead of the fleet; five other destroyers, one ahead of the fleet and four in an X-formation directly screening the fleet. Course 250, speed 11 knots.'"

  06:47, Nie Zheng's periscope was lowered. "Left 5 degrees, maintain minimum power... Distance to 'Qingdao' is 3,100 meters, bearing 2 points."

  At 6:51, Nie Zheng and Zhuan Zhuo, 3,000 meters apart, slowed down to their lowest speed. 1,500 meters away, 'Qingdao' was passing between the two ships.

  At 6:54, the Jingke and Yangyi approached the transport fleet from both sides at a speed of 4 knots. The old-fashioned destroyer that passed by more than 1,000 meters away was completely unaware.

  At 6:57, the periscope of the Special Boat No. 6 was raised again, "The enemy fleet remains unchanged, bearing 250 degrees, speed 11 knots; our target is the first ship on the right side of the east, recalculating the firing angle."

  06:58 "Recalculated without error! Launch in 40 seconds!" "Launch distance 1200 meters, target speed 11 knots, course 250 unchanged."

  06:59 "Target enemy ship, prepare... Fire 1, fire 2, fire 3..."

  3 German-made G7e torpedoes were fired at 3-second intervals towards a 7,000-ton Japanese passenger-cargo ship; 48 seconds later, three loud explosions occurred as the three heavy torpedoes hit their target, tearing apart the thin hull of the merchant ship and causing water to rush in through three large breaches. Panic erupted on board the Japanese vessel with cries and screams filling the air; but what followed was a series of continuous explosions as three more ships were torpedoed, including one carrying military supplies which exploded about 10 seconds after being hit, producing a deafening roar that shattered the eardrums of many soldiers on both sides, leaving them bleeding from their ears.

  07:02, Captain of the Special Envoy looked at the target ship that was quickly tilting again, "Three hits; Left 10 degrees, full speed, heading 350; Torpedo team speeds up reloading work; Dive periscope."

  The Japanese destroyer immediately replaced the stunned sonar soldier and started searching. At 7:08, the Japanese army dropped the first batch of deep-water bombs; "Boom", "Boom", a high water column rose one after another, and the "boiling" seawater caused both sides' sonars to temporarily lose effect.

  In the darkness, the escort commander of the Rì military convoy, who was unable to send a telegram in time, painfully ordered the transport ships to turn 190 degrees at full speed with lamp signals, and also ordered each ship to continuously drop depth charges to interfere.

  After a slow exchange of lamp signals and verification, the 5 undamaged transport ships turned southward, increasing their speed to 13 knots; but by this time it was already 7:17. As Lieutenant Commander Arima reported that his torpedoes were ready, Captain Sakiyama, who had already completed several calculations for a firing solution, disregarded the presence of enemy destroyers in the vicinity and ordered another salvo. Fifty-six seconds later, two heavy torpedoes struck one 12,000-ton passenger liner; although Lieutenant Commander Arima immediately took his boat deep, within minutes the area was blanketed with large quantities of depth charges from several destroyers.

  Just as the Zhuanzhu No. hit the enemy ship, the Wamizhao on the outside launched a salvo, 40 seconds later three torpedoes simultaneously hit a 10,000-ton transport ship and caused a massive explosion of the ammunition it was carrying, the soaring flames illuminated the night sky, the deafening sound once again knocked down the sonar soldiers on both sides.

  In the chaos, Nezhen completed reloading and fired another salvo at a distant blurry enemy ship, then retreated westward with Jingke. One torpedo luckily hit a destroyer, crippling it on the surface of the water.

  At 8:25, without artillery preparation or a battle cry, the assault teams of the 8th, 18th and 14th Divisions from Wusong Town and the 16th, 19th and 6th Divisions from Zhang Huabin's side crept forward under the cover of scattered gunfire. At 8:30, distant 82mm mortars began to shell the Japanese army positions, but the explosions were weak and only produced a large amount of smoke; "Poison gas!" shouted the Japanese soldiers, causing widespread panic among their ranks. Everyone wanted to use their gas masks, but who still carried them with them in the heat of battle? The sentry's cry of "Enemy attack!" was drowned out by the cacophony of panicked screams from the Japanese army, and the troops charged into the Japanese positions almost unscathed! Bayonets, swords, and pistols were wielded wildly, amidst the explosions of grenades and dynamite. The Huangpu River warships had set their firing parameters during the day but failed to open fire in time; several minutes later, more troops poured into the Japanese positions, and as the melee spread deeper into the Japanese rear, the 5th, 6th, and 9th Warship Divisions finally began to shell, but their cannonballs landed between the original positions of the two armies and within the depths of the Chinese lines, only mowing down some late-arriving reserve troops.

  Due to the disastrous defeat in the morning and the severe loss of the backbone of the Civil Engineering Department, Chen Cheng and Luo Zhuoying were anxiously observing together from the front-line bunker. Seeing such a situation, they both smiled with relief, "The overall situation is settled!"

  The Japanese army, in name commanding two regular divisions and a large number of 'landing troops' at the command post on the riverbank, actually had less than two brigade's worth of combat strength. Fujiwara's advance was finally thrown into disarray.

  "Reporting to the Commander-in-Chief, the 22nd Brigade's frontline position has been lost!"

  "Report to the commander, the 10th Brigade has been breached!"

  "Report, the 5th Regiment reports losing the frontline position!"

  "What? Order the 6th Brigade to counterattack immediately and drive the Chinese army back!" Fujita thought for a moment and then said: "Order the 11th Division to abandon the first line, retreat to the second line and hold it firmly. Please have the Navy's 6th Squadron provide heavy artillery cover for all front-line positions on the 11th Division side in 10 minutes."

  In the midst of the collapse of the 68th Brigade and the "Land Warfare" troops, the last and strongest unit of the 3rd Division, the 6th Brigade, launched a counterattack in the chaotic flames, and clashed fiercely with the charging 18th Brigade; although at this time the 18th Brigade was still just a miscellaneous army of Hunan Province, far from the well-equipped main force of the 18th Army later on. However, the essence of the Hunan Army's "no Hunan no military" had already deeply penetrated the hearts of the officers and soldiers of the 18th Brigade. The bayonet and knife clashes between the two sides quickly evolved into hand grenade exchanges, mixed with the explosion of heavy artillery shells, resulting in a scene of death and injury. Although the 6th Brigade was still fighting hard, its flank, the 34th Brigade, had already collapsed, and only after several infantry squads from the Fujita Advance Engineer Brigade and the Logistics Brigade joined the counterattack did they barely stabilize on the second line. In the far north, the 18th Brigade and the 3rd Division Cavalry Brigade jointly resisted the attack of the old Hunan Army's 8th Brigade. Although the 8th Brigade was poorly equipped but had many veteran soldiers, it initially suffered significant losses but later became fierce and powerful after approaching the Japanese army. The soldiers in front swung their knives to slash at the Japanese army while hiding behind their waists, while those in the back continuously threw hand grenades and newly-equipped shells at the Japanese army, causing heavy casualties among the Japanese troops who were preparing for close combat with bayonets.

  The 3rd Division, although retreating step by step, was already much stronger than the 11th Division, which had suffered even heavier losses and could be said to have collapsed. The remnants of the 12th, 22nd, and 44th Regiments, which had lost nearly half of their troops, were only able to retreat to the second line of defense thanks to the powerful 203mm howitzer group of the 6th War Unit's indiscriminate covering fire. The only intact 43rd Regiment was still held back by Fujita at the core defensive position on the riverbank, and Sakai, who was acting as both division commander and brigade commander, severely scolded Fujita for this. Before they could even catch their breath, the Xiang Army's 16th and 19th Divisions and the Zhejiang Army's 6th Division, which had been forced to advance by the naval heavy artillery, again charged into the Imperial Army's second line of defense. The newly arrived 11th Division Cavalry Regiment, Engineer Regiment, some artillery units, and logistics troops temporarily halted the attack of the 16th and 19th Divisions with a counterattack, but the 6th Division broke through the last defensive line of the 44th Regiment from the riverbank in one fell swoop.

  "Fire!" Fujita ordered personally, and the light and heavy machine guns of the 43rd Regiment and the machine gun cannons on several stranded destroyers on the riverbank fired indiscriminately at both sides, instantly sweeping away hundreds of fleeing soldiers and officers from the 44th Regiment and the 6th Division in a bloodbath. However, more escaping soldiers from the 11th Division broke through the 43rd Regiment's formation, and Fujita could no longer give the order to "fire", but only sighed and retreated back to the 3rd Division with his staff and guards using their rifle butts and bayonets; leaving behind the remnants of the 11th Division and continuing a chaotic melee.